# My DIY stand and wet/dry filter



## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

a few weeks ago i built a stand for my 55g. i built it entirely without power tools. it was real hard cutting, nailing, gluing and screwing everything. i just bought a 4 piece starter kit of power tools, power saw, flash light, power sander, power drill so i decided to cut some squares in the stand to make cabinet doors since i have to put a 10g under the tank for the wet/dry filter.

well i'm awaiting my shipment from bigalsonline for a heater, sump and bio balls but so far i've constructed a hangover overflow box and an siliconed integrated a box inside aswell. the new filtration system is for my baby rbps that i will be getting soon. i'm kind of worried if the box inside the tank will stick because the *ALL GLASS AQUARIUM* brand's silicon seems a lot weaker than normal silicon2 that i use for non aquarium stuff.

right now things are taped and siliconed to dry so i can silicon both sides in 24hours.








overflow box with 1/4" barb fitting, it's small but that's all they had at the time, will replace eventually..








inside box with overflow hose








stand on left, i just got the power saw so i cut squares that i will eventually put suicide doors, or lambo doors! j/k








10g tank with 8Lx8Wx12H area for bioballs, about 1gallon worth of bio media. you can see the small holes for the trickling. i'm waiting on the bio media balls so i can silicon the top together. once i put them in i can't take them out... i will have carbon prefilters ontop so no debris can get through.

it's all ugly and it's my 1st time making anything but i'm hoping it will all workout in the end.

i filled a 1g bottle using 1/4" tubing and it averaged about 120-180 GPH, the new pump is about 300-400 GPH with a 3/4" tube but it can be adjusted. i know the sump has to be slower GPH so in the future i plan on switching the hangover box's barb fitting to 3/4" and having double U tubes once i see how things work.


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## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

PICTURES WILL BE UP IN 30MINS.

the sump and bioballs came in!

the wet/dry filter is done! wow i barely got any bio balls, i need to buy 2more gallons worth.

I still have a few questions, how much water do you guys put in your wet/dry filter and your main tank? I'm guessing main tank to the overflow line. Since a full tank is 55g and my overflow box is about an inch from the top, I believe that's around 2.5gallons of space before it would actually overflow so place the 2.5gallons in the wet/dry? I put 5g(50% full) in the wet/dry just incase for the sump not to go dry but than again I made the flow weaker on the sump so that there is enough water at the botom.

*NOW FOR THE HUGE PROBLEM*
IT'S LOUD AS A MOTHERTRUCKA
I have a PVC 'L' Elbow to reduce noise but pffft, that did nothing. Supposedly you guys use ball valves to reduce the noise? I thought ball valves were the floating ball inside a pipe that would spin when water drains past? I read on wikipedia that ball valves are just valves you turn to shut on and off water.. Someone explain it to me please.

I'm thinking if I add another 'U' Syphon Tube from the Prefilter to the Overflow Box, I can have more flow to the overflow box so it doesn't make the gurgle noise. I also tried putting the sump at full power and that ended up fixing the noise by overflowing the 55g since the sump is more powerful than the overflow drain. If I weakened the sump a lot, than the gurgling noise would go away because the flow from both tanks would be little to almost nothing. I'm thinking I need to the flow perfect but if I don't and make the sump slightly more powerful, the 55g could overflow over night.

Everything was custom made, so it's kind of like an untuned car, it's not the prettiest thing and most efficient yet with some modding and time, I will get it perfect.


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## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

My 10g with the bio media, I misread and thought I bought like 10-16 cubic inches worth of this stuff, more like square inches lol. Do I need more bio media since all that matters is the non submerged surface area?








my stand I built, ya it looks like sh*t and I need to repaint it but I'm a total noob to building sh*t. As long as its standing, it's good to go and I'm kinda proud that I built the whole frame of the stand with 0 power tools. I got power tools after I put it together, that's why the square openings and doors aren't straight because I attached them while the tank was on the stand.








Suicide doors closed!








Side shot of the prefilter inside the tank, overflow on the left. I managed to fix the sound by moving the 'U' tube outside the prefilter for now, I have to drill bigger holes in the prefilter box because I only have (5) 1/8" holes. The 'U' tube is about 1-1.5" so I have a lot of drilling to do but it's all siliconed in already, this is gonna be a pain..








Closeup shot


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## Draven1 (Nov 5, 2005)

The best way to learn is by doing and you have, your stand and wet/dry look find and if you ever have to build something again I'm sure it will turn out even better. Cobgrats.


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## holmes14 (Apr 15, 2007)

good job man, its looking pretty good, and im sure youll get it looking even better. How much did it cost ya for the filter?


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## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

lee's specimen box(hang over filter) $8
3/4" 5 feet tubing $5
1/2" 6 feet tubing, around $5
barb fitting and plastic tubing connector $7 unless you just stuff it in your pocket
U tube, not youtube.com $11
2 sheets of plexiglass around $20
Bio balls 1 Gallon (Aprox. 60 Balls) $6
Rio Plus 1400 Pump/Powerhead UL $28
shipping for powerhead/balls $8
all glass aquarium silicon $5

so around a total of $103
time spent = a lot

here's a list of what's what for the overflow box if you are ever interested in making one

http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-overflow/70.asp


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

Great job so far! The pride and satisfaction of DIY projects is priceless.

btw ball valves are just valves you turn to shut on and off water. they can also be partially closed/open to reduce water flow.


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## wally43 (Feb 23, 2007)

looking good so far man keep up the good work


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## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

thanks for the kind words. I ripped the prefilter inside box off the tank because I cracked it while drilling. I replaced it with a Lee's specimen box that I drilled about a 5mm hole every 2mm. I realized my inflow/prefilter box didn't flow fast enough to transfer water fast enough to the overflow. I also put a sponge filter cover over the plastic tubing that connects to the barb fitting in the overflow box to stop the GURGLE noise that drove me f*cking nuts. I adjusted the sump's flow so its not more powerful than the overflow. I will add final pictures of improvements.

Now that I know how to builld a wet/dry if anyone have any questions, I can help a bit. One of the hardest things was messing with plexiglass/acrylic without having it crack. You can try to power saw, scrape and cut plexiglass but go to a Lowes and get it done, it's 100% accurate over there. When power drilling, drill at low speeds, very little to no pressure besides the weight of the powerdrill and 75% of the way in, reduce weight so you don't punch through to hard and crack the plexiglass.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

One question, will your overflow maintain it's siphon if the power on the return pump cuts out? Try a stockman pipe in your overflow box to reduce noise. And yes, you will want to add more bioballs in the wet/dry to get 'em above the waterline. Otherwise looking good, love the crooked holes behind the doors, adds character


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## boxer (Sep 11, 2003)

yes, the syphon will maintain. the point of the prefilter/inflow and overflow box is to keep the syphon going. the U tube is about 1/2" from the botom of the prefilter and overflow boxes's botom and the point of both boxes is to have water that will never go under 1/2" due to some physics of it. the overflow's drain tube is like 1" above the botom so this makes it not drain, it's hard to explain..

the bioballs float above the waterline, well half of em..


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