Fish Fingers
Fish Crazy
After just finishing my super mini HOB fuge I though I’d do a little post of how it all went together. I know these threads have been done a bazillion times before but I want some feedback on my design as I have never attempted something like this before and I suck at pretty much any type of construction! And maybe someone will get some use out of it. I didn’t take any pictures of the construction process I’m going to borrow pictures from other websites/threads (I’ll reference these at the end) and I’ll also use some basic sketches. BTW, this is my first time doing any DIY stuff for a fish tank, so I didn’t have much of an idea what to do and I did a pretty dodgy job with the silicone.
I had never seen an AC50 fuge mod before so I had to do a bit of improvisation. I used information gained from other mods and went from there. As I hadn’t seen this model done before, I decided it was best to do some planning beforehand. It wasn’t big enough to fit a heater in and I didn’t want to do anything too fancy so I decided just to use a basic single baffle. A baffle is used to separate the area holding all your stuff from the impellor and to slow down the water flow. The main thing I was concerned about was how high the baffle should be. Seeing as I didn’t have much to go on I took a wild guess and decided to go with a baffle that stopped around 1cm below the waterline of the filter and 1cm from the RHS of the main chamber. Turned out this was a pretty good height for the baffle to be at.
Sketch of Design:
Once that was out of the way I started construction. First thing I did was cut the filter media basket into three pieces (two sides and a bottom) using a Stanley knife.
I then stuck the bottom piece, which is a plastic grate, onto the outlet. This is to stop whatever might be floating in your fuge from getting out. There were a couple of ridges on the grate but I didn’t bother getting rid of them. There is really no point, but if you wanted to it could easily be done by simply cutting them off. The end product looked like this:
Once the grate was firmly in place the next thing to do was to put in the baffle. For the baffle I just used a piece of plexiglass. This stuff is cheap and easy to work with, plus I had plenty left over from when I made some tank lids a while ago. To get the right shape for the baffle I traced the outline of the filter onto the plexiglass. Then, using a Stanley knife I scored both sides of the plexiglass along the outline I was “cutting” and snapped the piece off. Snapping the plexiglass this way allows for a straight, relatively smooth “cut”. Once I got the basic shape for my baffle I rounded the bottom two corners so that they would fit nicely into the edges of the filter. The baffle was a little big at first but to solve this I gradually sanded it down until it was a nice fit. Now that the baffle was cut out all there was to do was stick it into the filter.
Once this was done I added another grate on top of the baffle. Even though there was really no point in doing so (as something would need to go against the flow to get over the baffle and the water would flow over the top of it anyway), I did this so that it would prevent something from the main chamber from going into the powerhead/impellor if there was a black out or something. It was just an added precaution. I got this grate by cutting out the grate from one of the sides of the filter basket.
And presto, I had made my first DIY Hob fuge (hopefully correctly!). After waiting a few days for the silicone to cure I did a wet run and it didn’t fall apart or anything. If anyone can see something wrong with it please tell em as I don’t knoe exactly what I’m looking for! Thanks!
Also, as a note, a lot of people add some filter media in the space between the baffle and the powerhead outlet for some extra filtration and flow reduction. As I don’t like using mechanical filtration I decided to leave it bare.
References (both great fuge mods):
I just realised I'm not sure if I can put these in as they are things of a different forum! Can soemone please advise me as to whether they can go in or not?
I had never seen an AC50 fuge mod before so I had to do a bit of improvisation. I used information gained from other mods and went from there. As I hadn’t seen this model done before, I decided it was best to do some planning beforehand. It wasn’t big enough to fit a heater in and I didn’t want to do anything too fancy so I decided just to use a basic single baffle. A baffle is used to separate the area holding all your stuff from the impellor and to slow down the water flow. The main thing I was concerned about was how high the baffle should be. Seeing as I didn’t have much to go on I took a wild guess and decided to go with a baffle that stopped around 1cm below the waterline of the filter and 1cm from the RHS of the main chamber. Turned out this was a pretty good height for the baffle to be at.
Sketch of Design:
Once that was out of the way I started construction. First thing I did was cut the filter media basket into three pieces (two sides and a bottom) using a Stanley knife.
I then stuck the bottom piece, which is a plastic grate, onto the outlet. This is to stop whatever might be floating in your fuge from getting out. There were a couple of ridges on the grate but I didn’t bother getting rid of them. There is really no point, but if you wanted to it could easily be done by simply cutting them off. The end product looked like this:
Once the grate was firmly in place the next thing to do was to put in the baffle. For the baffle I just used a piece of plexiglass. This stuff is cheap and easy to work with, plus I had plenty left over from when I made some tank lids a while ago. To get the right shape for the baffle I traced the outline of the filter onto the plexiglass. Then, using a Stanley knife I scored both sides of the plexiglass along the outline I was “cutting” and snapped the piece off. Snapping the plexiglass this way allows for a straight, relatively smooth “cut”. Once I got the basic shape for my baffle I rounded the bottom two corners so that they would fit nicely into the edges of the filter. The baffle was a little big at first but to solve this I gradually sanded it down until it was a nice fit. Now that the baffle was cut out all there was to do was stick it into the filter.
Once this was done I added another grate on top of the baffle. Even though there was really no point in doing so (as something would need to go against the flow to get over the baffle and the water would flow over the top of it anyway), I did this so that it would prevent something from the main chamber from going into the powerhead/impellor if there was a black out or something. It was just an added precaution. I got this grate by cutting out the grate from one of the sides of the filter basket.
And presto, I had made my first DIY Hob fuge (hopefully correctly!). After waiting a few days for the silicone to cure I did a wet run and it didn’t fall apart or anything. If anyone can see something wrong with it please tell em as I don’t knoe exactly what I’m looking for! Thanks!
Also, as a note, a lot of people add some filter media in the space between the baffle and the powerhead outlet for some extra filtration and flow reduction. As I don’t like using mechanical filtration I decided to leave it bare.
References (both great fuge mods):
I just realised I'm not sure if I can put these in as they are things of a different forum! Can soemone please advise me as to whether they can go in or not?
Just thought id let you know, in NSW C. Taxifolia cannot be bought, sold, or traded with fines up to $11,000. Previously, it was legal to contain C. taxifolia within an Aquarium, but from 2004 onwards, it has been classed as a fully prohibited species, and therefore cannot be kept in any Aquaria. A recomended disposal technique is to put the algae in a plastic bag and place it in the frezer for atleast 24hrs. Then place the algae, still enclosed in the plastic bag, into your rubbish bin. 
Im sure if you asked on RTAW, someone in NSW would pass you along some legal algae. Chaetomorpha is the best specimen for copepods.
.
/www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/threatened...ontent/caulerpa
