What do I need to make a Danner 500gph Pondmaster work with 1/2"id tubing?
 

I have a petland discounts near me with a Danner pondmaster 500gph pump and I was wondering what I would need to make it work with 1/2"id tubing. Ie: barbs, adapters, the works. Also, where could I get these and Is this a quality pump? :shrug:

don't know anything about the pump, but accordint to a quick google
http://www.pet-expo.com/PONDMASTER_POND_PUMPS.HTM
these people say it has 1/2 in inlet and outlet

I am familiar with the Danner Mag3, but I'm almost certain that the 500gph version has the same connections.

The Mag3 has 1/2" inlet and outlet as well, but they are not hose barbs. Rather they are 1/2"NPT tapered pipe thread. Assuming your pump uses the same style as the Mag3, you'll need a male and a female 1/2"npt--1/2"hose barb fittings. Mine needs one male and one female. The male fitting (the typical variety of barb everyone is used to) goes on the inlet, and the female fitting goes on the outlet.

Not the best picture to illustrate this, but whatever. Female-threaded barb in foreground, male-threaded barb in background,
http://www.basementfreaks.com/member...ner_barbs1.jpg

Yeah, thats the problem, it has threaded 1/2" female inlets and outlets. I need those to get it to work.

Would homedepot have those?

yeah, they should. otherwise any other local hardware store should

Bu the best uou can is a female 1/2 - 5/8 barb (outlet) and a male 1/2 3/4 od(intake- doens kill your flow)

Can somebody clarify this for me?

shhhhhhhhhhhhittttt I just ordered a Mag 3 and didnt even think about the connections

It's not really a big issue.

Home depot has a pretty weak selection of barbs, from my experiences, but places liek Ace Hardware have enough to do the weird stuff (except they don't have any "good" 1/2"hose to 1/4"NPT barbs for some reason). I was able to get nice brass barbs to convert the male and female 1/2" pipe thread on my Danner Mag3 to 1/2" hose for about $2 per barb.

Yes, home depot has a huge selection here, should I go for copper or brass barbs?

it wouldnt make any differnce - brass and copper are very similar, brass is slightly stronger, you wont get corrosion from mixing them, however I wouldnt get plastic ones if they sell those...

Also usually in watercooling you use 1/4" thread size (im in UK so BSP for me, NPT for you) not 1/2" so these are bigger fittings, and using 1/2" barb will give too much restriction at the intake, so to reduce cavitation use 3/4" barb size. There is no good reson to use 1/2" barb size, go with 1/2" NTP -> 3/4" barb instead, most good tubing (tygon, clearflex etc..) will fit over them easly (thoguh you might need to run them under the hot tap for a few mins to soften them first).

You may even get the tubing over the pumps plastic connectors so no need for the barb, but they look a bit bigger OD, 13/16"?

Just be careful you don't strip or cross thread the plastic on the Danner5. It's a great pump and has been working 24/7 for me without any problems. My setup is in a storage room, all you can see in my computer room is the upper front panel with the drives sticking thru the wall in a picture frame. The storage room is unheated and the pc cannot be heard from the computer room. Here's a few pics. This is my first post here, but it's one of my favorite sites.

Ahh, this makes me feel better!

Thanks for the advice.

It would be kinda hard to cross thread the barb into the pump, wouldnt it?

EDIt: That case is huge!!!

Also, im thinking of the order of the watercooling loop is going to be like this:

Danner5->DD TBX->Swiftech gpu block->Danger den dual 120mm heatercore->Bay res->Danner5

Good order and parts?

(Of course, its going to be 1/2"id, 5/8"od)

DemonFire,
Sounds good, I like to also throw a block on the north bridge while I'm about it. When I advised to be careful about cross threading, it's because the Danner is plastic while the barb I used was brass. I have read good reviews of the DD TBX. I have not used any Swiftech gpu blocks, but they make some good stuff so I don't see how you could go wrong. The order looks fine also.
My case is huge because I double stacked two cases on on top the other and bolted them together, containing and exhausting the heat from the bottom case.
I used the rad from a 72 chevy PU w/air and have 4 120mm fans on the rad in a push/pull. Being as all the innards are located in the adjoining room with only the top case control panel accessible through the wall, it is virtualy silent.

Last night I switched the blocks over to all Silverprop blocks...CPU...GPU...and North Bridge blocks. I also installed brand new clearflex tubing and inspected all components. It all looks fine after over 6 months of constant 24/7 use. ;)

What coolant mixture do you use? Is your tubing white?

Also, I already have a silent blue orb on my NB, more than enough cooling. The 875p can handle high frequencies just fine.

How are the temp on those new blocks?

My mixture is so adulterated by now, I don't even know what's in it. It started out as a mix I was testing for a company, then I added H20 and winterized anti-freeze to it as it evaporated. It's actually a light blue color in person. My tubing is clear. The Silverprop EvolutionSE does quite well, but not as well as the Cascade I removed. So far the Cascade has been the best performing block I have used.

How noisy do you think the pump is?

That's hard to answer because it's a matter of opinion. Noise does not bother me as much as it does some people and since it's located in the next room with only the drives coming thru the wall, I don't hear it at all. If I were to stand next to it in the same room, Id have to say it would be fairly noisey, but when you add the 4 120mm fans in a push/pull on the rad, it's so loud that I woudn't be able to stand it, were it in the same room with me.
You might check the Danner 3....also an excellent pump from what I've heard and maybe not as loud?

That reminds me a little of KnightElite's monster case. Setup looks good to me; I definitely favor the res right at pump inlet with as little restriction as possible. It's amazing how fast the air clears out that way isn't it? I also agree completely with your comments about being careful w/ threads on the Danners. I would only use nylon barbs personally. I've cracked the inlet on a Mag3 with a brass barb before (live and learn). You can get a 1/2" NPT coupling made of PVC for very cheap to connect the outlets with a normal 1/2" NPT barb.

Thanks for the comments ph. Nylon barbs would be the smart way to go for sure. The air bleeds out real quick and I just have always liked to have a res. even one made from tupperware.

Also, when putting the barbs in, is there some goop or tape that I can put around the threads to help it stay put and ward off any fears of leakage?

Ive seen some people put teflon tape around the threads, if that helps?

Either Teflon Tape or Plumber's Goop work. With the Danner Inlet I think I'd use Plumber's Goop on the threads and not go more than finger tight. At least on the Mag3 it was very brittle.

I would also suggest, if you are going to have a bend in the inlet hose near that barb, that you put a metal hose clamp onto the outside of the inlet (close to the end) and tighten it down. Otherwise the torque from the hose bending will sometimes crack that plastic inlet and you'll spring a leak. That's what happened with my Mag3 in fact; it was fine for months but after moving hoses around in changing out CPUs and vid cards and such it finally cracked at the inlet. I was using a brass barb though. This didn't phase me as I JB Welded the inlet housing back together and the pump is still doing fine years later.

Perhaps since the mag 5 is built for higher vibrations and torque from the impeller than the mag 3 is, it might stand better. Of course Im going to be putting hose clamps on all the connections in my system.

no no

I mean put the hose clamp on the outside of the mag5's inlet piece itself (on the pump housing)