Hi guys,
Quick help if you don't mind. Got my 90g reef ready last night, so all my previous plumbing stuff is no good. Luckily this should be quite simple now.. the perfecto provides everything down to the bulkheads. So, I just need to pick up items to take me from the bulkhead down into the sump, and then from my return pipe back to the other bulkhead.
I think I'll go spa flex all the way. Do I just need a coupler to go from the bulkhead to a valve , then another coupler to glue the spa flex into?
My return will be: return pump = > valve => spa flex = > coupler = > bulkhead.
Does this sound ok? I assume Home depot has 1" spa flex? (Bulkheads are both 1" so no need to go larger I think.)
Thanks
Also, should I use silicone when I install the bulkhead, or wet it or anything special like that? Should I hand tighten only, or hand tighten as tight as possible and then do the extra 1/4 turn with a wrench ? Don't want to crack the glass of course, and absolutely positively do not want any chance of leaks.
The silicone washer that comes with the perfecto bulkheads will be enough, you do not need to add silicone to seal it. Just make sure thats on the inside of the tank. As for tightening, tighten by hand then by wrench carefully until you think it is perfectly sealed. Do you have a gate valve on the drain? it will make fine tuning the return and drain system much easier. Use gate valves because they are much more accurate than ball valves and they are harder to clog.
I do indeed plan on a valve on both return and drain. Thanks for the tip to use a gate instead of ball valve. I will be returning some ball valves ;D .
Hopefully I can get the spa-flex in short lengths as I do not need much. I remember it being in something like 50ft rolls.
There is a company near prince of whales and hunt club that you can find PVC gate valves n such. http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=pvc+ottawa&fb=1&split=1&gl=ca&view=text&latlng=16297569548028292124
I cannot comment on spaflex because I have always hard plumbed my tank.