The internet has definitely been one of the best things to help further the hobby and the growth of broadband has accelerated it tremendously. I was just reading an article the other day naming internet video as the fasted growing medium in history. It’s no wonder, since it’s often easier to grasp something from a short 2-3 minute video rather than reading volumes of threads or articles elsewhere. Take a quick tour around sites like YouTube and you’ll find plenty of videos showing everything from DIY projects to fish and corals in motion to tips and tricks.

Acrylic lends itself quite well to the hobby so its no wonder why so many people find this a valuable material for DIY and commercial applications. It is readily available, reasonably inexpensive, easily cut and fabricated and is inert meaning it doesn’t leech off any negative substances or reacts with the saltwater in our systems. There is a lot you can do with acrylic from a simple box to complex components like protein skimmers and media reactors. The best part is, it is not as difficult to work with as you may think. Here are some quick tips and tutorials on working with acrylic. I hope you find something useful and take the plunge and give it a shot.

After my post the other day on cooling the tank, I decided to start a project that has been mulling in my mind for a while. Granted this one is nothing fancy and even borderline hack but it works until I can carve out some more time to do it up a bit better. I grabbed a four pack of 12VDC PC cooling fans from a Fry’s Electronics for $14.95, grabbed an old 12VDC transformer, a piece of acrylic scrap and some Velcro to rig together a three-fan cooling unit.

Here in Central California we had three straight days of record-breaking hot weather peaking at 100° F one day! Having the opportunity to work from home most of the time, I was able to check in on my tank and noticed the temperature had risen to nearly 84°. It was time to break out the fans and hit the AC a bit to bring it down and this got me hinking–now is the best time to prepare for the heat ahead.

My friend Scott Fellman introduced the topic of taking inspiration from nature in your tank design and brought up the Golden Ratio when he was at my local club presenting a topic on aquascaping uniquely fitting called “Aquascaping for the Aesthetically Challenged.” You may have heard of the Golden Ratio, Divine Proportion or the Fibonacci Sequence in geometry, art history or mathematics and now you’re going to hear about it in reefkeeping.

Every so often I come across a post on a forum where hobbyists are chatting about wood choices for stands and particularly canopies or hoods. I really get bummed when I hear about people who’ve paid good money for prime materials like solid oak or oak plywood, only to see it warp and stain after constant contact with saltwater. I’ve decided to lay down some prose on the virtues of wood and help you make a more informed choice on your DIY project. Remember, you’re going to need to seal the wood adequately otherwise your project will eventually fail from absorbing water.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for it but it wasn’t until today that I finally found it — the elusive Mrs. Wage’s Pickling Lime! Anyone keeping stony corals or looking for a boost in coralline algae production should know keeping up calcium levels are essential for growth. Using kalkwasser (German for lime water) is a great way to take advantage of simple products you can find pretty inexpensively in your local area to help keep your calcium levels up.

I had the honor to contribute an article over at AquaDaily and my first one went up this morning. Owen’s got a great blog over there and is work checking out for freshwater and saltwater hobbyists. We tapped into one of my passions, DIY projects, for the article and came up with “DIY aquarium projects: 7 good reasons to make your own equipment.”

This one made me think a bit and the obvious one was to save money, but that is not always the case especially if you have to buy tools which add to the cost. So I grabbed my handy notepad and sat down and thought about it while enjoying my tank. I looked at all the reasons why I take on these tasks and found out a lot about why I do. It was fun scoping this all out and coming up with seven great reasons. Oh, BTW I created that picture just for the article!

Go ahead and read the article and if you have some other reasons why you DIY, please comment either here or on AquaDaily!

The author’s stuffed stand houses a refugium, sump and top-off water tank.

So I was answering a question Richard left on my “Sumps, Wet/Drys & ‘Fuges Oh My!” post from October, when I realized I never posted any information on my DIY ‘fuge and what I did with my valuable real estate under my tank’s stand. So here it goes…enjoy!

When I built my stand, a simple two-week process turned into a year-long battle. After my initial designs using graph paper and then Google Sketch, I finally settled in on a design I liked. Me and my fiance figured having an island stand with viewing on both the long sides would be great–when we get the space.

So instead of $100 estimate I had, I probably spend close to $300 when it was all said and done. I would run everything off the one short side and would have to have doors on both sides of the stand and hood. Also with a glass tank, I could not find the courage to drill her for plumbing so I needed to build a simple overflow box.

My initial thoughts were to use a 20g glass aquarium as my sump since I can get a new one for under $20 at a local fish shop. So I went out and got the 20g and tried to put it in the stand before I finished the skinning and adding doors. Well, my guesstimates were totally off-base and I was about 1/2″ shy from getting the tank inside the stand.

Back to the store I went and found an 18g tall tank for a few dollars more. This would have to do for me. The first plan was to plumb the skimmer and return pump externally giving me a nice area for a refugium section….wrong answer! I was running out of space quickly and would be hard to get the skimmer and return in there, let alone anything else!

So my new plan was to use the sump to house both the skimmer and return pump so I knew I needed to get another tank for a ‘fuge. After mulling it over and scouring the acrylic master Marc Levenson’s site at http://www.melevsreef.com/, I knew it would be tough to get another 18g tank in there, plus having to drill the glass. I had picked up scrap acrylic on sale at some local Tap Plastic stores but many of the places started just selling smallish squares of scrap at around 10″x10″ so way too small for me.

On a trip to San Francisco, I stopped in and was able to find some larger pieces of 3/8″ clear acrylic and got it all for under $10! With the pieces I found, I could build a nice 12″x12″x16.5″ ‘fuge giving me around 10 gallons of space.

I made it tall which gave me more volume, plus allowed me the chance to use gravity flow to the sump via some simple DIY bulkheads, but this did limit me a bit on vertical space to have a light above the tank. I needed to add a few more inches to clear the lip of the 18g sump so I wouldn’t have to buy a glass-cutting bit and drilling. I had some 4″x4″ wood and made a nice little stand with a few pieces of OSB for plenty of support. I also rested it on a piece of 1/2″ foam from a camping bedding roll I picked up from Walmart for a few bucks (also have the sump and display tank resting on this) to allow for even support of the bottom.

For the flow, I just teed off a 3/4″ PVC line from the return pump with a ball valve to adjust the flow rate. I made two DIY bulkheads from PVC electrical fittings and drilled in two holes about 1.5-2″ down from the lip. Then I siliconed them to prevent any leaks. This allows for gravity to take water from the ‘fuge and overflows into the sump area.

I picked up a small bag of fine-grain aragonite sand and added it for about a 4″ sand bed. I then have placed a few small chunks of live rock from the DT and was able to get a good chunk of chaetomorpha from a member of my local reef club to help in much-needed nitrate reduction.

After using a couple of 45-degree fittings to allow for a gentle flow into the sump, I constantly fought with too much noise, suction and having a hard time keeping the levels adjusted to a consistent point.

To quiet it down a bit I used a couple of 90-degree PVC elbows instead of the 45 but found I was getting a great suction on these and was hard to keep my water level stable.

I took them off and adjusted the ball valve and found it difficult to keep the water level up not only in the DT and sump. The PVC elbow and cutting one end of it right near the inside corner. I then flipped this puppy UP to allow a mini-overflow. It did have a nice little sucking and gurgle sound to it, but I was able to take the small airline lead (the ones you get with powerheads) and slid that puppy as far down the pipe as possible. It is so quiet I can’t even hear it!

Overall things are looking great! I did have a spat with cynobacteria due to too little flow, but a small 100gph powerhead helped that out. I am getting a bunch of critters and worm trails in the DSB and my nitrates have dropped from around 40 ppm to 10-15. I am hoping to get to zero soon!

My DIY two-chamber media reactor

In the world of aquarium DIY, it’s really hard to trace some idea back to its roots and give proper credit. Most often we see plans and either mimic, simplify or enhance the design to suit our skill level and needs. My latest project a DIY two-chamber media reactor is no different.

I got inspiration from my friend Lak (aka lanxang at Reefcentral). His post “DIY Carbon Reactor” in the Northern Valley Reefers club section of the site gave me a starting point.

The original plan was to buy a phosban reactor or make one from acrylic so I could see it all at work (I’m just anal that way I guess). Well I had already spent a lot of money lately and figured I could shave the costs down and not only get a phosban reactor but a second chamber to run carbon to boot.

First off was studying Lak’s plans and seeing what I had lying around the house and then coming up with a material list. I often do things on the fly and change on the go, so I tried to get everything I used below. Here is my material list and approximate cost:

• 2 – 1 foot section of 2″ PVC or ABS ( .57 a foot at local hardware store)
• 2 – 2″ PVC coupling slip x slip (about $1.50, I had two at home already)
• 2 – 2″ threaded PVC cap ($1.99 each)
• 4 – 1/2″ barbed PVC elbow insert fittings (.99 each)
• 2 – 2″ electrical gray PVC threaded terminal adapter (.94 each at Home Depot)
• 2 – 2″ x 3/4″ PVC reducer bushing, threaded for elbow insert. ($2.79 each)*
• 1 – scrap acrylic sheet, approx. 12″x12″ will be more than necessary (look for scrap bins at local plastics shops)
• 1 – sheet 7-count Quick Count plastic canvas (.39 a sheet at Michael’s or other craft store, look in needlepoint section)
• 1 – tube aquarium grade silicon sealant ($3-5)
• 1 – roll Teflon tape (.99)
• 1 – Filter foam enough for four 2″ circles
• 1 – can each, PVC or ABS cement and primer ($5)
• 1 – can Weld-n 4 and syringe bottle ($5-10) OPTIONAL
• 1 – tube Weld-on 16 or other adhesive ($5-10) OPTIONAL

* – I used the 3/4″ size since it had a nice taper to it, you can get the 1/2″ size and save needing a 3/4″ to 1/2″ reducer bushing (about $2.50 in savings).

Step 1: I first traced two discs on the acrylic sheet I had with the 2″ PVC pipe and cut them out using a router and a template. You could just use a Dremmel or jig saw too and may require some sanding. You don’t need to be exact, just enough to slip inside between the 2″ couple a pipe. Then drill as many holes into the acrylic disc as you can to allow water flow.

Step 2: Insert acrylic disc with holes into one end of the 2″ PVC couple. Prep the 2″ PVC/ABS pipe with primer and glue and then insert pipe into coupling, sandwiching the acrylic disc between the pipe and ridge in the coupling. Then prep the 2″ reducer with primer and glue and insert into other end of the PVC/ABS pipe. Repeat steps for second pipe.

Step 3: Prep and glue the 2″ electrical PVC terminal adapter to the other end of the PVC/ABS pipe. Repeat for second pipe. (Note: before gluing the terminal adapters on you may wish to create two acrylic mounting plates to support the tubes. Simply cut two 6.5″ x 4″ rectangles from acrylic and cut two holes about 1/2″ to 3/4″ apart big enough to slide over the ends [Fig. 1]. Glue in place with Weld-on 16, epoxy or other adhesive then glue on terminal adapters.)

Figure 1

Step 4: Drill holes in PVC cap big enough to insert the elbow fittings. Get it as snug as possible. Glue elbow fitting in with Weld-on 16, epoxy or other plastic adhesive. Put some silicone around the fitting to ensure seal.

Step 5: Take Teflon tape and cover threads of elbow insert fitting. Then place a small bead of silicone around first couple of threads. Screw into reducer bushing on bottom of pipe until tight. The silicone not only seals the threads but act as a lubricant to get a tight seal. Repeat step on second pipe.

Step 6: If you didn’t follow the extra note in “Step 3″ you can also create a mounting bracket. Measure and cut out two 6.5″ x 4″ rectangles from acrylic. Drill two holes in the acrylic large enough for the 2″ diameter pipe [Fig. 2]. Make them about 1/2″ to 3/4″ apart. Mark the midway point of each circle along the 6.5″ edge and cut so you have two half-moon brackets [Fig. 3]. Glue these onto the tube. The first flush with the bottom of the terminal adapters on top and the second near the 2″ couplers at the bottom. (Note: At this point you may want to see where you are going to mount on your sump and adjust accordingly.)

Figure 2

Figure 3

Step 7: Measure the width of your sump top to figure how much room you need to make a bracket. I am using an 18g tall glass aquarium, so 1.5″ works for my needs. You may need more depth if using an acrylic sump. I then cut a 1.5″ x 5.5″ acrylic strip and glued to bottom of the top bracket using Weld-on 4 (see figure 3). I then cut a 2.25″ x 5.5″ strip of acrylic to glue at a 90 degree angle down to complete the hang-on bracket and glued with Weld-on 4.

Step 8: Grab the sponge material and cut four circles out approximately 2.25″ in diameter with enough extra to provide a snug fit in the reaction chambers. Slide one down flush over the bottom of each reaction chamber to help prevent media from falling through the holes.

Step 9: From the 7-count plastic canvas, cut two discs out to fit snuggly into the 2″ PVC cap to act as a screen filter. Place the two other sponge pieces into the cap.

Step 10: Fill the first chamber with Phosban, ROWAphos or Phoslock (or other granular ferric oxide material) no more than 2/3 of the way. Next fill the second chamber 2/3 full with carbon.

Step 11: Apply Teflon tape to terminal adapter threads and place bead of silicone along first few threads. Cap off reaction chambers getting as tight as possible but aligning your barbed fittings so you can easily daisy chain the units together with hose.

Step 12: Once the silicone sets (give at least 6 hours or overnight), fit your selected hose onto the barbed fittings. I use a 1/2″ inner diameter drinking water hose. It’s white and rigid and tends to not crimp on you as much. The flow pattern will be from pump to bottom on the left chamber, up through the phosphate removing media, down to the bottom of the second chamber, and up and out through the top of the carbon chamber.

Now that you have it all set up, you need to select a way to get around 60-75 GPH through the unit. You can use a small submersible pump or powerhead rated under 100 GPH plus you need a way to control the flow. Hopefully this has been helpful and I will post more as soon as I get it up and running.