Plumbing Help

Quick recap of my set up.

110gallon 48x18x30 Acrylic(never again) Been running since last October
*140lbs of Live Sand
*25lbs of old Live rock from my old tank which crashed. Cleaned, Sun Dried, Cleaned again and Sundried one more time then put in my tank.
*15lbs of New Fiji Live Rock
* Pair of Mated Percula Clowns
*40 Blue legged Hermits (going to be removing them all soon to replace with Scarlette Hermit
*20 various snails
*260watt's compact Installed
*250 watt MH (not installed) Need one more piece
Ammonia 0
PH 8.4
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Salinity 1.030 (just found out my hydrometer was off< I just got a refractometer and am doing 5gallon water changes every 3 days till I get it to about 1.024.
*Tank is mantained at 80 Degrees at all time with a 400 watt Heater.

Money is always tight so as you can see I have been doing everything very slowly.

Ok,

Here is my question. I have been running the filtration for this tank since October with 2 hang on trickle filters and a canister filter I took from my brother that supposed to support a 75 gallon Tank(which it wont).

I have a 30 gallon wet/dry sump which I am almost ready to set up. My tank is not predrilled. I tried setting up my wet dry before with a single hosed prefilter but I didnt have enough water comming into the sump compared to the amount of water I had going into the tank.

In the next few weeks I should be buying a double 1 inch hosed prefilter. And was wondering whether to do the traditional flexible tubing or to Hard Plumb with PVC.

My Father in law is very handy with PVC and would be able to help with the project. But I have a few questions.

What is the draw back and/or Benefits in having the filtration either hard plumbed or Flexible Tubing?

If I were to use PVC. Does it still need cleaning? how would I accomplish this if its sealed up?

Any suggestions?

I plan to set this up as a reef tank one day. After I have the MH installed and the wet dry & Refug set up, I plan to save up to save up to purchase 100lbs of Tampa Bay Saltwater Carribean Live Rock.

The Distance from Wet dry to the top of the tank would be about 5-6 feet. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks,
Chubbs

 

The big differences between flexible tubing and pvc is that the flexible is easier to work with and will create less head pressure as the turns are very slow and gradual. With pvc your angles are 90 and 45 unless you do flexible pvc. Another big reason to go with pvc is once it is glued it should not go anywhere where as with tubing over time your clamps may come loose. Also with a reef tank people love to show how clean their setup is. So with pvc when they are showing how they did everything the pvc looks much cleaner. Hope this helps a little.

 

Go flex, a lot less gph loss on your pump

 

I already have the return Pump Line plumbed with Flex tubing.

I will either be flex tubing or using PVC for the line comming from the tank to the sump?

Would this still make a difference with water pressure?

Thanks,
Chubbs

 

yes it will flow faster out of the tank as well.

 

If I were to go ahead and use the PVC for just the water comming back from the Tank to the Sump, what Type of sealer do I need to use? Or is regular PVC Glue Reef safe?
Chubbs

Ps. I really appreciate all the help and advice.

 

I used regular with no issues. Just make sure it cures before you run water through it.

 

hey Chubby I see you are a Dolphins fan LOL ... I'll wear a shirt up here in Yankee land home of the JETS BILL and Patriots I'm dead center on the three of them almost man Do I get some looks LOL I guess its the winter weather up here they have nothing else to do in the winter but football or shoveling snow LOL Now that they got rid of that quarter back mistake from last year .. I can't believe they brought in Dante Culpeper how ever its spelled he suck where ever he was LOL hell he sucked his whole careear ..No matter where he played

 

Ha,

Man becareful you dont get jumped wearing the dolphins colors . I am pretty stoked about Beck, I went to a couple of practices this year an boy oh boy that kid has an accurate arm.

I also Love all three of the samoans we drafted. Tough kids, they play hard every play in practice.

I know we wont do much this year, but atleast their is hope for the near future. Just got to get our line in sync.
Chubbs