so....teach me how to soft plumb

[hzheng33]

i'm in the process of setting up yet another frag tank so that can free up one of the rooms for my wife.......

having said that i have these corrugated pipes and i have never done this type of plumbing before. can someone shed some light on how to use them? all the videos i have seen use vinyl tubing of some sort.

1) what is this white thing that comes on/off by my hand? is it pvc? looks and feels so thin to be standard pvc.
2) how do i safely attach the grey ends to a pvc? i.e. is it pvc cement?
3) if the corrugated hoses are too long, can i cut it?
4) not plumbing related, but how do i safely remove the brown sticky paper on the acrylic as seen in the picture? it doesn't come off clean as you would with a newer acrylic product.

 

[bhodges82]

It's for glueing to pvc coupler I think. Those hoses always leaked for me, vinyl hose is a better option on my opinion

 

[Steve Burton]

Lighter fluid or mineral spirits should remove the Brown paper glue

 

[ActiveAngel]

The once that i used corregated, it never leaked. But i still agree and prefer vinyl tubing.

 

[Coraliscool]

imo the additional surface provided by the ridges is a multiplying factor in leak possabilities compounded by the extreme flex ability promoting faster wear.

In situations where hard plumbed pvc was not convenient I have used and still do use, reinforced tubing like you see ran on soda machines and behind bars on the beverage guns. It is a food service safe smooth surface that has some reinforcement but is more flexible than pvc. That is just an opinion I am no plumber. It's just my personal thoughts and experience.

 

[Doberman13]

I can't stand vinyl tubing. Any amount of time and it becomes extremely stiff. If you have a small return pump chamber it can be a real pain to pull out your pump. You can buy silicone tubing on Amazon or eBay. It is more expensive but stays flexible.

 

[Adam]

I know there are people out there that still use that flexible hose, like Ricky when he was still in the hobby. I think it was born out of necessity before people had more experience with PVC or silicone hoses. For me, after the paper is off the acrylic I'd use the lighter fluid or mineral spirits and a match to rid myself of it.

Seriously though I'd only use that if the tank was temporary. But you know how temp turns into perm.