tap into the plumbing?

[jc]

I am in the process of installing a diy calcium reactor. So far everything works great except one minor leak. I am using a maxi 1200 to pump water into the reactor chamber. The whole system would have 1 plug for the solenoid, 1 for the ph meter, 1 for the recirulation pump, and one for the feed pump. This is one too many electrical plugs and I heard you can feed it with the plumbing. Just how would I do this? The sump pump has hard pvc to the tank and the overflow to the sump is flexible tubing. I was wondering if I could drill a john guest fitting in the hard pvc. How reliable are these types of fittings? I am using three in the reactor and they seem to be holding but they seem flimsy.
http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/1098/picture073qn0.jpg
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/4235/picture074ao0.jpg

[erick]

Now, I'm not a plumber, nor do I profess to be. But, I used to work for a mechanical company (commercial plumbing/HVAC) and I know that there is a special fitting that you can buy that straps around an existing pipe, that you drill through a certain hole (to attatch an offshoot pipe), and it is leakproof and foolproof. I dont know if there is one made in a smaller diameter (less than 4" pipe), but I have seen them used by master plumbers on water lines that are fully pressurized! No leaks! A real plumbing supply outlet would have one (Nolan/Mars) not Home Depot or Lowes, and they should be pretty cheap. Maybe someone will read this thread and know the name of the device I'm talking about.

[Texreefer]

I have taped a JG fitting into my plumbing for my calcium reactor and it has worked fine.. you just need the right sized drill bit ,tap , and no water flowing ;)

[jc]

Did you put in a flow regulator or is it a straight connection?

[matt]

You could try cutting the return PVC, then installing a tee at the cut area. Based on your photos, it looks like you could cut the part right above the ball valve. If your plumbing is 1", use a 1" X 1/2" tee, then use a bushing to go to 1/4" threads on the 1/2" side. You can then get a john guest miniature ball valve to control the feed to the reactor. Using a maxijet is way too much flow. You want a medium fast drip; the JG valve is perfect. For really fine control, you can use either an airline valve or a pinch valve (like for medical drip bags) on the output.

[Texreefer]

straight connection, it has a valve so i can turn it off and disconnect it though

[jc]

How many taps can I make? I would like to use one for the reactor, one for a recirculating skimmer, and one for a uv sterilizer.

[brewercm]

What size is your pump? As long as you are getting enough pressure to all the areas that you need you should be fine.

[jc]

It's a turbo sea 1270. I actually have it turned down at the ball valve. If I run it full pressure the level in the sump goes way down and the water shoots out of the vent holes in the return elbow.

[jc]

Where can I get a nptf pipe tap at? Home depot and lowes do not carry them. They only have nc taps. I used the nc tap on two of my jg fittings and they held fine, but I just learned that the threads do not match up. If I tap my plumbing I want to make sure everything is tight.

[Marlin]

I bought a tee fitting from Marine Depot that I intalled in the pressure side of the main return pump. They have them in 1/2" and 3/4" barb fitting with a connection for 1/4" tubing. Works great, I put a small ball valve in the 1/4" line going to the Calcium Reactor to control flow.

[erick]

Check with some of the commercial plumbing supply houses in SA, they will carry it. Try Ferguson 344-3013, or Hughes supply590-1291.

[jc]

I got it at ace hardware. Hughes had three listings online and the one I called said they don't carry taps.

[matt]

Are you planning on drilling into the PVC pipe, then tapping that hole, and screwing in a fitting? Maybe that will work, but since it's a pressure line I wouldn't trust it. It's pretty easy to just cut your line and install a tee. Doesn't the vertical pipe just go to the output of your return pump? I'm not sure why you can't just disconnect that, cut the pipe leaving enough space for the tee, put the tee in, and reconnect.

Maybe I'm missing something.

[jc]

That is what I wanted to do. I preferred to drill into the pressure line and use a jg valve to control the flow. Maybe what I can do is put in a tee with a gate valve and use that to control the flow to my uv sterilizer. Then I can tap the pvc with the jg fittings for the reactor and skimmer behind the gate valve. Since all the taps need to be low flow they should work alright behind the gate valve. What do you guys think?

http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/4756/pipetaptd9.png

[matt]

Okay I get it, nice drawing! I'm assuming you currently have 1" plumbing? So your new tee should be a simple 1"X1" slip, then the gate valve, then I would do two tees side by side, both 1"X1/2" slip/thread. Then you have a 1" slip opening at the end for your UV barb, and two 1/2" openings for your reactor and skimmer. For the reactor use a bushing to get 1/4" threads and use the J.G. miniature ball valve. For the skimmer just use a threaded 1/2" PVC ball valve; unless your skimmer is really tiny, you're going to want more flow through it than a 1/4" J.G. ball valve will handle. You can use a 1/2" close nipple to connect it to the tee, then a barb on the outside to connect flex hose to your skimmer.

Would that work? It'll definitely be more leakproof than drilling and tapping PVC pipe.

[jc]

I'm gonna switch the gate valve to a ball valve. The gates are too hard to find and I would prefer to do this today. Also, I do have 1" plumbing. How about this new plan.
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5581/newpipetapeq5.png

[brewercm]

It may be a little more expensive but I'd also put a valve at your UV fee and reactor feed so you can adjust the flow through each of these.

[matt]

It looks great; you should be able to get everything at Lowes or HD. The tees are 1" slip by 1/2" thread; then you need a 1/2" by 1/4" bushing which is the hardest to find, then a 1/4" thread by 1/4" speed fit ball valve (look near the icemaker supplies; this is the "john guest" fitting) a 1/2" threaded PVC ball valve, a 1/2" close nipple (may be called 1/2" by 1" threaded pipe) a 1/2" male thread by 1/2" hose barb (for your skimmer) and a bushing/hose barb combo for the UV sterilizer. If you want 1/2" tubing, get 1" slip by 1/2" thread bushing and another 1/2" hose barb, or if you want 3/4" then 1" slip by 3/4" thread bushing, etc.

If you can't find the 1/2" by 1/4" threaded bushing, you might find a 1/2" thread by 1/4" speed fit ball valve.

You're right you'll never find a PVC gate valve locally. The ball valve is fine.

[erick]

Now, if the old ball valve is completely open, then you would not get any flow thru the T, right? Now if the ball valve -right now- is partially closed (before you put in the T), then you strip off pressure, wont that cause probs? i.e having to open up the old ball valve more? I'm not trying to put a kink into things, I'm just trying to figure it all out (I'm saving this thread-pics etc...) as I will probably have to do some rerouting to my plumbing on a couple of my tanks in the near future.....

[jc]

The old ball valve is about half way open so I have plenty of room to turn it up if the flow goes to low. Also I have a maxijet mod in the tank so I'm not to concerned about lack of flow. I have a small jg valve to use for the reactor line. I figure the UV will need the most flow so I can adjust that at the tee-ball valve. The other connections require less flow so they should be o.k. pulling water away from the u.v.

[jc]

Oh yeah, I used a 1/2 to 3/8 jg fitting for my reactor. That way I don't have to search for a 1/4 bushing.

[matt]

It's a pressure line coming off the output of the return pump; believe me you'll have plenty of flow through the tees.

[jc]

I'm done. Thanks for all the help guys. Everything seems to be working well. The flow through the U.V. is nice and slow and the flow through the reactor is fast enough for at least 60 ml/min output.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8007/picture083mu0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[matt]

It looks great, but now we can debate about your reactor output! I would recommend (unsolicited, sorry!) as slow an output as you can keep steady, like a drip/second, until you get your reactor ph steady at 6.6-6.7. (If you're using ARM) A slower drip of lower ph effluent will actually help keep your tank ph from dropping. It's counterintuitive, but true. You can use a Salfert alkalinty test kit to check your effluent alkalinity; shoot for dkh25 or so. You'll have to wait several days until the media is completely settled to get an accurate effluent alkalinity test result.

[jc]

The ph probe in the reactor is reading at about 6.9. These are the readings from last night: alk 7 dkh, calcium 300, tank ph 8.3. The bubble count is about 100 as min and the output is 60 ml/min. I am using kalk mixed in with my top-off water to keep the tank ph at an acceptable level. It has only been up and running for about 2 days. The tank was cloudy the first day and now it is clear. I think I had some effluent build up in the chamber because I had to disconnect it for a few days and the media sat in low ph water. I would never turn my nose up at free advice. There is always something new to learn. I am following the settings of the people on Reef Central who built this same reactor. Hopefully I can find the proper settings if I go slow enough.