DIY intake and outflow

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Khazmachi

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Apr 19, 2013
Messages
101
Location
Boise, ID
I found a good deal on a canister filter (Cascade 1000) on Craigslist, but it didn't come with the intake or outflow. So I had a little DIY adventure and thought I'd share in case someone else falls into a similar situation.

here is the filter as I purchased it.

ForumRunner_20130509_180227.jpg

After a little research it seemed like PVC was a pretty cheap and easy way to go. It turned out it was quicker and easier than I anticipated. I picked up the PVC elbows and fittings from Lowes. I went with 1/2 in. PVC. They had 5 feet lengths for $1.50 and one of those was way more than needed. I also picked up two 90 degree elbows, two 90 degree elbows that were threaded on one side, two hose fittings that screwed into the threaded elbows, two hose clamps, an end cap, and something that looked like a spout.

ForumRunner_20130509_181351.jpg

The two elbows attached to each other turned out to be the perfect size to fit over the top of the aquarium. (Its a standard 75 gallon) so I just cut a couple small lengths of the PVC to fit inside and glued those. Then I cut another length off to attach the out flow. That was only slightly longer so the out flow was near the surface. For the intake I cut a length of about 15 inches. On one end of that piece I drilled a number of small holes and attached the end cap on the side that had the holes. Then used PVC cement to glue everything together.

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My background is black so I painted it all black with a light coat of Krylon Fusion spray paint. I let it cure about a week (could have installed sooner from what I've read) then hooked everything up today. Its working wonderfully so far!

Top of intake with hose attachment
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Out flow. I wish I painted the opening...
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Close up of drilled PVC intake
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An old filter had gotten its impeller jammed up somehow and it basically overheated and warped the plastic when I was away. I had two HOB filters, when the better one died I installed a back up, but it is just an Aquaclear 50 so it could only be a temp fix. When I installed this new canister today I moved some media from one of the established HOB into the canister to help populate some BB in there. After a couple weeks I'll be happy to remove the smaller HOB rearrange things a bit.
 
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