Aquarium Project: Plumbing!
I was finally able to put together the plumbing system for my Aquarium this past weekend. While, it isn't perfect, it should handle the task. Ideally, I would of liked to have a better connection to the barb connections on the bottom of the tank. They were supposed to be 1 inch, and 3/4 inch ID barbs. However, 1 inch and 3/4 inch reinforced vinyl tubing wouldn't fit over them well, unless I headed the tubing up. I suspect it was actually 1 1/4 inch, and 1 inch barbed fittings, in reality. ~shrugs~
In any case, I installed unions and shut off valves under the aquarium, to allow for future work. I also installed a check valve on the supply feed. The lines then both pass through the floor and head to the basement, which is where I have my sump set up. I put together a manifold with Schedule 40 PVC, and some ball valves.
It had been a while since I had done PVC pipe work, so it took me a few joints to get into the swing of things again. My first few connections were a bit sloppy with the cement. In any case, I shall be painting the piping to make it look nicer. Green will be for the return water, and Blue will be for clean, filtered water. I added a valve to the manifold which will allow me to cycle water from the clean side, thru to the return side. I did this for testing purposes mostly. this way I can cycle water without the aquarium in the loop. The return side of things also has a valve which will mostly be for draining water during water changes. We shall see. In any case, PVC is easy enough to work with, so if I needed to change things, it wouldn't be too hard to do.
You can also see the Sump in the background. I wonder if it is a tad too shallow for the refugium... But we shall see. I moved the glass panels around a little bit, so it is a tad messy... But who cares.. it is a sump? right? tho, I guess the rougher silicone will be more difficult to keep clean. Perhaps I will scrape the excess off.