How do I attach the drain and return lines to the bullhead with PVC? Do I glue it directly to the bulkhead? Thread it onto the bulkhead? or should I cut a section of the braided nylon and glue that to the bulkhead and then to the PVC? Putting a true Union near the return section for easier disassembly.
I think it would mostly depend on what type of bulkheads you have and your personal preference. Are your bulkheads Slip x Slip, Threaded x Slip or Threaded x Threaded? I'd probably stay away from glueing braided nylon to a bulkhead though.
If it's a slip you will want to glue it. If it's threaded you will want a threaded piece of pvc don't use Teflon tape though use the paste it's messier but a good seal is almost guaranteed. I had both slip and threaded on my latest build.
So if I were to redo plumbing on my tank I would get slip by slip bulk heads. I would then glue in a 4-6" piece of PVC pipe and then add either a "shark bite" type fitting or a compression cuppling. This would make modifying plumbing very very easy in the future with out having to cut out and or redo new bulk heads.
Would be killer if you could find this though (I can only find them in the UK)
Other option being that you use a slip by thread bulk head and use one of these male adapter compression fittings. Again the end goal is to be able to swap out, modify or replace your plumbing with our having to replace or really even mess or touch the bulkheads. Or....makes it really easy to replace bulkheads for what ever reason with out having to redo plumbing.
* Side note - the male adapter fittings above could be added to the glued 4-6" pvc length (slip by slip scenario above) and then add a female pipe thread x male insert if you wanted to use flex tubing (not spa flex though)
Yep you are correct ! The outside thread is for tightening nut to bottom side of the tank. I'm sure you know this but I case some one reading doesn't, the rubber gasket goes on inside of tank between the flanged end and glass.
Jeremiah in your case this is where you could pvc glue the 4-6" pieces and use which ever compression fitting gets you to the pipe material you are planning to use.
Jeremiah in your case this is where you could pvc glue the 4-6" pieces and use which ever compression fitting gets you to the pipe material you are planning to use.
About the shark bite fittings. We have a new shop in town that set up his whole linked system with these and had a HUGE algae bloom. It's been debated wether it was the green collars in the shark bite fittings.
About the shark bite fittings. We have a new shop in town that set up his whole linked system with these and had a HUGE algae bloom. It's been debated wether it was the green collars in the shark bite fittings.
Seems highly unlikely unless allot of the fittings are actually submerged under water. Otherwise if they are properly used the inner rubber gasket seals the pipe in a way that water never touches the green outer ring. This is the same reason the metal teeth that hold the pipe in place don't rust. Even if this wasn't the case and the green plastic was leaching phosphates or something I have a hard time thinking it would be enough to cause any significant algae blooms.
I did it the wrong way on my last tank and couldn't figure out why my overflow was leaking and not holding water right. *facepalm*
Thanks Chad and others for chiming in and helping out! Plumbing it all on Monday so will see how it goes.
Did you guys use regular PVC cement to glue from schedule 40 to the black bulkheads or did you use the special cement for joining the two different plastics?
For joining pvc to abs I only use transitional cement. Bonds in about 45 seconds and the joint is ready for water. This is how I do it and now many other members in the springs that I've showed but I'm sure someone will say its wrong.
I found it at lowes, says abs to PVC on it. Green can. There's a really small can of it that I found otherwise there's one that's the same size as the purple/black cans.
Got all the supplies ready to go and cutting PVC/gluing tonight. Thanks guys! I will likely put together a PVC thread as I couldn't find much on any forums in way of a step by step approach to PVC.
Got all the supplies ready to go and cutting PVC/gluing tonight. Thanks guys! I will likely put together a PVC thread as I couldn't find much on any forums in way of a step by step approach to PVC.