DIY HOB Refugium Plans

[chazde3]

Well, to start out with, I have a 16 gallon bowfront tank that has been up and running for 2 1/2 months now. I'm having some issues with green hair algae and I think the answer would be to build a HOB refugium. So I thought I'd throw out my design to be critiqued by anyone with experience with them.

 

I wanted the fuge to sit snuggly between the tank and my wall and to be the full length of the tank to utilize as much area as possible. Taking that into consideration I want it to be 20in long x 12in high x 4in deep. Other than that info I don't have much else to throw out there. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

On my design I left out the 6 acrylic brackets to hold it onto the tank.

 

[Kimberly63]

I like it. I think it'll work well.

[Smurf]

Nice

[InTr4nceWeTrust]

Nice. How tall is the 16 gal bow front? If it's 12 inches, maybe you should make it a tad bit taller so you can have gravity powered return.

 

Also, if this works, make me one : P

[chazde3]

The 16 gallon is 18 in tall. I didn't want to make the fuge the full height of the tank because I don't want too much weight added to the tank. As for making one for you, we'll have to see how mine goes first.

 

I think I'll make a run to Menard's tomorrow to pick up some supplies for it.

[erickrm]

what are you using as far as plumbing? this is the only thing that has me scratching my head lol.... trying to make it cost effective so far i can save well over 75 bux compared to the CPR ones.... just have to find the plumbing.

 

Are you going to attach some acrylic to the side to hang it on the tank, or just hang it off of the plumbing? i would suggest hanging it from the acrylic vs putting stress on the plumbing. Will you do any thumb screws? I want to make it look as good as a CPR but at the price of DIY hahah

 

your plans look great man!!!

[chazde3]

Yeah, I wanted the looks of a CPR one without the cost. As for mounting it I mentioned in my first post that I left out the six brackets to hold it on the tank, I was just tired last night and forgot to add them to the design. I didn't want to put any stress points on the plumbing to avoid any potential leaks. As for the thumbscrews, I wasn't planning on them because I designed the brackets specifically for my tank requirements.

 

Plumbing is going to be pretty much whatever I find that should work with it. I was thinking a 1 inch diameter intake and a 1.25-1.5 inch outake.

 

If you need any custom refuge designs drawn up I can do it for you. I've been working with CAD programs for six years and I am working on getting my degree in mechanical design, so it wouldn't be a big problem.

[erickrm]

Oh sorry about that bud, i must have just skimmed through it. Sounds like you have a good plan there man i am sure you have your intake higher than your output as well right

 

I actually have been trying to play with cad but i suck! lol... I tried good sketch and works pretty good lol.... but know cad is so much better! i need to get a book or something. I will send ya a pm thanks....

[OB1]

I've been thinking of doing this for my 29. One thing I plan on doing that I haven't seen on the factory ones are legs. On a factory built one they would need to be adjustable but with a custom you could just make the end pieces longer or glue some pieces on the ends that were the length needed to add some support and take stress off the tank.

Food for thought??

[InTr4nceWeTrust]

The 16 gallon is 18 in tall. I didn't want to make the fuge the full height of the tank because I don't want too much weight added to the tank. As for making one for you, we'll have to see how mine goes first.

 

I think I'll make a run to Menard's tomorrow to pick up some supplies for it.

 

Oh okay. I was under the impression there would be some stand space behind the tank for the refugium to rest on. But I guess a HANG ON BACK refugium is supposed to hang on the back : P

 

I'll try to watch this thread cloesly. CPR fuges are SOOO expensive. Even used ones.

[lazy-boy]

I had this planned out, even marked out on the acrylic and everything but ended up returning everything because i realized cutting acrylic with a hack saw wouldn't be a good idea! spent about $50 on materials.

 

got 2 pieces of 24x18 acrylic

(2) 1-1/4" grey water tubing (90*, a straight fitting, and caps)

(2) 3/4" grey water tubing (90*, straight fitting)

 

designed it like the cpr aquafuge/ps. used the 1-1/4" one for exit and one just to hold it on the otherside to the tank. and was goign to hook up a maxijet to the 3/4" side.

 

let us know how it goes, and be sure to post pics.

 

lazy-boy

[chazde3]

Yeah, I was glad that Lowe's cut the acrylic for me. As for plumbing I am going to try a .5in intake and .75in outake. I'm almost done glueing the pieces together. I'll get some pictures of it later for those interested.

[chazde3]

Well, time to update everyone that may be interested in this. I have the fuge all glued up finally, had some issues with the epoxy I first tried . And last night ran the first test with it and it worked perfectly except for one very minor leak. So I drained it and hopefully fixed the leak. I plan on hooking it up to my FW tank and running it for a couple of days to make sure it runs properly and to make sure nothing goes wrong.

 

Now to find some chaeto or other macro algae and to figure out what inverts to put in it. Any suggestions? It ended up being about 3 gallons total volume.

[erickrm]

did you not use weld-on? just be careful if you used anything other than weld-on as the other stuff only glues the acrylic together and probably wont last for too long. Good luck either way bud.

[chazde3]

I couldn't find any weld on in my area and didn't want to order any online. I used a product designed for PVC piping, but it said it solvent glues, so I decided to try it. I'm sure it isn't as good as weld on but that's why I'll be testing this for a few days on a FW tank.

[erickrm]

sweet, good luck man hope it works keep us posted!!! i am building a tiny fuge this weekend for a tank 8X8X8 so the fuge is going to be tiny lol.... like 6X3.5X6 hahahah

[chazde3]

Cool, that will be a small fuge. Did you have any luck figuring out your AutoCad program.

[erickrm]

have not really messed with it to be honest with you. I have not had anyone order any custom stuff this past week so all the ones i sell are usually the ones i have on my site, which they already know what they will look like so no one ask for a pre design. I def have to fig it out though! hahah

[chazde3]

Allright, time for an update. As of right now the fuge is plumbed and hooked up to my nano. I was able to finally defeat the persistant leak from earlier in the week. Here are a couple of pics of the final results.

 

Leak/Strength testing

Hooked up to the nano

 

I plan on draining it over the weekend and painting the front panal black. And again, any suggestions on stockig of the fuge would be appreciated.

[InTr4nceWeTrust]

VERY nice, dude. You planning to do it display style? Or jamming it full of whatever you can?

[THE_NANO_NOOB]

Hey nice setup! I myself am planning on doing my own Refuge for my ten gallon. A few questions if you dont mind...

 

1. Are you completlly eliminating your other filter?

2. Do you just use gravity for the return (hard to tell the exact setup from the pic).

[sandcruiser]

bump?

 

how did this work out for you?

[dling]

I like it, I LIKE it a LOT.

[chazde3]

It actually worked out pretty well other than a minor leak that I fixed. I ended up getting a used CPR aquafuge for thirty bucks so I traded up. But now I have a 29g sump full of chaeto.