Attaching Spa Flex hose to PVC

[Krish]

Oh, btw no sand . I gave up sand when I had a little over 5,000 gph in my 75gal LOL! My little 10 gal nano I have set up waiting on my rock will start out with close to 60x turnover. When the rock goes in, I'll see if I need more

 

[Ichthys]

........ A bit over 100x turnover

wow, thats intense. At those flow rates my mushrooms and Kenya trees and other softies would blow away. Are those type of flow rates used predominantly in a SPS tank? You wouldnt use that in a softy tank would you? I hooked a Mag 12 up to my return last night and all my soft corals looked like they were in a hurricane, leaning sideways like those movies you see of palm trees during the hurricanes in the Bahamas..... well not movies in your case lol

 

[Krish]

wow, thats intense. At those flow rates my mushrooms and Kenya trees and other softies would blow away. Are those type of flow rates used predominantly in a SPS tank? You wouldnt use that in a softy tank would you? I hooked a Mag 12 up to my return last night and all my soft corals looked like they were in a hurricane, leaning sideways like those movies you see of palm trees during the hurricanes in the Bahamas..... well not movies in your case lol

:lol: Yea, the flow was a bit intense! I had mostly gorgonians in my tank so I blasted them LOL! The fish loved it too!!! Not sure if you'd need a whole lot with softy's, but my main reason for all the flow was to keep the rocks and tank bottom detritus free. I wanted to keep everything in suspension in my water column so I could filter it out which seemed to have helped alot in keeping nitrates down to a minimum.

 

[trido]

Yea I would go with the barb and clamp to, I hate that stuff.

Mike

+3

That stuff in the link isnt real spa flex. For real spa flex I use ALOT of glue. For the ribbed piping like I used to have on my koi pond (the stuff in the link), I used a (barb/male thread) hose barb inside it with a hose clamp and then teflon tape the male end of the adapter into a female thread/slip PVC coupler.

Good luck.

 

[Scooterman]

The poll question, BH's don't require glue, silicone or anything of the sorts, actually anything like that would eventually damage the gasket prematurely and another thing is not to over tighten them.

 

[Ichthys]

The poll question, BH's don't require glue, silicone or anything of the sorts, actually anything like that would eventually damage the gasket prematurely and another thing is not to over tighten them.

Makes good sense that glue would eventually damage the gaskets, but i was wondering about silicone grease, sometimes referred to as O-Ring lube. I know that divers use it on all the orings and gaskets on their diving gear (which their lives depend on) because saltwater eventually degrades o-ring and gasket material, and the silicone grease supposedly protects the gasket and extends its effective lifespan. I know it is not required to make a good seal, it is more of a suggestion by glass holes .com to prolong the life of the gasket. I was just curious if there was a locally available equivalent to Lifegard Aquatics R172036 Silicone Lubricant from Marine Depot?
Good tip on overtightening, my RODI canister had a leak until i UN tightened it a bit, sort of counterintuitive, but your right, to tight is bad when dealing with orings or gaskets.

 

[trido]

Ive never heard of anyone using lubricant on a reef tank bulkhead. Some of the larger aquariums may, but not your average reefer.

 

[Frankie]

The best and only way to install bulkheads is to wet them first with warm water. This helps make the seal. No other lubricant should be used.

As for that hose, the barbed thread fittings are the best way to attach it. Personally I would not use it. To flimsy.
SpaFlex is plumbed just like regular PVC with PVC cement like in Krish's photo. Well done BTW Krish!

 

[Krish]

Thanks Frankie!!

 

[DonW]

The reason for silicone lube is so that the two dry surfaces dont cause the rubber to twist during installation. The hose you posted is low pressure drain hose. Basicly vacuum cleaner type hose. As long as its being used just for drains that do not back up like a herbie then it needs only the inside fit connectors with no sealant or clamps. They can be had at lowes or any woodworking supplier that sells dust collection parts.

Don

 

[Krish]

The reason for silicone lube is so that the two dry surfaces dont cause the rubber to twist during installation. The hose you posted is low pressure drain hose. Basicly vacuum cleaner type hose. As long as its being used just for drains that do not back up like a herbie then it needs only the inside fit connectors with no sealant or clamps. They can be had at lowes or any woodworking supplier that sells dust collection parts.

Don

I agree...That hose was for the drain for the wet/dry I once had. If you can get your hands on some of that flex pvc I had, you'd be real happy with it.