hydrometer and plumbing

First off I want to say this is a great place to come for ideas/help. Glad I found the site!

2nd. My LFS's don't know much when it comes to technical stuff unfortunately. I'm trying to find out the approx. temp. that my hydrometer was calibrated at so I can make sure I'm testing at the right temp. for the meter. Does anyone know the exact temps these were calibrated with?
It's a Deep 6 I bought about 2 years ago. Just the standard retail one you would find at Petsmart, etc.

3rd. I'm doing all of my own plumbing for my DIY sump. But me not being the plumber I am having some difficulty finding the fittings that I need. The standard vinyl hose doesn't fit the standard PVC pipe fittings. They don't seem to have the correct PVC adapters (not using any metal of course) at Home Depot/Lowes so I can't connect the PVC pipe to my vinyl hose going to the tank. Is there some inexpensive source on the web or should I just keep checking the local hardware stores for stuff?
Also looking for a couple of bulkheads to pass the pipe through my plexi. Maybe a hot tub supplier for those?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Ok, got the plumbing thing fixed. Apparently the HD that I went to had moved a bunch of stuff around so I couldn't find it. Good ole ACE hardware got me goin on that stuff.

Another question though. And yes I admit I haven't really done a search for it in years but it just came to mind.
I know RIO pumps are horrible which is why I want to get rid of mine. Is there another cheap powerhead that is reliable and has an airline input as well? Also don't want something with to high of a flow rate as I have plenty of circulation as it is. I have one of those CPR continuous flow overflows that I need it hooked into at all times.
I guess it's either that or find a tube overflow thats really cheap. I'm strapped for cash at the moment unfortunately.

Thanks again.

mogurnda said:

I have found hagen aquaclear powerheads to be very reliable. Maxijets too.

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Awesome. Yeah you can get the aquaclear ones pretty darned cheap at petsmart. I was just leery to trust something that was so inexpensive. Especially in a marine environment.

Thanks for the prompt help!

Ok, I think I have got my plumbing set up the way I want it. Just have to glue/screw everything together. Just want to run it by here to see if I am missing something.
I think the only thing that I am concerned with is maybe the suction on the siphon tube. Maybe the suction would be to great and suck the tube together? (it's just air line)

Heres a thumbnail with link to the big picture.

mogurnda said:

If I understand the diagram, you're using the main pump to suck air from the overflow siphons? Interesting idea, and it gets rid of a powerhead.

How are you regulating the flow from the backup reservoir?

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Yeah. It didn't seem that the powerhead was doing the job very well so I tried to think of a way to get better suction on the tube and came up with that. So far (since last nights assembly) if any air gets into the overflow it is sucked up instantly. I also decided to use slightly more rigid 1/4" tube to make sure that it wouldn't collapse under pressure.

Currently the backup reservoir is a 10 gallon tote in the middle of my living room. lol Eventually I think I will put a sensor in the sump and have a switch auto open the valve on the 2nd inlet. Technically if I keep the line primed it should automatically take water from the backup without me even having to look at it. I don't have any space so this won't be an option for a while though. Right now the only time I open that valve is when I need to add water or do water changes.

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I think I'm also going to put a downspout in the tank during water changes. Turn off the pump and it will siphon by itself into whatever container I want. Remove the container, dump, replace with clean water/container. Start the pump back up and away I go.
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