Toine Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 hi all, i want to DIY a fuge that would be a copy of the CPR-Aquafuge i already have, 'cept it would be much much wider. probably 20 inches. how di proceed? do i take all of the CPR measurements and plan wider panels on the side ? or di i have to do modifications on other aspects of the design ? :*( Toine Link to comment
onthefly Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Everything should be the same, except you'll need to add a center brace.....otherwise, it will bow when full. RB will probably chime in as the resident expert. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 heres a 30"L x 6"W x 12"H one I made last month... Jet table saw with a carbide blade, Porter Cable Router table with custom jig, Weldon 3, 2 30" x 36" acrylic 1/4" sheets, a couple bulkheads, PVC, 2x13wattPC light kit from hellolights.com, Made it to go on the new 25g reef. The last chamber also acts as a built in surge device. Handles 350gph very well, and holds 7gallons. Link to comment
Toine Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 Originally posted by Undertheradar heres a 30"L x 6"W x 12"H one I made last month... Made it to go on the new 25g reef. The last chamber also acts as a built in surge device. Handles 350gph very well, and holds 7gallons. wow ! looks good that is very close to what i have in mind, jus wider and shallower ... do you have other pics you could post here ? and also what kinda glue did you use for acrylic. this is a material i am not familiar with :*( any online tutorial you know off "workng with acrylic" ? where is Reefer-Buddha when his help is needed ? thanx Toine Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 heres another view from the top... Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/showphoto....php?photo=1110 heres the original diagram of the pieces cut. A router table is needed for the top bracing to be cut out. Gotta give alot o credit to my uncle for helping me with the router part esp. You should have seen the awe on my face when I opened the box with the brace all routed out perfect. I glued the whole thing together with Weldon 3. Some use Weldon4 because it doesnt bond as fast (more time to adjust before finalizing) , but I've gotten so fast that I can use Weldon3. If you want pages on working with acrylic...just do some simple searches in this forum, or www.reefcentral.com's. There are many who know more than RB and myself combined...Acrylicman comes to mind... Link to comment
Von digity Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! That is something that I have been thinking about! Combining a surge w/ a fuge. Thank you UTR. What is the GPH on the powerhead your using? you planning on making a deeper version that you can HOB? *edit* by "deeper" I mean taller. Link to comment
Toine Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 Originally posted by Undertheradar heres another view from the top... very very neat work one more question: is it made out of acrylic or plexiglass ? i just don't know the dif between the two :*( it seems that acrylic is much more expensive, at least over here. Toine Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Plexiglass is a brand name of acrylic I believe. I used the 1/4" sheets like you can get at say...home depot...labelled acrylite. You could use either, or even polycarbonate if you want. FWIW, the Weldon is pretty much a mixture of MEK and acrylic shavings...it melts the acrylic together in minutes. You will need this to bond acrylic. A plastics supplier in the yellow pages should have it, or I have been shipping it as well from my local distributor if worse comes to worse... Von, keep in mind that in order to use it as a surge, you will have to mount it considerably higher than the main tank (as shown here across the top of a 125g it overflows into), otherwise the overflow will never gain enough momentum to cause the surge motion in the pipe. I used an Aquaclear 401 to feed it while I was testing it...what is that? Like 260gph? I intend on using it in this manner on a 25g (mounted above and behind the main tank so I can view the fuge almost as well as the main tank) with an eheim 1252 pump...pretty much the same flow will be achieved. not sure what you mean by "deeper version that I can hang on back"...this one works fine as is....??? Link to comment
Reefer_Buddha Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 you the man radar as usual... Link to comment
Von digity Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 I simply mean, extend the bottom of it down a foot or so, that way, theres enough room for a clip or something to latch on the the side of the tank. The top would be the same height, so the surge chamber would have the same amount of gravity pulling water out. I guess the only plus us that you'd acheive a deeper fuge area. However, I'm realizing that with all that water volume, it would/could become one monster fuge. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 LOL Buddha (inside joke). von, I see what you are saying, but there is little advantage to that, not to mention that then we just made it into a 14 gallon HOB!!! Talk about tipping the tank over! Then I would need halides on the fuge to grow the macro at 24" of depth as well. I see you realized this as well...LOL. Can you imagine...a 14gallon HOB fuge??? It would be known as the 'Tipper' fuge! It wouldnt be a surge pipe method...it would be a dump bucket!!! (dumping the whole tank on the floor!!! LOL!!) On all my reefs with on-back fuges (notice, not 'hang' on back) I build a shelf out of 2x4s and attach it to the back of the tank's stand...legs and all...to hold up the fuge. The following is the stand for the 25gallon cube. The main tank sits in the middle. The fuge sits behind the removable screen at the top. A metal halide will hang over the main tank. The skirt on the bottom covers the 20H sump. This way all I have to do is remove the top screen to see the fuge, and the fuge's elevation provides the surge effect. Now all I have to do is make a matching end table to house the top off bucket and new calcium reactor! Link to comment
Von digity Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Hahaha... well, screw that idea. I'm still digging the OT fuge/surge combo. You know, that combo tank + OT stand you have built looks like the best thing for a California tank. Specially since it can easily be bolted to the wall (I'm feeling the recent intensified risks of a major earthquake here in wacky southern cali) Lucky you, don't have to worry about that crud out there in Wisco land. SWEET!!!! Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Dang, youre right. It would be great for Cali tanks.... Esp since the tank sits 'in' the stand so much...and it could be bolted...not bad... Link to comment
Toine Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 hi all i would like to thank you all for all of the information you shared with me. i now have a quite good idea of the modifications i have to do on the Aqua-Fuge to reach my goal. i am reading at the moment all of the precious information acrylicman shares on RCentral ... this guy is an endless source of knowledge on how to work with acrylic. ony problem is my English is sometime not good enough to understand in details what he means :*( but that's ok, i get enough out of it ! L8r, Toine Link to comment
onthefly Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Christ UTR! Is that a Wisconsin Mosquito I see off the left of your stand......I was there on July 4th and saw some that big! Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Oh, my welding sculpture? LOL, wisconsin mosquitos are big arent they?!!! Link to comment
Winzzy Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Undertheradar, What about making the fuge rest on the tank stand and having it be an overflow? I know you said youd need to do MH lighting, but I think Chaeto would be ok with just 40 w of NO wouldn't it? Seemes like it could work andthe weight would no longer be an issue. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Well, the idea here was to mount the fuge above the tank for two reasons...to be able to easily look into the fuge (somthing that many cant do with their HOB fuges) by simply removing the screen....and to have it high enough that the return pipe acts as a 'surge' chamber with the last chamber in the fuge. Of course I could just mount it behind the main tank, and just peeking out above it in back...but then I loose the viewing ability and the surge wouldnt work. FWIW, when I tested the surge out, it varied in a very chaotic pattern. After a while it seems like it would hit a 'equilibrium' point where it's surges would be very, well, nonexistant. The pipe would have just enough water in it to maintain syphon, but not enough flow to build up the oomph to clear out the air in it. the water in the surge chamber would remain low, being syphoned out slightly faster than the rate it flowed in. I thought "crap!" to myself, some variable isnt right (and with surge systems, there are about a dozen variables). A few minutes later, I checked back and saw the surge in full effect. It seems to go from low-surge times to high-surge times every 10 minutes. Kinda cool. I calculated the flow to range from a max of 500gph for 12 seconds, to nil for 10, and every possible variable in between. The corals are going to love it!!! Link to comment
Von digity Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Originally posted by Undertheradar A few minutes later, I checked back and saw the surge in full effect. It seems to go from low-surge times to high-surge times every 10 minutes. Kinda cool. I calculated the flow to range from a max of 500gph for 12 seconds, to nil for 10, and every possible variable in between. The corals are going to love it!!! Thats awesome. Exactly the type of un-predictable, variably wacky surge effect that I so desperatly desire. I'm gunna take this design into consideration when I start on my new 20 gal, earthquake prepared set-up. Link to comment
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