How'd you plumb your pump.

[Desolas]

Well after my last pump failure I ordered an Iwaki this morning for the return pump from my sump. At the moment I've got hard line PVC running from the sump to the pump, to thread the pump on will require me holding the plumbing up kind of out of the tank with one hand and screwing the pump on with the other. It will work, but there has got to be a better way.

How have you plumbed your pumps, just run the PVC straight to the pump like I did, or does anyone have a trick to make servicing the pump a little easier?

 

[robgonsailing]

PVC unions are available in many sizes both slip and screw-in...I use one on each side of my closed loop pump and it takes 2 seconds to undo. The idea is that both sides of the union are tightened around a rubber gasket completely sealing the waterflow. Home Depot or a plumbing store should carry them or you can order them from savko.com

 

[Gordo]

robgonsailing is right on the money. I added vavles on each side as well so I could take the pump out for cleaning.

 

[Desolas]

I figured there had to be something like that. I've seen those at Lowes so I know what to look for now. I've been learning what's available in PVC from there and nothing is labeled, and most everything is in the wrong spot.

That's a real tight plumbing job there, Gordo - I wish mine was as organized. It looks like you have your pump mounted to a board which is just sitting in the stand; is that to space it up or is it needed for sound deadening? How loud do you consider that pump to be?

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Wes

 

[Gordo]

The board is to build up the height. If you look close you can see that I installed gromets on the pump mounts to cut down on noise. I consider the Iwaki to be really quiet, but not silent. I have an Ampmaster 3000 that is silent, but it has a slooooow leak at the seal.

 

[robgonsailing]

I too have ball valves on the outside of each union...I wish I could take a picture but alas, I am a poor college student and have no digital camera... i am using the velocity T3 pump made by CSL and it is absolutely silent although it does heat up my tank a few degrees. i have to put it on a timer until i build a sump to get more water volume to keep the temp. constant... otherwise I am very happy with this pump. HTH

Rob

 

[Katchupoy]

I used to have those too but still a PITA when you are in a very awkward position. Now, I just cut the pvc somewhere and then add a flexible clear plastic tube that will fit the pvc pipe. This will be secured by stainless steel clamps.

Advantage is you dont have to glue this like the pvc unions.
That means you can use and reuse this connection whenever or wherever.

 

[Desolas]

Thanks again for all of your info. I got it figured out and am a happy camper, had some minor issues with my intake clogging because I put a filter bag on it, but it's all dialed in now. With a fan on the pump it's running real cool and I have more circulation in my sump which was needed. Another fine note, my temperature is down to a all time low of 80F!

Here is a pic of it in the stand, not totally plumbed. I had to do some jury rigging to get it plumbed, Lowes sucks for PVC supplies.

 

[plumber_bob]

A single ended ball valve is by far the easiest and most compressed way of doing it. It is a ball valve and union all in one. They work really well and keep your plumbing nice a tight.

 

[CarlaW]

TThis is how I did the AM3K on my 300

 

[esmith]

Wes, I am going to have to agree with you about Lowes' plumbing supply. If I were you, since I went through the same problem finding all the fittings I needed at Lowes a couple months back, I'd go to Home Depot from now on...I know I am. I even thought I'd go back this week to see if they had John Gusset ball valve I needed to finish my kalk dripping bucket and wouldn't you know it, they had nothing; so I ended up at HD and as usual had everything Lowe's didn't.

New pump looks good, what size did you get? Do you have more flow in your tank too?

Eliyah

 

[Desolas]

New pump looks good, what size did you get? Do you have more flow in your tank too?

WMD30 I think is what it was called, 1140 gph @ 0' head, 940 @ 4' ... I don't have more flow in the tank unfortunately as I still have an overflow that is limited to 600 gph, but I also build a manifold that has a spraybar in the sump so it is keeping the sump clear of detritus now and the higher circulation in my sump is making my skimmer function better and keeping the temperature more stable as the water is mixing more in the sump.

I plan on adding another overflow, a SCWD, and adding two more returns to replace my powerheads with. Or I may replace the powerheads with another smaller Iwaki in a closed-loop, that will be good for another 1 degree F I assume, give me more flow, and reduce my energy usage a little as the small Iwaki uses less wattage than my two powerheads do.

Plus I'll have an excuse to play with plumbing parts again.

 

[esmith]

Sounds like a great plan Wes! I need to add a CL to my system, as I can't seem to keep the detritus in the water colomn long enough and it's starting to cause problems with cyano

Let me know what you come up with, maybe I can borrow some of your ideas I am thinking of returning my CL to a spray bar across the bottom of the tank, but haven't decided exactly how much flow I can use/should use. I'm probably going to go with somewhere in the neighborhood of ~500GPH, I figure this won't be too much since there will be lots of 90's to slow down the flow.


Eliyah

 

[szidls]

Gordo,
What's the carpet pad for umder your sump? Just for vibration?

 

[jeffsreefdotcom]

I just replumbed my pump and used these. They are great and save a little space. I threaded the removeable piece of the union to the pump, that way i can turn off the valves, unscrew the union, and clean or replace my pump easily. these things are great. I used them on the inlet and outlet.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=FT3714

I'll put up a pic of my setup later.

Jeff

 

[Zephrant]

Not to start a Lowe's vs HD discussion, but I have found that I go to HD (or Ace) for my Speed-fit 1/4" fittings, and tend to go to Lowe's for the rest of the PVC stuff I need.

Maybe the stores stock different things in Spokane, but our HD carries far less than Lowe's does in PVC fittings.

Note that I've decided not to use these cheap ball valves anymore- They like to seize up, and sometimes leak. I hope to order the single-union ball valves from Savko or similar next time.

Zeph

 

[Ed Hahn]

That looks clean...very clean...

 

[iamjosh]

Zephrant - Wow.. Looks great, When I start understanding more of what i need I'll hafta talk to you about where to get supplies and tips on making a clean design like you have there.

 

[jeffsreefdotcom]

this is my pump. I love those single union ball valves.

The only thing I don't like is how I had to attach my pump to the bulkhead. Oh well.

 

[Zephrant]

Josh- That might not be a fair picture, as it was before it was running. Here is a current picture- Added two heaters, kalk reactor timer, light timers, and supplies. Still, I try to keep the cords somewhat neat, so I can plug/unplug things as needed.

Zeph