DIY Double Barrel 45G Acrylic Wet/Dry

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aldiaz33

aldiaz33

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MFK Member
Jun 19, 2007
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Parts list:
Used 45G acrylic tank = $50
Sheet of plastic pegboard (2'x4') = $18
Egg Create (2'x4') = $12
Scrap pieces of acrylic from Tap Plastics = $12
4 oz Weld on 3 $6
(2) 6' 1.25" tubing = $0 I had it lying around in the garage.

Total= $98

If I had to do it all over, I would use the standard wet/dry configuration and have only one chamber for the bio media and the other for return pump(s) and heater(s). I tried to get cute with the two bio chambers. I think the dual chambers look cool, but it was twice the work (double the cuts, double the welding of acrylic, etc). The pix should speak for themselves in terms of how I built it.

One word of caution. If you're buying a used acrylic tank to build a sump, odds are it will be bowed. This makes welding an acrylic sheet to the side walls of the tank near impossible. My bio chambers are nowhere near water tight, but I don't think that really matters.

Constructive criticism/comments welcome. I'm also taking bio media donations! :D

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Man it looks alot bigger than a 45g? It should support a monster no doubt. I would only add a wall at the end of the drip plates, so that the water has to go down. Instead of just running off the end of the plates. I would also add a baffle on the floor right beside the out flows of the bio chambers so that they control the water level of the wet part. But it would work great if you did nothing to it at all. -----fantastic job!
 
hybridtheoryd16;2747383; said:
Man it looks alot bigger than a 45g? It should support a monster no doubt. I would only add a wall at the end of the drip plates, so that the water has to go down. Instead of just running off the end of the plates. I would also add a baffle on the floor right beside the out flows of the bio chambers so that they control the water level of the wet part. But it would work great if you did nothing to it at all. -----fantastic job!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it looks big in the pix, but it's 48"x13"x17" = 45G. I kinda wish I had gone with a 55G, but that'll be my next project.

Good call on the wall at the end of the drip plates. I need to buy some silicone and use some of the scrap from the drip plate to make a wall. That was my plan from the start, but the glue I was going to use was bad (expired/cured aquarium sealant).

Curious...what would adding the baffle do? Why would you want the water level in the bio chamber to be different from the water in the return pump chamber? I always thought that the baffles were there to eliminate bubbles making their way to the return pump and sent back into your main tank as microbubbles. My plan is to add some foam so that doesn't happen.
 
Foam will work to eliminate the air bubbles from getting sucked into the return pump...as far as baffles go, I would make sure approx. 1/3rd of your media is submerged...

Just PM me when you are ready...
 
I tested it out today and the water wasn't falling as I would have hoped. So I added some spray bars to get the water to fall more evenly over the pegboard drip plates. The water now falls pretty uniformly. I just wish I had installed the drip plates a little lower so that I had more room for mechanical filter media.

Now I just need get some bio-balls and drain my 270G so that I can slip my new filter in from the top of the stand (it won't fit through my little access doors).

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very very nice. except I would have made it have more room for bio by moving the walls towards each other. looks like alot of wasted space.
 
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