AquaClear 300 fuge, up & running

Using an AQ300, AQ150 impeller, a Visi-therm 6" 50W heater, crazy glue (gel) & a trip to Tap plastic's, It is alive!!!

I used the impeller out of my AQ150 in the AQ300. Just as a test, I trimmed down AQ300 impeller & stuck it in the AQ150. The flow was the same as the AQ150 impeller but it was a little noisy.

For the intake a forced two different size soft plastic tubings inside each other in both sides of the intake. The I.D. is now the same size as the AQ150. It does self prime but takes 20 seconds longer.

The removable plastic peace that sits in-between the motor & intake tube. I trimmed off the lip that pushes the water down .

The Fuge box: I went to Tap Plastic's, After speaking to the employee & finding out that a custom built box was going to cost an arm & a leg. I found a brochure holder ($2.50) that was a little smaller than I wanted (it worked out perfectly). It had two holes on the bottom & the front was low cut. I had them cut me two pieces of thin plexi ($2.50). Using crazy glue I glued them in, & drilled holes in the top to let the water out (this will also keep the turbo snails out). I attached a couple of hard plastic tubes to keep the fuge & heater in place, & one to hold the fuge tight against the front of the water outlet.

I am currently using the factory mini bow light over the AQ300. I'm still searching for a good cheap clip on light? After doing a search Walmart sells one, but seems to be sold out.

Finally went down to Lowe's & picked up a clip light ($21).

Nice job!

looks good.

why not just use the aquaclear surface skimmer attachment?

canu get us a back view of it? also how much did it cost in total?

cheers

nishant

Rocket,

I bought one of those AQ skimmer attachments but I wasn't able to get it to work right, Donno. Also I didn't like the size of it.

I am about done with the skimmer box. I'm thinking about crazy gluing some GSP over the front of it.

Nashant,

I'll try to take a picture from the back tonight.

AQ300 $22.75

Visi-Therm 6" heater $14.75 (replaced the long Ebo heater)

About $10.00 for the plexi pieces & tubing

I already had the AQ150 impeller

(petking.net or bigalsonline.com had the best prices)

Thats as close to the back as I could get, without moving the whole tank.

When I made the skimmer box at first I was going to zip tie it to the intake tube (didn't work for me). I came up with the idea of making a plexi clamp (a metal blade in a jig saw cuts plexi like butter). It worked perfect (another $3.00 at Tap plastic)

Now that i've figured out I can cut plexi myself, Im going to make up some fins for the out put to direct the water to the right.

What's the purpose of inputting a different impeller blade? Is it to slow down the water movement through the fuge?

Wayne ^ yes.

Awesome.

I have a design similar I was going to post, but now you have taken care of it

The design I have also has a stem and a hole drilled in the bottom that runs to a sump skimmer (If I ever get around to setting it up)

I also like your surface skimmer.. looks just like mine LOL... I thought it was at first HAHA.

You might want to add a piece of LR near where the water comes out from the impeller well to help divert the stream a little as it is quite turbulent and any sub strate in the bottom will be blown around.

Nice Work

Oooooh! jigsaw w/ metal blade = cut acrylic. I always tried a fine tooth blade and the crap would melt back together as I cut it.

I made a frag holder rack out of acrylic this weekend. Wood blade worked great for cutting. I bent the acrylic using my electric stove.

Other than the fuge being a little to small, the whole thing is working out very well. I added live sand, a small rock, empty shells, macro (I don't recall the name) & some pods.

The fuge box is only open at the top so theirs no turbulence (water gently moves over the top).

I used the AQ150 impeller to slow the flow because the main tank is only 7 gallon (Just say no to Niagara falls reef). The 150 only has 4 small blades & the 300 has 6 beefy blades.

One other thing I've found is I don't need the power head any more. There seems to be enough water movement with out it.

I'm going to make a shorter overflow box. Overall I'm very happy with everything.

After I added the overflow box my 6+" Brittle star was chilling behind and in the box for a few days.

I have a cordless jigsaw I was using, maybe I wasn't running it on full speed. It made perfect cuts for me with no melting.

Hey freakaccident

You got any pics of your frag rack? What do you use to hold the frags in the rack?

This is next on my to-do list.

Can you guys help a dummy here? I want to try this, but I don't know much about 'fuges. I know what they do, but not how they do it. Why is the main filter chamber sectioned off like that? Why is the heater in there? (I figure just to get it out of the main tank)

Why do you have to redirect the flow and slow the rate?

You got any pics of your frag rack? What do you use to hold the frags in the rack?

No pics but I might be able to borrow my roommates POS digi cam this week sometime. It is a very small frag rack. I basically made it to keep the bastard turbos from knocking my frags over in my 10g. I had the frags sitting in small 2" long pieces of PVC stuffed into the sand bed. The turbos still knocked them over. Basically I took a 12"L X 3"W x 1/4" piece of acrylic that I had cut out from a larger sheet I bought at Home Depot. I marked a line 2"s in from each side with a sharpie marker. Then I turned my electric stove burner on high. I laid the acrylic across a wooden spoon so that the line was above and close to the red hot burner. Once the acrylic started to melt down (gravity) towards the burner I took it to the sink and bent it on the line in the bottom of the sink. I just used the sink as a surface to push the acrylic against. It bent very easily. I cooled it under cold running water. It bubbled at the edges and made the house stink for a few minutes but it worked. Next I used a drill to drill appropriate sized holes for my frags in the top of the rack. I used three different sizes for the frags I have. For instance my candy canes needed the smallest hole and the Xenia rocks I have needed the largest hole. I just guessed on the sizes.

Just as a note: I tried to build mine using the garf.org method of using a torch. I used an Oxy acetylene torch with the Oxygen off. It worked but the acrylic would get all sooty and melt before it bent. I am sure the propane torch method would work much better.

Heres a link to the garf.org article:

http://www.garf.org/MPegs/MakingRacks/MakingRacks.html

freakaccident,

Cool thanks for the tips & web site link, I think I'm going to make a mini version of that. What do you use for frag plugs?

harmonic,

Yes, the heater is in the filter to get in out of the main tank. The water flow for the AQ300 is designed for up to 100 gallon tank (that's what they claim). The AQ150's water flow is perfect for the 7 gallon, the return water being slow to medium flow in the main tank. That's why I used the AQ150 impeller. The fuge needs to have water moving over the top only. The original design of the Aquaclear filter push's the water down to the bottom and up through the filters. I changed it to push the water to the back and up over the top of the fuge.

What do you use for frag plugs?

I currently get live rock rubble from premium aquatics. Its no longer live but thats where it came from. It is really cheap. I stick it in my fuge or my 29g until I use it. I am going to make some aragocrete soon though so I may make some plugs and rocks designed to fit toether. garf.org for that info too.

That has got to be the coolest DIY/MOD I've ever seen!

So, you say the 'fuge is a little to small. If the heater is left in the main tank, the entire media compartment can be used then, right? All that's needed is to slow and divert the flow to the top?

I think you could just glue an acrylic wall against the motor side of the chamber and have it at the water line so water would flow over. Next glue a similar wall to the output with holes in it. It would give you full capacity and be easier to construct. You wouldn't have the option of removing the box though.

I think its better having the fuge removable, because the AQ's get pretty crusty. I clean it every two weeks.

Originally was looking for a plastic insert box the whole size of the media compartment & put the heater on the left side next to the intake.

Tap plastics was going to charge me a small fortune to make the box I wanted, so I found the brochure holder.

Is the little overflow box at the intake mainly there for skimming the surface? Or does it have another purpose?

Siskiou (newbie, still at the research stage)

Yes it keeps the surface water crystal clear. I'm making a shorter one, hopefully I'll have it done by this weekend.

Sure doesn't take much pressure to crack the housing on an aquaclear 300 does it? X)

I'll probably be able to buy a CPR 'fuge with the money I spend on this project, but I don't care. It's the principal of the thing now.

Skimming the surface. I need to build one form my 2.5 and one for my 29g.

Thats a bummer about cracking your AQ.

I was cleaning my AQ this weekend, I pulled the heater out for 30 seconds while it was on. OOOps It cracked when I put it back in.

Ow well, live & learn.

On a side note that same morning my temp had dropped to 76 deg. ???

Old reliable Ebo is back in the main tank.

Ahhhh Matt, please post the pics. I just found this thread yesterday, and started building my fuge today in the ac300. They were going to be a big help =). Pleasssse heh.