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I've been piecing everything together now to start a saltwater tank and I've come across a lot of designs for sumps, and I made one myself out of a 10 gallon. The problem is getting water in and out of it at the same rate.
Are there any other types of valves for 1/2" PVC than ball valves? They aren't very easy to adjust small changes. I've tried looking for needle valves, but home depot said they don't make them for anything larger than 3/8".

I was planning on using an old powerhead I had to pump water back into the tank, but I tested it in the bathroom sink with about a 3" length of PVC on it and all I was getting was a trickle and I knew that wasn't going to work. So I went out and bought Rio's biggest powerhead and brought it home and tried the same thing, except this time it blasted up to the ceiling like a fire hydrant. lol irrelevant, just sort of funny..

I know a lot of people use protein skimmers in their sumps. What kind would you use? A lot are hang-on or require the water level to be higher than it typically would in a sump.

Are there any other types of valves for 1/2" PVC than ball valves?

There's a few different kinds of valves similar to ball valves that are a little easier to adjust like labcock and stopcock valves or you can find the regular type turn valves like spigot valves or PVC valves (spigot type) I don't know what they carry near you but U.S.Plastic Corp. carries most of them .

Or if you have a local g.e. polymer shop or a good plumbing supply place they stock all of them as well as slide valves,flow control valves and Diaphram valves