How To Change Red Sea Diaphragm To A Precision Gate Valve

The standard diaphragm valve on Red Sea Reefers is a weak point and will often lead to a noisy tank. Switching that to a high precision gate valve is easy - here's how to do it.

This install was for a Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 500, which has 32mm plumbing.

Everything you need is here (check your plumbing sizes first):
Red Sea spare parts - https://www.redseafish.com/support/spare-parts/
32mm ball valve - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Ball_Valves.html
32mm gate valve - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/PVC-Gate-Valves.html
32mm elbow - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/90_Degree_Elbows.html
32mm pressure pipe - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Pipe.html

Optional:
32mm hosetail - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Hosetails.html
25mm flexible hose - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Clear_PVC_Hose.html
Solvent weld - https://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Glue___Cleaner.html

The outside diameter of my drain pipe is 32mm, so I needed all 32mm fittings. If the outside diameter of your main drain pipe is 25mm, you will need all 25mm fittings. With my method, you just need to cut off the sump valved downpipe, then re-build the rest of the pipe but adding a gate valve instead of the diaphragm valve. So just copy the stock pipe and re-build it with the same pieces. This might mean you don't need the ball valve or 90 degree elbow - for example if your sump valved downpipe is just straight with no bend like mine.

Here's the guy who's done it without buying the sump valve downpipe:
https://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/topic/186453-tutorial-on-how-to-change-red-sea-reefer-downflow-valve-to-a-gate-valve/

Find my best fishy photos on Instagram - search 'Reef Dork'.

A select few great reef buys:
RO filter - https://amzn.to/2Xsq0KQ
Tunze algae magnet - https://amzn.to/2YydNku
Tunze frag rack - https://amzn.to/2XrW4d0
Tunze auto top off - https://amzn.to/2XrEryR
ATM colony - https://amzn.to/2YDlMwQ
Digital thermometer - https://amzn.to/2xy145i
Heating controller - https://amzn.to/2LDhmlB
Activated carbon - https://amzn.to/2YtLZO6
Coral glue - https://amzn.to/2XparDP
ICP test - https://amzn.to/2XsrZ1M
Rowaphos - https://amzn.to/2Xqx8m6
Red Sea salt - https://amzn.to/2XqGxub

Some of these links have an affiliate code - so if you make a purchase, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

For any commercial enquiries, please send me a PM, contact me via Instagram or leave a comment below.

0:00 Intro
0:29: Why do this?
1:25 What you'll need
2:59 Building the new pipe
4:42 Gluing it all together
6:03 Installation
7:28 Total cost
7:50 What i'd do differently
10:16 Parts list