Brian,
Whether you do it or someone else plumbs your tank, remember to dry fit everything so you know for sure everything is going to fit before you glue. I glue everything that is under pressure, but I only silicone those pipes that are under gravity flow. I imagine most people glue everything.
Also, most of the time, leaks will be from the bulkhead so be extra careful there. Hand tighten & only add a 1/4 turn with a wrench. Any more and you risk damaging the glass around the hole.
Mine is an external overflow box so my ball valve for the return is under the overflow for ease of access, as opposed to being right near the pump outlet. Of course, part of the reason is also I don't T-off my return to run any media reactors (I just use Maxijet 1200s for that). I use a controllable flow DC pump as well, so I'd rather run my pump at lower flow and hopefully put less wear and tear on my return pump and just use easily replaceable MJ1200s for the media reactors.
Anthony
|