This is a cross between to much time on my hands and a lot of stuff laying around. I have always said I wanted to do a whole tank using all DIY for all parts of the tank. So here is the my DIY filter. I had some 4" pvc left over from another project. And some caps and clean out drains


This is not the cap I am using I used this one to test hole sizes but I wanted to show the type of cap.


The tube is 18"tall and here are some of the other pieces I'll be using as I go along.





I had some egg Crate left over from covering my last tank so I cut some circles out of it



Then I glued a piece of 4" pvc(1/2) to hold the egg crate in the bottom of the tube. This is up side down, but I just wanted to show this part together.


This is it right size up


O.K. know I'm going to add the drain hole in the lower part of the tube. Since I like the way a phos-ban reactor works. I took the same idea and I'm going to have the water come in from the bottom and push it's way up through the media. I drilled a 3/4" hole


Then added the drain



On the inside I screwed the water proof cap on but since it's not made for a round surface I'm going to silicone it all in

I'm going to leave this part for a bit to let it cure. So now I'm going to water proof the bottom using thread tape and silicone

This is it altogether and water tight

And then glued the bottom to the tube

Now on to the top I used a maxi-jet 1200 after I drilled a 3/4" hole in the top and added the drain. To make the maxi-jet fit the drain I used a piece of hose that was 5/8 od and 1/2 id and it fits just right. Then I drilled a 3/16 hole for the power cord. I lined to inside of the hole with a rubber washer. Then I cut off the plug in of the cord and pushed it through the hole.

This is what it looks like from the top

Then siliconed it all in. I'm going to put this a side to cure. Now I'm going to lay out the drain. This was the best way to use some more stuff I had laying around. I used a piece of hose that had a id of a 1/2" so I could tie in some 1/2" cpvc. I also added a ball valve to help control water flow.

I'm going to run this from the tank to the floor so I had to use almost 4' of 1/2" cpvc

This is it running from the tank down.

This is what you will see from inside the tank it's the smallest pipe in the back. And I'm going to tie the return into the return you already see in front, but I'll get to that later.

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Awesome, doesnt having too much spare time suck. I have found myself building my fathers discus tank for him. No DIY cause its in his office at work, all top notch products. tax writeoff why not.

I am interested in your DIY and am wondering why I couldnt use it on a FW application. I got tons of PVC and all sorts of plumbing parts when my grandpa retired to hawaii and left everything in my garage.

I don't see why not...How did the discus tank turn out?

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This is it so far




got the overflow and stuff, on AA a guy did a diy background with angels and same depth and appears to be size of my tank, he used the garden stone molds from the home depot or whatever I can see but I dont want it sticking into the tank too much. infact id rather use driftwood in the foam as a natural environment would show roots on the shoreline.

I ordered the eco complete from petsolutions this morning, free shipping over 100 bucks ordered 100 pounds for the tank so 115 bucks itll be here friday.

Wow trouble, that looks great. Wish I were a DIYer After taking a sculpture class back in college you would think I would be!!! But then, knowing how much I HATED that class.... making armatures with PVC pipe and placing mesh and plaster over it= a messy piece of "art."

Looks good nice and neat.

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I'll be the first to say I'm not the handiest kid on the block, but after being in this for awhile if you know just what you want and go to the store for it more then likely it will cost you a arm and a leg.

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I'll post some more later but I just checked everything and it all water tight. So all I have to do now is lay out the return line.here are a few pic the first is the unit with the top on.


And this is what I'll do on the inside. I had some bio balls and poly-fiber


I took the precut egg crate and laid the poly-fiber between two of them

and cut around it. I wanted to keep it as thin as possible to make sure it doesn't clog easily and placed it on the bottom of the tube

The next layer is the bio-balls that will do most of the work

And another layer of poly-fiber

So I'll post the return in a bit.

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interesting and thanks.

In one project I used knock outs with holes drilled in the instead of egg crate. But then I can even remember why I did that.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks.
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I wanted to use a flat top but I couldn't find one. And I didn't want to go and buy one. The theme from the start was to use what I already had on hand.

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Well I have it up and running but my camera is on the fritzes. So far so good. I'll post some more pics as soon as I can. idea 0$'s parts list already paid for a few sleepless nights"I can live with that" the feeling you get from doing it yourself priceless.

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