Originally Posted by
LotsaFishies
I like to do drains with 1.5”, and return lines 3/4”, for most tanks.
I hard-plumb drain lines, and soft-plumb return lines
Check valves will ALWAYS fail, eventually. My approach is if you design a system that depends on a check valve to not leak or flood... it’s a poor design.
I hard-plumb drains straight from the bulkhead to the sump, with a union or two for future un-doing, and maybe a gate valve if you are going to run a dual-drain design.
I soft-plumb returns from a threaded/barb adapter on the return pump to a threaded / barb adapter on the return bulkhead. I rarely use any valves or check valves on the return line, unless I’m T’ing off to some sort of manifold.
PVC piping, unions, valves, and various elbows or T’s get from a Home Depot or Lowe’s. Most of the barbed adapters, locline, bulkheads, or other aquarium-specialty parts buy from a LFS or online.
I have now plumbed several hundred+ aquariums and can visualize a full plumbing parts list in my head. When I first started I found it very helpful to draw out a full diagram and label every part: “90* elbow”, “thread x slip 1inch bulkhead”, “1inch male slip to 3/4 inch reducer barb”..
Good luck!
This right here, exactly what I do as well.
Only add to this is I may buy unions and gate valves online cheaper than HD usually, and if you want colored PVC BRS for that.
Check valves are usually pointless, maybe if you had multiple tanks plumbed like a breeder station or something when you may not have a choice, but keeping return lines high up for early siphon break is best.
There's a fine line between owning your tank, and having your tank own you!_________________________________________
120G SCA starfire, tunze 1073.02 return pump, Geisemann reflexx 4xT5, 2x panorama pro LED strips, 2x Vortech MP 20's, 40g sump w/ fuge.