Unclesalty's 180 Gallon Tank Build Thread

[lastlight]

Besides some extra cost what disadvantage would a gate valve possibly have? I use them on my herbie and on each outlet on my manifold. Love the control they allow over a ball valve.

[unclesalty]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Besides some extra cost what disadvantage would a gate valve possibly have? I use them on my herbie and on each outlet on my manifold. Love the control they allow over a ball valve.

I totally agree that the adjustabilty of a gate valve is excellent unlike a ball valve which is terrible. Only problem with gate valves is their not as durable as ball valves from what more than one person has said. 1 yr to 1-1/2 yr sometimes I have heard which would suck to have to replace. It sounds like the salt gets in the stem seal which causes them to leak. I would much prefer a gate valve as the siphon adjustment can be touchy I've heard but 1yr-to 1-1/2 yr thing kind of shys me away from them. How long have you had yours for? Other opinions?

[kien]

Originally Posted by unclesalty

I totally agree that the adjustabilty of a gate valve is excellent unlike a ball valve which is terrible. Only problem with gate valves is their not as durable as ball valves from what more than one person has said. 1 yr to 1-1/2 yr sometimes I have heard which would suck to have to replace. It sounds like the salt gets in the stem seal which causes them to leak. I would much prefer a gate valve as the siphon adjustment can be touchy I've heard but 1yr-to 1-1/2 yr thing kind of shys me away from them. How long have you had yours for? Other opinions?

The gate valve on my 150g reef is coming up on 3 years. The one on my FOWLR is 2 years old. So far so good. And ya, it would really suck to have to replace them.

[unclesalty]

Originally Posted by kien

The gate valve on my 150g reef is coming up on 3 years. The one on my FOWLR is 2 years old. So far so good. And ya, it would really suck to have to replace them.

Do you open and close it on a regular basis or does is it just stay open? Bean animal and Uncleof6 from RC were 2 of the people that said not to go with a gate

[kien]

Originally Posted by unclesalty

Do you open and close it on a regular basis or does is it just stay open? Bean animal and Uncleof6 from RC were 2 of the people that said not to go with a gate

On mixed reef with the 3 year old valve I open and close it fully maybe once a month. I like to do this to flush any crud that may have collected in there. I probably adjust the valve (minor adjustments), every couple of weeks to re-adjust the water level in the overflow. Although many times this just leads me to opening the valve fully to flush it anyway and then re-adjusting the water level.

As for the 2 year old valve on my FOWLR, that sucker gets opened weekly with every water change (or two weeks if I'm being lazy). It is part of my water change system so gets opened and closed quite a lot.

[unclesalty]

Originally Posted by kien

On mixed reef with the 3 year old valve I open and close it fully maybe once a month. I like to do this to flush any crud that may have collected in there. I probably adjust the valve (minor adjustments), every couple of weeks to re-adjust the water level in the overflow. Although many times this just leads me to opening the valve fully to flush it anyway and then re-adjusting the water level.

As for the 2 year old valve on my FOWLR, that sucker gets opened weekly with every water change (or two weeks if I'm being lazy). It is part of my water change system so gets opened and closed quite a lot.

5 years between 2 of them sounds pretty convincing! A person could put in a ball valve also I guess for water changes but I wouldn't bother with that. Are yours sched 40 or 80? What brand are they? Do you know what your gasket type is on yours?

[kien]

Originally Posted by unclesalty

5 years between 2 of them sounds pretty convincing! A person could put in a ball valve also I guess for water changes but I wouldn't bother with that. Are yours sched 40 or 80? What brand are they? Do you know what your gasket type is on yours?

Well, I wouldn't suggest that my experience is the norm :-) Just my experience with them.

Sched 40 on both. No idea what brand. Just grabbed it out of a box of valves from my LFS <blatant_plug>Red Coral Calgary </blatant_plug>. I have no idea what gasket type, sorry.