Hard plumb or soft plumb? This in not a sex question!!!

[mrrrkva]

Which way do most of you go for a larger tank?? My **** hose came off for the LAST time on my skimmer with tubing. LOTS of water comes out of a MAG 18 (DUH!!!), all over your floor. I am at least going to hard plumb that. How do you guys keep your hoses on the barbed fittings?? I see most guys using those. Are there special clamps that arent steel??
Only problem I see with hard plumbing is no flexibility between pump and plumbing, is it wise to use both?? If you should do that, you might as well soft plumb whole thing.

 

[danmhippo]

Hard plumb with many valves installed so I can take things apart and service as needed. Only in places flow rate are not too high (Mag 9 and under) I soft plumb with steel hose clamp on every ends.

 

[Reefguide]

Hard baby Hard !!

Seriously, I use good ole tie-straps !! Works for me !

 

[Anonymous]

Soft wherever possible. Just my preference - it's simple and effective. There is no excuse for having a hose come lose. Hose clamps are cheap.
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

They do have plastic hose clamps, but for any situation out of the water I would use steel because it tightens better. Some submersible pumps have very short exits with no barbs and that isn't to be trusted.

I am using flexible pvc for most of my next tank, although I have never used it before.

 

[ReefLion]

When dealing with submersible pumps, I have had great recent success with flexible PVC along with any pump with a threaded output. I use standard PVC primer and solvent to attach slip x FTP fittings, and then it screws right on to the pump. It's a very secure attachment. There is little need for teflon tape if the pump is submerged, although I use that too just to ensure a nice tight fit between the pump and hose. I assume the same set-up would work in-line with adequate teflon tape.

I've become a huge fan of flexible PVC. No kinks, no algae growth, lots of tolerance with lengths and angles.

ReefLion

 

[Jeff Hood]

I agree with the flexable PVC pipe. I used it a lot on my setup with lots of unions and ball valves.

 

[pounder]

I recently set up my tank with flexible pvc. It worked great. Easy to work with. Make sure you teflon tape all threaded fittings. Mine leaked and I had to go back and do the repair. Good luck!

 

[D.W.L.]

Although most of mine is hard plumbing, I agree with Jim. Cant see how a hose can come off a proper size barb fitting, secured by metal screw clamps.

I have a Mag24 feeding the skimmer, but its outside inline. Hard plumbed for the intake and hose to the skimmer. Would not want that coming off. 8O

 

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the application and the room I have. I wonder though how your hose is just falling off of the barb as I usually have to soften up my tubing ends by boiling them to get them to fit over the barbs. Then for good measure I use a steel clamp if out of water and a plastic clamp for under water.

 

[reefland]

Soft plumb the tank. I get lots of e-mail from people with noisy drains which I think is air banging around inside the ridged PVC pipes and 90 elbows. Most of these folks who switched to soft plumbing with smooth curves reported back to me that the noise issues in the pipes were gone.

 

[rikacarl]

Where can you get soft pvc? What does it look like? I would like to run 1" on my new tank, but I have never seen the stuff before. are the ends pressed on a barb like vinyl tubing or do you have some kind of special fitting?

-carl

 

[SPC]

Carl, I purchased mine at Lowes, it is called spa flex (or something like that). It can be used just like regular PVC pipe with fittings being interchangeable. Many people use regular PVC glue but I ordered the glue that was recommended by many on the boards, Weld On 725 Wet or Dry just to be on the safe side.
Steve