Plumbing Pipe

[JustReef]

I was thinking of using re-enforced vinyl tubing for the plumbing on my tank. Is it ok to use?

 

I've also seen flexible PVC at Home Depot, but it doesn't look that flexibile.

 

I thought flex would be better than regular PVC because you would have less sharp turns and it would be easier to connect.

 

Any experiences with any of this?

[JustReef]

What, no reef plumbers here?

[schudini]

The re-enforced would probably be the best. The flex hose might collect debris in the corrugated ribs.

 

Check the flexibility in the store before making your purchase.

 

I was thinking of using re-enforced vinyl tubing for the plumbing on my tank. Is it ok to use?

 

I've also seen flexible PVC at Home Depot, but it doesn't look that flexibile.

 

I thought flex would be better than regular PVC because you would have less sharp turns and it would be easier to connect.

 

Any experiences with any of this?

[MSU Fan]

You can use Flex vinyl just fine, but the barb'd connections generally reduce flow some because they are inside the hose, but there's nothing wrong with it.

 

And no, spaflex isn't all that flexible, but it's a hell of a lot more flexible than regular PVC! It definitely makes your life easier if your not that adept at running rigid PVC. It uses the same fittings as reg PVC, and glues together just fine. Plus you can make some curves which will help maintain flow rates.

 

I used a lot of spaflex on my first plumbing attempt, now I have a lot more rigid PVC - personally, once you have a little experience with both, I find plumbing rigid PVC easier, and I find that anchoring it is easier as well.

[Mr. Fosi]

Flex PVC is plenty flexible... If your glass is 2" thick. You are right about it reducing sharp turns but unless you are trying to hit a certain flow rate with a certain pump, it may be a moot point. Have you run the hard PVC components + pump choice through a plumbing head-loss calculator? It may not matter.

 

Reinforced vinyl is fine.

 

Typically, hard PVC is easier to get looking "clean" but it really efficiently transfers force to your glass panes making cracks easier to create. I went with a hard & soft plumbing setup on my current build.

[bdare]

I LOVE SPA FLEX! I used it for my CL drain. I don't remeber the exact page, but there's a pic in my thread somewhere in the first few pages.