Made A Plywood Tank & Pvc Filters...

[Phillysailor]

Hey all
 
FNG with a plywood box, 28"x20"x22high" (about 60 gal) epoxied, filleted, painted and 3/8" glass window with a drain plumbed and set up for a filtered water drip irrigation style of "continuous" water changes. Got some plant-friendly substrate and some Mopani. Braced the shelf, installed a GFCI and wet location cover over a double gang plug. Got a couple of LCD lights for up top, and some test strips and some chemicals. A 300 watt heater (hmmm, think I overdid that purchase). 
 
Going with a canister design inspired by King of DIY guy... 4 inch PVC with a cap sliced numerous times so water surface and next 3/4 inch or so is pulled down into a PVC pipe. Will do mech filter sponge and then a bag of biologic over some floss. Then a MaxiJet 1200 impeller shooting out the side with the air venturi attachment. The lower half is holey at the bottom, then a similar rising pattern of media with a MaxiJet 600 going into 1/2" hose to a 1/2 inch union connected to an under-substrate grid of 1/2 PVC with holes. (Total pumped 460gph, about 8x tank)
 
Finally, the heater will be in a 2" PVC pipe with an airstone at the base, sponge at the bottom and at the exit T 2/3rds up.
 
Gotta finish the paint job (it's dusty... think the PVC needed more "tooth" before I sprayed the Krylon Fusion.) Leak test, add the 80-100lbs substrate & then plant.. low maint Annubis and moss and maybe grass. Like the look. 
 
Cycle. A bit nervous. I've a next door neighbor with a salt aq. Can I ask her for some biological media? Or will my tropical fresh water react badly? Probably can get some media from someone else, but less convenient. 
 
Filtration: the media accounts for about 12-14 of the 21 inches of PVC pipe. So, total is at minimum 600 inches cubed. Includes sponges. Think this is enough? I've both SeaGel and Eheim substrate PRO bio filter media, one in each pumped chamber.
 
The tank will be in an old TV built-in... polyurethaned the shelf it sits on, but I should probably hit the walls and ceiling with some to protect from humidity. I fashioned a face frame and am ordering hinges to create a door flap above.
 

 

[RRaquariums]

Would love to see some pics

 

[RRaquariums]

Side note just reread your post and saw you asked about using bacteria from a saltwater tank to seed your freshwater tank. The answer is no you can't they are vastly different types of bacterias that can't survive in freshwater. So what you need to do is just a standard freshwater cycle. This link will take you to one of our very good threads on cycling your first freshwater tank.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/

Hope it all goes well and really excited to see this baby up and running. I've thought a lot about building a plywood tank and who knows maybe yours will give me some ideas and inspire me to start a new project

 

[Phillysailor]

thx RR. Will kibosh that salty idea.
 
Wasn't happy with the grip of Krylon on the PVC, so I lightly sanded it.... and it all flaked off. I thoroughly sanded all the pieces, and was pleased to find that the couplers and such were well coated, but the smooth PVC pipe shed the Krylon readily. Glad to do that out of the fish's environment. I'm sure it just needed more 'tooth'. 
 
Got the birthday boy (it's "his" tank) to put a coat of polyU on the entire shelf enclosure. After fitful starts, he's finally getting the hang of painting with the grain, watch his strokes and load up the brush well. I'm really pleased with his choice of gift... other option was a day at Dorney Park with friends.

 

[Phillysailor]

Glass arrived.. I sanded the corners round so it can fit into the routed inset. Sanded and painted the box and PVC parts. Next step: silicone the glass in place and wait 24 hrs. Then, leak test!

Fingers crossed.

If anyone has suggestions on plants, such as a grass below and perhaps some floating choices, that'd be great. I'd like to stay away from adding CO2, but I've got two led aquarium lights and have avoided surface disturbance: I'm aerating through a power head and an air stone or two.

The other ? Is whether or not I should add a second bulkhead as a backup drain.

 

[Phillysailor]

I lightly sanded the painted interior, and am pleased with the smooth and durable result. Glass is now siliconed in place, have to wait 24hrs and then a leak test x 3-5 days. The drip system adds a gallon every three minutes, so I think I will do periodic partial water changes, and not continuously. Hopefully it'll just be as easy as turning open a valve.
 
Found a cool hose fitting at Orange box store that creates a siphon by shaking the tip in the water. The 1/2" hose fits onto a barb I'll install behind the tank. With the valve off to the overflow, that'd work if I need to drain the tank to some degree.
 
I'm planning on lining the bottom with lighting diffuser, so nothing mars the epoxy. Man, that'd be a mess.

 

[Phillysailor]

So I've got the tank installed, filled it in 3 hours by just opening the valve. Overflow worked perfectly. I set up the filters, ran them and the heater. Two airstones, one in a pipe as a mech filter (foam and floss). Got the light installed, and today I dumped in 60lbs EcoComplete Planted substrate on the bottom. 
 
So, next step, once cycling is underway, is to plant. I've got some driftwood, so I guess Annubias and crypts, but what other plants would go well? I'd like to put in some of those long stems that cover a bit of the surface, get their CO2 from the air. Since I have the under gravel jets (pac pipe grid with holes), are there some plants I'd best avoid, lest they plug up all the holes?
 
Really like how the filters are working so far My son is super excited... he's got a list of fish he wants, in order.

 

[Phillysailor]

So, pics are requested, but Google photos not posting easily. Got some links if you are interested. 
 
The glass siliconed in place, the existing built in TV hutch where I've installed the tank.  My son watching the tank fill... and, finally, the gravel and driftwood in place!
 
I've still got to cover over the heads of the bolts in the face frame and paint the second coat. Today I did a 20% water change, just by plugging a powerhead into the drain in the back of the tank for ten minutes. Then opened up the water tap, and was full in about 40 minutes. I also rinsed the filters because the gravel created a huuuge dust cloud. I'd put filter floss in there, and so the media is in a bag waiting for the water to clear.

 

[boshk]

not quite as advanced as you, but I made a DIY siphon out of pvc for water changing, so I dont need to stand at the tank holding the hose.