ballast pump question

the boat I just bought has a couple ballast pumps that I'm supposed to hook up directly to the battery and I want to make sure I do it right and don't kill anything or myself. They're basic 'rule' brand pumps, same as the bilge pump...

Do I just connect the wires from the pump directly to the appropriate posts on the battery? Does it mater which order I put them on?

What about priming the pumps? I think they're pretty basic so I probably need to get some water into them to get them to start working.

probably dumb questions, but I guess better safe than sorry?

you are correct, the weirdest part of it for me the first time was plugging it in to the 9v and then dunking the whole thing in the water, while it is in some way connected to my battery, seemed a little sketchy

the pump has some plastic tubing attached to it, so once I hook it up I just fill that tube to get it started and hook the other end to the fat sack?

sounds easy enough. What about when hooking it to the battery? Does it matter if I go + or - first? What do I need to make sure of so I don't get shocked while working around the battery?

here are a couple of suggestions. What I have done in the past when I used that type of pump was to either put a cigarette plug on the pump wires so you can plug it into the cigarette socket or if you don't want to do that you can take a extension cord and cut it in half. Strip back the wires and then put wire lugs on them. Connect these to the battery. Then all you have to do is wire the other end to the pump and plug the two together and your good to go.
As far as priming the pump. When you are filling the sacs you actually place the entire pump in the water. Just drop it right in as Tom stated. Hook the hose to the sac and plug it in. To drain place the pump on the sac and hang the hose over the boat. I wouldn't worry too much about getting shocked by the battery. You would have to touch both the postive and negative together at the same time or arc them together with a piece of metal. 12 volts isn't like house hold 120 volt. You can grab the positive on a battery all day long and you won't ground to anything.

what about getting water out of the front ballast? it is a stainless steel tank under the bow seating, with only a small opening, not larger enough to get a pump in to.

not sure on that my guess would be they have a drain in the bottom of the tank. Otherwise you will have to run a hose into the hole and use a pump that will self prime. My guess is it has a drain in the bottom if it was already installed in the boat.