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That is the diy box I have mounted behind. It's just a plastic ice box I got at Target.
This is the part I was trying to describe in that icebox. The 2 big 1 1/2" bulkheads are fed water from the overflow box in the tank. In the ice box there are 3 bulkheads on the bottom. The middle is my full siphon. The one on the left is my secondary. And the 3rd is my emergency. The PVC is about 1/4" taller then the one in the 2nd bulkhead. The middle bulkhead line has a ball valve further down. To tune it, I set the ball valve full open. Then I start closing it until the water level in the icebox rises to barely trickling into the secondary. And that's how I leave it running. It's extremely quiet. If I didn't have the secondary the middle one would take in air and there would be a loud gurgling sound.
This last pic is my filter under the tank. It's just a 3 drawer storage box that I also bought at Target. The top 2 trays are drilled with about 50 holes to form a drip tray. The bottom tray has a 3/4 bulkhead and a pipe going down into the water in my sump (which is a heavy duty storage bin that I bought from Lowes - 20+ gallons). This is to reduce the sound of heavy dripping into the eater in the sump.
It's currently not running because I'm working on cleaning up the routings and cementing the pipe together. But it does work and quite well.
The 1st tray will have porous sponges. The 2nd tray will have my bio-media. The 3rd tray will be completely loaded with filter floss.
I like it! My only problem is that I dont want an overflow box on the inside. Think I can skip it? Sorry need to get my photobucket acct back to post pics
Do you plan to doing what I did with a box in the back? If so make sure you have it up high enough to set the water depth in your tank. The way I think you want it the tank depth will only be as deep as the holes you drill in.
You can mimic my setup without a box but using just PVC. I would look up the bean animal overflow. His is more elaborate but I'm sure you could make one similar if you understand how his works.
Thats what I was gonna do! I know I should put an over flow to set the water level but I dont wanna. If anything ill use a few street elbows to set the water level
Yah j that seems like overkill, don't get me wrong, I over filter all my tanks! What about the canister and one ac110? With a couple circulation fans I the sand bed?
Thats only 1525 gph and thats only 20x turnover rate. Its not alot for an oscar in all honesty. These things are poop machines. Ill take a video of just todays mess he made at 4"