a girl that needs help

[kirkland]

i am great at maintaining our reef tank, but suck at the diy projects. male friends and family members do the projects for me but i need to be able to tell them specifically what needs to be done.

here is the project at hand:
wavemaker is attached to upper right hand corner of corner bowfront tank. external little giant pump 2mdq recently purchased. i have 3/4" reinforced tubing for the intake and a clamp to secure this with. the tubing and connections for the outtake to the wavemaker are taken care of as well. what would be the best way to attach the tubing to the tank and/or sump? i want it secured so it can't just flop out. i thought i could find a clamp that would go around the tubing in a full circle and have a clamp attached to this circle for the side of the tank or sump but these do not exist. if the pump can get the intake water from the sump, that is preferred but willing to put the tubing in the tank if necessary. drilling holes is not a viable option at this point.

what do you recommend? what equipment will i need? do you have pictures of what should be done? do you need pictures of our sump, pump or anything else to give advice? thanks!

 

[NaH2O]

*bump for a fellow female reefer!

 

[Velamondry]

If im understanding this correctly your wanting to take your external pump and plumb it into your system without drilling a hole into your sump, you could use some pvc pipe that fits like a "U" over the lip of your sump then put a barb fitting on the end of it for your pump intake. You would have to prime the pump one time through the output side, after that if the pump is below your sump "U" of pvc you would not need to reprime it less you empty the whole thing.

 

[kirkland]

thank you velamondry! that is the kind of information i need.

 

[Maxx]

Check my tank thread for pics of exactly what velamondry is talking about. Its in the members showcase forum, Project 150.

I would suggest going with rigid PVC and using Oversized union ballvalves for best results. The pvc will support itself as long as its not running extreme distances, and the oversize ballvalves with adapters down to the correct size prevent restrictions in your plumbing.

You're pump is rated for "X" amount of flow at "X" amount of head, with "X" diameter plumbing. If your pump has 3/4 inch outlets, I would suggest going with 1 inch true union ball valves, which have an internal diameter of 3/4 of an inch. You want ball valves and unions above both the inlet and outlet of the pump so that in the event of needing to shut down and remove the pump for service or replacement you can do so w/o spilling several gallons of water all over the place. The ballvalves will stop the water flow, the unions will allow you to disconnect and reconnect the pump from the plumbing. Its also not a bad idea to consider unions and/or union ball valves anywhere they might assist in taking your plumbing apart.

I have 6 unions and three true union ballvalves on my main tank plumbing...they are set up to make my life as easy as humanly possible when having to do anything with the tanks plumbing.

Nick

 

[ziggy]

It would have been nice if I put unions on my 1.5" dual overflow. The first plumming problem I run into will have to include: A hacksaw, union's, and glue. Then I can start.

They are a little expensive but thank God I put them all over the return lines.

Maxx- Very good info

 

[Maxx]

Thanks Ziggy. This hobby is expensive enough, its alot cheaper to learn from someone else's mistakes....and I've made a laundry list of em....

Nick