My first shot at plumbing a tank

You all are going to laugh at the basics of this plumbing job and it is not complete yet...I have not threaded anything nor clamped anything...wanted to get everyones opinions before I finished up...this is my first ever plumbing experience. I went from an internal pump, to an external pump with hard PVC pipe bact to soft tubing. I have not connected my skimmer yet nor my coil denitrator.

I will be adding a mixture of black sand mixed in with fiji pink to create a salt and pepper appearance. I have done that with one of my other tanks and really liked the appearance of that. I have already placed the black back ground. Now I just have to wait till next payday or the following to buy the rock and I will be ready to start cycling....


Let me know any suggestions...
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this is a mag 12....I forgot to buy that piece so will be adding that tomorrow or so...am going to be cutting that pipe down a little more...it is a little long between the sump and the stop valve. The tubing is 3/4 reinforced throughout.

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this is where the drain pipe goes into the sump...I am going to place a filter pad on the rack and below it am going to place live rock rubble. Will tie up or cut back the tubing as soon as I figure the final placement of hte pump out

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just the bulkheads

like I said very basic plumbing...but hey it is the first time I have done it ALL BY MYSELF!!! ;D with a lot of change in plans and talking to people....but hey I am the typical girl...when they came to install my last tank they asked if I had a screwdriver I handed them a butterknife and said that this is what I always used...now I have a hacksaw, a screwdriver, many of my fathers other tools plus I am even looking at getting a dremel to frag corals!

 

Congrats. Maybe you should put some clamps on those hoses using your new screwdriver just in case?

 

well there ya go! karma for a good job! how will you check for leaks and what will you do if you find you have one? have that back up plan ready! I would love to have a dremel.....very cool tool!

 

oh yeah...dont worry...clamps are in the bag..just did not place them yet..will do that tomorrow! Leaks...praying that does not happen but if it does depending on where and how much will tighten clamps and/or silicone...hopefully that will do. Am scared to actually put water in that puppy! Not sure now when that big day is going to come...when somebody is with me that is for sure with a big wet/dry vac! thanks again. Average person could have done this in 5 minutes..took me way too long..but hey did it!

 

Love that first adding water feeling. That thought of waking up in the morning with the floor covered in water
I still get that feeling after a year

 

Looks good. You're on your way. Isn't nice to do something like this. I was clueless myself when I did my first plumbing job and felt a sense of elation when I finally got it done. K+

I had this happen to me. It was the middle of the night. 1AM. Bad news bears man.

 

really? took me about 2 months from getting the tank to getting it running without leaks! Congrats so far!