DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

come over sunday and see it in person. i live in spring. not too far from the heights. i will post a pic's tonite- john

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

This is the wet dry. i have not a installed bulkheads yet. media drawer is open. 3 filter draws are out.

Wet Dry Link

Overflow expanded. unglued at 3 points.

Overflow expanded link

Overflow locked in place on tank. drain hose is off. i like the clear tube so you can see water flow.

Overflow locked in place on tank link

[Zulaab]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

How do you get it started ?
Does the flow ever break if water goes lower than the pipes ?

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

1-power head with a 2 ft hose on it.2- if the water goes below the pipe in the tank it will stop the flow. but it will not loose the prime. i've turned the power off 100's of times to do water changes and it always keeps the prime. you can see the water in the clear tube. you can see it rushing thru when you turn it back on. i will dye the 2 pc'of pipe & 45's in the tank with rite dye this sunday.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

fshfrk ,
can you give an update on your overflow? How did the dying go? I'm thinking about doing a homemade overflow myself. I just did the wet/dry, not like yours but I would say not too bad either. This is going to be for my 156 gallon saltwater tank.

What size pipe did you use? Or does that matter?
Do you know what your flow rate is?

I purchased a mag 18 pump and I'm going to have at 10' head, will this pump be enough?
If not I also have a mag 9.5 I can use next to it.
I'm using a 5 gallon bucket with a 29 gallon tank for my wet/dry.

I was sitting here thinking what can I do today and got started on my homemade wet/dry. I just used things I had around the house. (packrat.... maybe )

Here's what I have so far:
1) cut eggcrate to fit inside the bucket.


2) Drilled Bucket around the sides and at the bottom, placed eggcrate in bucket.


3) Placed bucket inside 29 gallon  tank. I made sure it would fit before I started the project.


Now I need to figure out the overflow thing. After I get everything moved over to the tank I'll put the bio balls in the bucket and use the smaller wet/dry on the old tank.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

You may want to put some additional support under the buckes
as the plastic ages, it becomes brittle and the ledges will break off.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

Thanks phisphreek, should I use 1" pipe for the overflow?
And do you think if I do a dual overflow that would be too much or would it be ok?

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

i'd clip that handle off and get it out of the way. pp is right about support. with the lid,bulk head and hose bucket gets tipsy. so a support on each side made out of 1/2 pvc would make it stable. you can bolt it with ss bolts & nuts.you need a drip tray. cut out the bottom of a bucket and drill holes like the bottom of the other bucket. mag 18 is a big pump. 9.5 should be fine. but 10 ft head is huge so maybe mag18?  I think i have a pic of the over flow in this thread. I will submit this now so i can check.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

I cut out the egg crate to use as the drip tray. Are the holes too big is that why I can't use it?

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

for dyeing i use black rite dye liquid. i use 1" pvc for over flows but with a mag 18 you will need 1 1/4 pvc.  thin wall is best. you only have to dye 2- 1ft pc & 2 90's that you can see inside the tank. but i would do 4 or 6 each just to use the dye. your friends may want some of these over flows. use a pot like the ones for crawfish. add water & dye. bring to boil. add pvc. turn to low and let gentley boil for 2 hrs. turn off and let soak over night. boiling will distort pvc so you may need a rubber mallet to beat it together. get a 18" pc of 1 1/2 ID clear vinyl from lowes.cut a 4 1/2 pc. this can be boiled for a few minutes to soften so it will slide over 90's. i like this so i can see water flow and prime when pump is turned off. i'll take some pics so you can see the over flow and get you measurements for pvc. these work good and will never let you down.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

Ok I cut the handles off and trimed the sides so that it would fit right into the tank. I also added some pieces of eggcrate under the bucket to raise it a bit. I then cut two holes in the lid and stuck two elbow pipes (1") in the holes. Here's the picture.




fshfrk
I saved your pictures of the overflow pipes so that I can go back and look at them later. Hope you don't mind. I'm not planning to work on the pipes tonight. Cutting this bucket up was alot harder than I expected. I think I'm going to give it a rest for tonight.

Btw: Did you use silicone to seal the pipes or did you use some kind of glue?

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

egg crate can support your drip tray. but it will not spread the water out on your media.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

Ok thanks. I didn't think about that. I'm going to give it a break tonight. I'll be making a trip to lowe's tomorrow. At least I got to play with power tools today.

[fshfrk]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

yea thats a tall bucket so dropping it down in the sump will give you more room. looks good. maybe drill a few 1/2 holes on the bucket below water line so water can escape and a few below rim of sump on the bucket above water line to let h2o in. IT'S LOOKING REAL GOOD! you won't be sorry.

[edmlfc]

Re: DIY Wet/Dry Filter - Suggestions?

There's 3 rows of holes going all the way around the bucket, do I still need a couple of 1/2" holes at the bottom?