DIY FBF (woo hoo!)

[wow_it_esploded]

I was thinking of making a FBF for my 75 gallon tank. Here it goes:
-75 gallon tank

-20 gallon sump
-about 18 gallons in sump
-about 50 scrubbies
-1 gallon of bioballs
-2 biomax refills for ac20 filters
-1 biomax refill for ac70 filter
-return pump running about 550gph

-magnum 350 pro (system with 2 huge biowheels)
-1 box of biomax (idk if it was a full liter bcuz came with old tank)

-emperor 400
-no media right now, but I have some bluebonded I am cutting for it soon
-no biowheels as I lost these and the spraybars a few years back because i am too cheap to buy more... or just cant make myself spend 10 bucks shipping on a 5 buck item

-playsand (i washed it enough so no cloudy tank)
-8 arapaima gigas, about 4 inches long each... JUST KIDDING!
-6 xray tetras (not my choice, fish from another tank I broke down that was my little 8 year old brother's)
-1 ghost glass catfish (also my little brothers... he went with all transparents because...well.. he is an 8 year old boy. lets say that every decoration in the tank was a skull, a sharktooth, or something to do with dinosaurs)
-1 fantail goldfish... I saved him from a 1st grade class who had him in about 4oz of water (little clear vase with a GIANT rock in the middle...). He is stunted at 1 inch SL and about 2.5-3 inches TL. He will be going into a friends tank soon where I hope he may live the rest of his fishy years (which will not be too many more because of the size he was stunted at)

All the fish will soon be gone and be replaced with one EBJD (electric blue jack dempsey). I normally am too cheap for a fish this expensive, but they just got an AMAZINGLY healthy tank full of 1.5 inchers at my lfs, and they only cost 25 buckaroos! I want this guy to live, so I am taking every precaution possible.

So, because I love DIY projects and have a little money sitting around (not really sitting around, more like burning a hole in my pocket) I want to try a FBF.

My main design will be something like this:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208356

But I will have a flat cap at the top I can install a bulkhead into (well, really, a couple of bushings and a gasket, but anyways) to keep the pipe that extends to the bottom of the contraption from moving. This will not be pressurized though (The idea of pressurizing one of these makes me nervous and feels unnecessary)!

So, I have a couple of questions for you guys:
1) what kind of snad should I use? I currently have some sandblasting sand and some playsand, so I would prefer one of those (so I do not have to buy more sand) and I am edging towards playsand because that seems like the logical choice.
2) How should I diffuse it at the bottom? I was considering some PVC pegboard that I could weld onto the PVC riser pipe (smaller pipe going into the FBF).
3) What size AC powerhead should I use? I can get them for half off so I know that is the brand I wanna use. I saw in another thread that they use the 802, so I will have to find out what size that is now because they redid he names.
4) what diamater pipe and fittings should I use? I thought 3 inch would be plenty.

I want to make my sump a non-wet dry (ah, here it comes!), a wet-wet sump, because I am trying to make this tank quite as possible (i need to redo my overflow too!) so I want to have this as a sort of piece of mind filter. Ya know, that one extra filter, or one size up you buy, just because "It couldn't hurt, filtration is always welcomed". Oh, and I just like the idea of a FBF...

Thanks for any suggestions or answers I get out of you guys, this place is the bomb.

Oh, also, could anyone point me to some more DIY FBF threads? Even if they are ancient? I want to read about these as much as possible.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

Also, I would like to have this done this weekend, so any quick help would be nice! I want to get it done before I get the EBJD, but I guess (since it is going in the sump) I could install it afterwards.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

And sorry if that was hard to read.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

Can I get you guys to talk by saying that I will include pictures... Lots and lots of pictures?

Oh, and I found that the 802 is now the 70... Do you think I would need the 400GPH on this thing, or would 270 be fine (the next model down). I will go for the 400 if I can get one of my friends to order something from DFS, or if I can go to the petsmart across town because the one 1.5 miles from me only takes matches from it's own site.

 

[nfored]

IMHO for that size tank you would be better off buying a FBF I have seen them for as little as 50 or 60 bucks in stores, so ebay should be like 30 or 40.

I am looking forward to seeing yoru DIY FBF though give me ideas for doing this on my setup.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

I think that something I diy will work out better that something I could buy... More robust, ya know? My main reason for doing this is fun, I have always wanted one, and I can do it cheaply. I do not have to buy 10 feet of PVC because my HD sells 24 inch lengths (3 inch is like 4 bucks for 2 feet), so that is perfect. I have the sand, and the 3 inch fittings are only 3ish bucks each... I am estimating 20 bucks for the piece itself (probably closer to 15) and 20.99-27.99 bucks more for a pump...

 

[Pharaoh]

DIY is always more fun. You could probably build one a LOT cheaper than $60. Let us see some of those pics.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

We tried homedepot today and the only flat caps were 4 inch... I was fine with that, until they were out of 2 foot long 4inch pvc and would not cut more! I could not make myself buy 10 feet of 4 inch pvc for almost no reason... Though that would give me the excuse for building more filtration for the pond... No john stop! Stop building filters! *slap*

So, we are heading to lowes tomorrow afternoon to see what we can get done.