Ok progress. Finally hauled the entire drain pipe into home depot and came up with an appropriate solution. took that reducer off the end of the pipe and it fits right into a 1.25" coupling and then a bushing into that to take it from 1.25 to .75 which fits into the smaller bulkhead. As far as I'm concerned, that 1" bulkhead that comes in the overflow kit is practically garbage. At all the hardware stores I went to, there is no such thing as adapters or hose barbs to fit flex pipe that large - so even though I could find flex pipe wide enough to fit over the end of the bulkhead, I couldnt find anything for the other end.
So I have a few items for the hardware store to finish out the plumbing and I think I'm set. The union is a smart idea, will definitely do that (it's on the list)
Also started looking at wiring the canopy. We have the icecap 660 ballast. Looks fine, it runs 4 T5 bulbs. I'm not quite sure how to situate the bulbs in there physically. I'm not sure if 4 is enough total long term (before the canopy I was going to get the standalone fixture that had 8 bulbs) or if I'll want to add more. If I want more, it would be smart to leave room for them now instead of spacing them nicely then trying to rearrange. Also can anyone tell me how big moonlights are (not sure if I need those but if so, I should leave some room I assume)? I suppose it varies but if anyone has pictures or links to lighting threads I'd love to see pictures of how people arrange their retrofits in the canopy. I saw one great thread recently but I can't find it.
Here's a pic of them just laying there. The kit didn't come with screws (***) so that's also on the shopping list for tomorow.
