plumbing questions

[cmsurfr22]

i'm working on plumbing my wet/dry, uv sterilizer and return pump. getting the water to the wet/dry was easy but from the return pump back i'm trying to figure out the best way to do this. i have a quiet one 9000 which has a 1.5" outlet so my plan is to use pvc pipe right off the pump to connect to a 1.5" cross pvc joint. two will be downsized to go to the two seperate 3/4" returns. the third will go back into the wet/dry and will have a ball joint on it to regulate the other two.

http://www.kanicky.com/misc/pictures/diagram.PNG

any input? is this cross joint necessary to get the full life of the pump or should i just use a "T" joint???

my second question is i'm going to cycle my tank with uncured fiji rock. i also have 10 bags of caribsea arag alive. should i cycle the tank with just the rock and then add the sand or should i put the sand in and cycle it with both the arag alive sand and uncured live rock?

[bertoni]

[welcome]

You can add the sand before or after cycling the rock. I personally don't think it makes much difference, but some people prefer doing cleanup of die-off without sand present.

I'd probably keep the ball valve in the design.

[kau_cinta_ku]

also when plumbing make sure to use unions and ball valves before and after your pumps so you can take them off to clean.

[cmsurfr22]

i'm trying to connect spa flex (flexible pvc) to a barb fitting on a uv sterilizer. the barb fitting is permanently attached to the uv sterilizer so i have no choice. is there any way around this or will i be forced to soak the end of the spa flex in boiling water then force it over the barb fitting and use a hose clamp?

also it seems that true union ball valves have a smaller inside diameter than a regular ball valve is this true? does it matter?

[bertoni]

A hose with a clamp should work well. I don't know how well the spa flex will hold up to the treatment since I've never done that. The only other choice would be cutting up the UV unit, which I wouldn't do.

I don't know much about ball valves, etc, so I can't help you there.