DIY Wet/Dry Bin/Drawer style with a couple upgrades.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

JoelR

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 15, 2006
560
5
0
Jacksonville FL
I know it's another Drawer system but I've made a couple improvements that others might want to try out.

I can't seem to post pics in the gallery for some reason so I can't post them one at a time without making several posts. I'll try to make it as painless as possible.

I forgot how many gallons the tub is but it's 30" L X 18" W X 13" T and the drawer system is a 5 drawer system with 4 small drawers and one big one. I took it apart and rearranged the drawers and put a small one on the bottom to keep the Pot scrubbies up out of the water. I also made some feet or risers out of 3" PVC to give me a little more room so I could use the bottom drawer. I did have to drill holes in the drawer system frame and the PVC and use Zip ties to hold them in place.


wetdry full shot.jpg

wetdry feet.jpg
 
One of the better improvements that I like is the Plexi top support. I Cut a piece of Plexi the size of the top and cut my bulkhead holes through the plexi and the frame. It makes it SOLID! This pic also show the use of space. LOL

I'm using filter floss in the top drawer & pot scrubbies in the next two small ones and the big one. I also have some Bio Chem Stars in the big drawer just because I had them.

The bottom drawer is my Misc. drawer. It has several sponges and some Amo chips. You could put any kind of chemical or what ever you want in this drawer. I also use this drawer to put some gravel in to seed, when I'm going to set up a new tank. I just take out the sponges and fill it with gravel, let it cycle for a week or so and when you set up the new tank, it helps with it's cycle. I also use one of the sponges from the PH buffer chamber feed pump (I'll go into that later) to help seed new tanks.

I drilled holes every 1" in every drawer for water flow. Patients is a virtue.
:D

wetdry plexi top.jpg

wetdry packing.jpg

Misc drawer.jpg

wetdry water flow.jpg
 
One of the great things about using a big bin type wet/dry is the play space you have. I also run a DIY CO2 system and my PH was way too low. In my old store bought W/D I had a filter bag of crushed coral in the bottom bellow the bio balls but it didn't make much of a difference. I think the water just moved around it. When I made this filter I put it in the bottom drawer and it did the trick! I didn't want to use up the space in the drawer so I made this PH buffer chamber out of 3" PVC and some fittings. I didn't take any pics of the build up so I'll try to explain it the best I can.

Starting from the bottom. It stands on a piece of Plexi (can't really see in the pic) as a base. The bottom is capped off with a pressure test cap (less than a $1) & PVC cement. Inside to raise the crushed coral off the bottom to keep it from coming out the feed tube (which is the bottom tube) I used a 3" drain screen (PVC). I did have to cut and sand down the lip that made it flush with the pipe, so that it would go up into the pipe. I also put a piece of plastic screen on top of it to keep the smaller pieces from falling right through. The screen was actually from the craft section at Wal-Mart. I think it's used for crochet. I put it up about 2" just above the intake fitting and used plastic epoxy to hold it in place.

The intake and the output fittings are 1/2 thread to 5/8 NPT (?) hose fitting). I drilled the hole into the PVC just smaller than the 1/2 and used a brass 1/2 thread to thread the holes. (slowly work it in, back & forth, :naughty: using dish soap as a lube and wash it off when done). I did use silicone in the threads when I installed the actual plastic fittings so they don't leak.

For the top I used a stand pipe clean out cap so I can add remove, etc. the media. You do have to use Teflon tape in the threads of the cap or it will leak.

Anyway, it doesn't take much coral to do the trick. It's way taller than it needs to be. Just play with the amount of coral to get the desired PH. It also works like a reverse flow Under Gravel Filter.

To utilize the same pump, I connected the output of the buffer to the intake of my UV sterilizer. Two birds with one stone.

From the UV, the output goes right in front of my return pump in the sump.

I do use a sponge filter as a pre-filter on the intake so the crushed coral doesn't get clogged too quickly. I can also use these sponges to seed new tanks.


Any questions?


PH buffer chamber.jpg

PH buffer chamber feed pump.jpg
 
Awesome build very nice looking.


The power strip above the wet dry scares me. What if that thing falls in to the wet dry? Or is it back more then it looks?
 
nfored;2429290; said:
Awesome build very nice looking.


The power strip above the wet dry scares me. What if that thing falls in to the wet dry? Or is it back more then it looks?
Click to expand...


Thanks.

As far as the power strip falling,,, it's not going to happen. It's on there tight as can be.
 
looks good
 
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