I love wet/dry filtration, but seeing as its a little rediculous to drill a 10 gal tank to put a sump under it I came up with this very cheap but very effective filter. Everything is available at Lowe's and your lfs.
Tools needed:
1x dremel with ceramic disk, 1/8" drill bit, sander, 1/2" drill bit
1x box cutter/ exacto knife
1x flat head screw driver
1x hack saw
1x can of purple primer
Materials:
2ft of 4" pvc
8x 1/8" nylon screws
3x 4" pvc test caps
1ft 1/2" pvc
2ft 1/2" tubing
3x pvc fittings shown in picture (I dont know what to call them)
1x 1/2" pvc cap
1/2 gal of bioballs
some rubber bands
some filter wads
1x power head of your desired flow rate
1x "all-purpose pantry dispenser (made by mainstays, 16 cup capacity)(this is the only item i got from walmart but I am sure lowes will have something similar, just make sure its at least 4" wide so the pvc pipe will stand up in it.)
1x 3/4" bulkhead (i used something else but a bulkhead will work too)
1. First start by cutting about 6 inches off one side of the 4" pvc using your hack saw, you wont need it, unless you feel you want an even bigger filter media chamber then dont cut it off. Next youll want to cut away a approximate square piece from the bottom about 3" wide using your ceramic disk extension as shown in the picture below.
2. Now you will want to use your 1/8" drill bit and drill 4 holes on all opposite sides of the pipe about 3 inches from the top and also the same about an inch about 1 inch about the opening you just created in step 1. screw the 8 nylon screws into these holes. You can vaguely see them in picture 1, on the inside it should look like this.
3. Next your going to want to work 2 of your 3, 4" test caps to make them look like the picture below. You will need to cut off 2 3/4" piece of your 1/2" pvc. Use your box cutter to CAREFULLY cut the lip off your cap which you can see on the cap on the left which is still intact. the plastic is very thin so if you gently circle it twice with the knife you can carefully snap the lip off. now proceed to start drilling many holes into the caps as shown with your 1/8" drill bit, but not to many as you do want the water to spread across the whole cap. use you 1/2" drill bit to make the hole for the pieces of pvc. These are there in case clogging occurs the water still have a way through. The pvc should fit snuggly into the hole and wont need any silicone. now go ahead and place both of the caps onto the screws in the 4" pipe to see if they fit right. This is shown in the second picture below.
4. While you still have you 1/2" drill bit in drill a hole about 1.5" from the top of the 4" pvc pipe this is where the water will come in (this is shown on the picture below). Insert the rest of your 1/2" pvc to make sure it fits snuggly through to hit the other side of the pipe. pull it out again and put the cap on one end. make a mark where the cap ends so you dont drill under where the cap is going to be. take the cap off and drill (using your 1/8" dril bit) 3 rows of 7-8 holes along the bottom of the pipe so that the hole on each end are about half an inch away from the sides of the 4" pvc pipe (when its inserted). in the picture below i turned the pipe to show the holes i speak of.
5. take the pipe back out and get your purple primer out. get the 3 unnamed fittings and attach the elbow to the converter piece. then attach the other side of the elbow to the pvc pipe on the undrilled side of the pipe (dont glue the cap on). Make sure that the holes in the pipe are facing the same way as the elbow. as shown below.
6. now take the top cap out of the 4" pipe and fill the pipe with bioballs and place the cap back in place. Insert the 1/2" pipe with fittings through its hole and attatch the cap on the end. I put a couple rubberbands around the 1/2" pipe by the opening in the 4" pipe to stop any stray drops of water that drip along the pipe (just in case). it should look like the image below.
7. Set all that aside and grab your mainstays jug and drill a hole for your bulkhead about 1.5" from the top on one side. as shown below. Now put the whole wet/dry chamber in the jug on the other side as shown in the second picture below.
8. Now your almost done, attatch your 1/2" tubing to your powerhead and hide the powerhead somewhere in your tank. (I am using it on a 10 gal nano reef so I could easily hide the powerhead behind some live rock). Make sure that the intake of the powerhead has some protection to stop fish and things from getting sucked in. I used a piece of filter foam for this, simply held in place with a rubberband. Place the whole jug+wet/dry chamber behind your tank with the bulkhead hanging over the edge of the tank. Now attatch the other end of the tubing to the converter piece on the wet/dry chamber. plug it in and voila, your filter is running.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask!
Tools needed:
1x dremel with ceramic disk, 1/8" drill bit, sander, 1/2" drill bit
1x box cutter/ exacto knife
1x flat head screw driver
1x hack saw
1x can of purple primer
Materials:
2ft of 4" pvc
8x 1/8" nylon screws
3x 4" pvc test caps
1ft 1/2" pvc
2ft 1/2" tubing
3x pvc fittings shown in picture (I dont know what to call them)
1x 1/2" pvc cap
1/2 gal of bioballs
some rubber bands
some filter wads
1x power head of your desired flow rate
1x "all-purpose pantry dispenser (made by mainstays, 16 cup capacity)(this is the only item i got from walmart but I am sure lowes will have something similar, just make sure its at least 4" wide so the pvc pipe will stand up in it.)
1x 3/4" bulkhead (i used something else but a bulkhead will work too)
1. First start by cutting about 6 inches off one side of the 4" pvc using your hack saw, you wont need it, unless you feel you want an even bigger filter media chamber then dont cut it off. Next youll want to cut away a approximate square piece from the bottom about 3" wide using your ceramic disk extension as shown in the picture below.
2. Now you will want to use your 1/8" drill bit and drill 4 holes on all opposite sides of the pipe about 3 inches from the top and also the same about an inch about 1 inch about the opening you just created in step 1. screw the 8 nylon screws into these holes. You can vaguely see them in picture 1, on the inside it should look like this.
3. Next your going to want to work 2 of your 3, 4" test caps to make them look like the picture below. You will need to cut off 2 3/4" piece of your 1/2" pvc. Use your box cutter to CAREFULLY cut the lip off your cap which you can see on the cap on the left which is still intact. the plastic is very thin so if you gently circle it twice with the knife you can carefully snap the lip off. now proceed to start drilling many holes into the caps as shown with your 1/8" drill bit, but not to many as you do want the water to spread across the whole cap. use you 1/2" drill bit to make the hole for the pieces of pvc. These are there in case clogging occurs the water still have a way through. The pvc should fit snuggly into the hole and wont need any silicone. now go ahead and place both of the caps onto the screws in the 4" pipe to see if they fit right. This is shown in the second picture below.
4. While you still have you 1/2" drill bit in drill a hole about 1.5" from the top of the 4" pvc pipe this is where the water will come in (this is shown on the picture below). Insert the rest of your 1/2" pvc to make sure it fits snuggly through to hit the other side of the pipe. pull it out again and put the cap on one end. make a mark where the cap ends so you dont drill under where the cap is going to be. take the cap off and drill (using your 1/8" dril bit) 3 rows of 7-8 holes along the bottom of the pipe so that the hole on each end are about half an inch away from the sides of the 4" pvc pipe (when its inserted). in the picture below i turned the pipe to show the holes i speak of.
5. take the pipe back out and get your purple primer out. get the 3 unnamed fittings and attach the elbow to the converter piece. then attach the other side of the elbow to the pvc pipe on the undrilled side of the pipe (dont glue the cap on). Make sure that the holes in the pipe are facing the same way as the elbow. as shown below.
6. now take the top cap out of the 4" pipe and fill the pipe with bioballs and place the cap back in place. Insert the 1/2" pipe with fittings through its hole and attatch the cap on the end. I put a couple rubberbands around the 1/2" pipe by the opening in the 4" pipe to stop any stray drops of water that drip along the pipe (just in case). it should look like the image below.
7. Set all that aside and grab your mainstays jug and drill a hole for your bulkhead about 1.5" from the top on one side. as shown below. Now put the whole wet/dry chamber in the jug on the other side as shown in the second picture below.
8. Now your almost done, attatch your 1/2" tubing to your powerhead and hide the powerhead somewhere in your tank. (I am using it on a 10 gal nano reef so I could easily hide the powerhead behind some live rock). Make sure that the intake of the powerhead has some protection to stop fish and things from getting sucked in. I used a piece of filter foam for this, simply held in place with a rubberband. Place the whole jug+wet/dry chamber behind your tank with the bulkhead hanging over the edge of the tank. Now attatch the other end of the tubing to the converter piece on the wet/dry chamber. plug it in and voila, your filter is running.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask!
