Plumbing/auto water change general questions

[Patrick_G]

I’m setting up a new 75g and I’m lucky to have a wet bar with sink right next to the tank. I’m comfortable drilling the tank and know how to do household plumbing, but I’ve never plumbed an aquarium. How are you folks doing it? I’m still in the brainstorming phase so any advice is welcome. 

[KBOzzie59]

Depending...  Sometimes I like to use threaded PVC and sometimes slip/glue fittings.   Whatever you do use a couple of unions for easy removal if you need to move things and not want to cut up the pipe to do it.  And use threaded unions with slip/glue adapters so you never lose your unions if you do need to make a change.

[adamh]

When I drill I use double threaded bulkheads. Inside the tank I thread an elbow with a cut piece of sponge to prevent any accidents. You can also adjust the level to some extent by where you locate the opening. On external side I use a barb elbow with vinyl tube. This gives you all the flexibility for change you’ll ever need. I don’t drill my large tanks, I make an overflow siphon system so I’m never committed to the bulkhead location/can’t crack when drilling. Especially 55’s as they are so often tempered.

[Patrick_G]

Here’s what I’m currently thinking of doing: 

- 1” drilled overflow with strainer plumbed into my sink drain.

- pressure reduced fill line with drip emitter. 

-daily water conditioner based on how much water gets changed. My tap water has .3-.4 ppm chlorine. 

[adamh]

If there’s no chloramine in your water you can set up a filter pretty easy on your supply side.