Ok plumbing people

So I got the pump! Woohoo! Now what? It says I need at least 1.5" pipe for max flow on the return. Does that sound right? So what size should my drains be? I can't do squat today since everything is closed so figured I would try and figure this out. For the overflow I just have the megaflow kits, should I make dursos instead or doesn't really matter? Anything else important I should know? I'm so terrified we are going to have water all over the floor. Also how do you adjust the water level in the sump? Pics of other setups would be helpful to me.

When I drilled my 75 I used 1 1/2 pvc for the return but now on the 125 I have like 1" flex I think might be 3/4". As long as you don't exceed the return water rate with the overflow water rate you should not have a problem with flooding.

As far as sump levels you can control that by how much water you put in there.
I guess that is how I do it I set my ATO to a certin level and it stays there.

I'm not a master plumber i used 3/4 pvc all around here are some pic's of my set up

My overflow

plumbing out the back (i need to fix this this weekend)

Looks good !!!

Here is a good site for hard to find pvc stuff http://www.flexpvc.com/

Great site I am going to move it to the Links forum but will leave this one here as well

yeah wow, great site, those manifolds are sweet.

K, so we went to Menards today, pretty worthless trip all around, first off Menards has basically nothing for plumbing parts and then I forgot my checkbook at home. So even the stuff they did have we couldn't get. I think I'm going to order everything off marine depot or the website danreefs posted up. Just a couple questions. (or a ton)

What exactly do the valves do? I know gate valves slow the flow but do I need that? On the return or drains? Check valves needed or not? Can I use glue to put pieces together? For flex piping there's the regular clear, the braided, black and flexy, marine depot also has their own flex kink free kind. Geez. Why so many options and which is easiest to work with? I don't want to order and find out I'm missing pieces but still not really grasping how all this should go together and work. Oh and should I put my drains connecting into one to go into the sump or is two drains ok?

have you put in any consideration on schedule 80 from bulk reef supply?

Is that all hard plumbing though? That looks more difficult to me. Is there any big advantage as far as hard or soft plumbing?

Up to you if you wana use hard or flex. I just like the look of hard pvc. From what i here flex will not kill the flow as bad as hard the 90 bend's are hard on flow. As for ball valves stay away use the check valves. What size tank is it and 2 overflows right ? What size sump will you use. And what pump did you get ? whats the GPH ? put a check valve on that pump just in case its to much gph for the overflows. as for the drains I do see people connect them. and do not forget the Quick Disconnect Union's this will help if you need to take something apart and fix it or redo it any pic's of the way you wana set up the sump ?

I will take some pics of my plumbing and post it for you? Is yours drilled from the bottom or back side?

I like hard piping as much as i can. On my 75 I only have tubing where it connects to the bulkhead. check valves are nice but choke off flow too. just remember for every elbow, valve, etc... all that adds up into flow reduction from your return pump along with the head of water.On RC there is a head loss calculator.

Yeah the flow loss is kinda why I wanted to go with flex. Also it seemed like less pieces needed. It's a 135 gallon, dual overflows. Pump is a mag 9.5 so it's not going to be too much for the overflows. Sump is about 30" x 12" x 16". it says it's 25 gallons. Tank is drilled from the bottom. Yes, pictures are very helpful Garrett, I will take all the pics you guys are willing to post.

Will you have 2 sump's one for the refugium and one for the for you'r gear skimmer and stuff ?

here are some from mine

The ball vaves are on the return line

danreefs wrote:Will you have 2 sump's one for the refugium and one for the for you'r gear skimmer and stuff ?

No, if I do a fuge it will be small, I've never had much luck at growing macro algea and I don't have a skimmer yet so space is not an issue at the moment. I can always add a 20 gallon next to the sump if space permits if it becomes necessary. So basically my sump right now just needs to hold my heaters and pump. I'm trying to run this as low tech as possible. Not a gadgets kinda girl.

Thanks for the pics Garret

God it's kinda scary under your tank!!!

NO!!!!!it all good!!