rahimsach
02-12-2008, 11:10 PM
I needed some help in connecting my 90g drilled freshwater tank to the sealife175 wet/dry filter. I am clear about connecting the hose from the output (1")to the wet/dry intake. However I am confused about how to connect my Mag 7 to the return. The Mag 7 has 1/2" output pipe and the return adapter on the aquarium is 3/4". Is PVC prefered over flex tubing, also do I need to put any ball valve? Thanks!
loaches r cool
02-14-2008, 10:05 AM
Well you can do it however you want really. Some folks hard plumb everything, some use flexible pvc some use clear vinyl. Up to you. Many will say to use some sort of soft tubing to reduce vibrations from the motor being transferred back to the tank. If your hard plumbing it make sure at some point there is a way to disconnect everything, like a union or a ball valve with union ends, etc. Ball valve is up to you again. If you want the ability to fine tune the flow then its the easiest way. You can also get them with union ends so it kills two birds with one stone. You should have some way to shut off the flow if you need to take the motor out, so either a ball/gate valve, or check valve or an anti siphon vent (personally I use all three). For size transitions well any way you can do it. There are so many options, depends on what type of fittings your starting out with (pump output, bulkhead input, etc) and what type of tubing you want to use. If you wanted a ball valve then you could hard plumb it into the bulkhead, then put the smaller hosebarb going to vinyl to go between the valve and pump, etc. There really is no wrong or right way.