My DIY AC500 refugium

[Osiris]

Began making my 2nd DIY fuge, first one was a AC300, this is for the 29g, AC500:


$40.99 for the AC500 and i think $3.50 for the silicone:


Take everything out, then the media basket, simply just take apart into three pieces.



Here i took the bottem of the grill, and aligned it to where i would like to, purpose of this is to keep the macroalgae in the fuge.


And then here i positioned to where i want the baffle, i placed it this far in, so if i need to run carbon i can simply put it in there, and also the heater will be in here.



Ok so let's start siliconing, i placed enough silicone to hold that baby grill in place and then positioned and press down:



Also, siliconing the edges not a bad idea, just extra preventative.


Yea i dont have skills with silicone lol, lil mess but it won't hurt nothing:
I siliconed the baffle into place:


And here it is after all done:



In 48hrs it is tank ready, i will update you then with looks and lighting over it then....

[fishboy]

can you show a picture of you other 1? i've never worked with a fuge but i'll do anything to get my heather into a seperate unit. Where do you insert media? I'd make a mini one out of my old cascade 80 if i could, i've been trying to do something with that old filter because i bought it before i knew anything about fish and later moved another tanks filter in its place and bought a penguin bio wheel 150 on my other tank

[shev]

whoa, thats awesome. great idea.

[CMonroe]

That is awesome and very funny because I was looking at my old Aquaclear, and thinking about doing the EXACT (I mean the EXACT) same thing with it. We are on the same wavelength

The only think that held me back, was a) I wasn't positive it would work, and b) I couldn't find the downtube and was going to pick one up at the LFS this weekend.

You must tell me how it worked out (before I buy the downtube if possible )

CMonroe...

[Osiris]

Just to update and having alot of new member's this is a very good DIY fuge, this was 2nd one i had made, this one works flawlessly. I just pulled out over a gallon worth of Macro Cheato! Holds heck of alot!

Anyone have questions on it?

[leveldrummer]

i have a q? when you gonna have some extra cheeto?

[Osiris]

Sooner actually then anticipated! Was more cheato in the thing then i thought, i'll see what i can whip up for this weekend's auction!

[leveldrummer]

so where is the pic of it with a light running?

[Fishboy93]

I plan on building one of these but i have one question. Does it overpower the 29?? I want to add one but it looks pretty big and dont know where it will fit on the back of the tank because its against a wall. Do you happen to have the dimensions?

[Reefneck]

I don't have the dimensions since I don't use one but it will NOT overpower a 29G tank. I use a under tank sump/fuge for all my systems but these work well for what they are intended. MP did a great job on this DIY thread.

You will need at least 4" of clearence behind your tank.

[Osiris]

if i remember right it's like 6" away from the wall. Not at all you can purchase a surface skimmer for the aquaclear which i would recommend. Also if you think the flow is too much pull the impellar out and clip one of the wings off til you are pleased with flow.

The 10g operated on just 2 blades on the impellar.

[justintrask]

will the filter still work fine if i clip a wing or two out?

I just got a red sea nano filter and the flow is really shifting my live sand around, so I want to reduce it a little bit.

[Osiris]

Yea it will, ON something like that, i would start with one, and then move to two if think need to that's how i figured the proper speed on this project