Just in case this thread is searched in the future, I wanted to let you know how I plugged the PVC. They sell a pipe tester which is a rubber stopper that blows up like a ball on an air pump to plug the pvc. The plumbing supply houses I went to only had a 2 inch one or none at all. That was a good thing because I didn't have to spend the money on this. I purchased a toggle type cap just in case my idea did not work, $2.50.
I went to the grocery store and bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes. I went home, and cut the pipe (the main drain return and the skimmer return at the same level) and put the toggle plug on the main drain return to stop the torrent of water. I had already plugged the skimmers with a 1 1/2 inch plug so the skimmer return was already off. I grabbed a potato with a diameter greater than 1 1/2 inch, the size of the pipe, removed the toggle plug and shoved it into the pipe. As it was going in I got a good squirt in the face, but it stopped the flow dead, not even a trickle. I would say I put in 3 inches of potato. I snapped the end I was holding, but you could use a knife to cut it flush. I cleaned the pipe dry.
I quickly glued one end of a 1 1/2 inch ball valve union onto the pipe, making sure the screw cap of the union went on the pipe first. Perfect weld. I then put on the ball valve and screwed it on hand tight. With the ball valve in the open position, I grabbed a thin dry wall saw and jammed it into the potato plug and began to carefully cut the potato plug until it washed out with the flow of water. I then closed the valve and used a strap wrench to finish tightening the union.
I repeated this process on the skimmer return side as there was a slow drip of water over the edge and I wanted a dry surface to make my weld.
Thanks for helping to get me through this.