DIY Cryptic Tube Fuge - Video Podcast Episode 88

[ITeach2Wheels]

Hi I just watched the video and read the posts. I can't wait to try this DIY on my BC8.

I just have a question. Has anybody ever suggested shopping at a plumbing supply store? I am a delivery driver for a local shop, you wouldn't believe the stuff that's avaliable for plumbing. I can't help but cringe when someone says they can't find something at Home Depot. I use them on the weekends when a project goes wrong and I need something now...BUT I don't like it!! My wife just laughs at me as I walk out of the store bi#%*ing because I couldn't find what I wanted. Then on Monday I go to work and find three things that would have worked better. Just my opinion...Hope it helps, and maybe saves you all some money.

[CarmieJo]

I didn't know that they sell to the public. Our friend is an electrician and I have been to electrical supply houses with his wife to pick up stuff for a job and they won't sell to consumers.

[ITeach2Wheels]

The place I worked for would. I would probably try a couple of them and see. I can't guarantee the prices, I paid 10% over cost. I do know that there is stuff avaliable that Home Depot doesn't even know exists. The best way is probably get a couple of people together and buy in bulk to get the best prices. Go to this site for example: Spears Manufacturing, PVC & CPVC Plastic Pipe Fittings & Valves . This is only one of the vendors I drove to to make P/U's

[ITeach2Wheels]

By the way....I made my own pipe fuge tonight 4' of 4" pipe, I not have a BC8 with 10 gallons of water!! Yippee!!

[dkone]

Grats ITeach2Wheels... do let us know how this works out for you, if the cryptic fuge produces the desired results.

Warm Regards,

[ITeach2Wheels]

I will, it can't hurt....much.

[CarmieJo]

Good deal on the fuge! Plus you increased your water volume by at 20-30% and that is always a good thing!

[ITeach2Wheels]

I have take inspiration from this thread to make a pipe fuge of my own. I have a BC8 in my bedroom so space is a little tight. I don't have the room for a congenital fuge. So, when I saw the video I was struck by the intense desire to smell PVC glue.

This is what I came up with:
,
The parts list is:

38" of 4" dia PVC pipe
1 4" PVC cap
1 4" PVC Closet (toilet) flange
1 4" PVC clean out adapter with plug
1 1/2 PVC slip to female pipe thread adapter
1 1/2 plastic male pipe thread to male hose barb
1 1/2 plastic hose barb 90 deg. elbow
10' clear nylon hose

Here it is:
,
This is my fuge installed and running:

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The total volume is a little over 2 gallons. I put about 10# of rock inside. 2# live and 8# base.

I also modded the hood to allow for a clean install of the hoses.

Now all I need to do is monitor my nitrates and watch them drop down to nothing.

[CarmieJo]

Probably if you would have just sat down and waited a bit the desire to sniff glue would have gone away. Oh, wait that is not the same. Seriously this looks really nice and I think it will make a substantial contribution to the well being of your tank.

[ITeach2Wheels]

I almost wish the glue did do something to me. I did the fitting and fabrication in the garage. It is only slightly warmer than the outside air.......I think it was about 5 above outside. The primer didn't even want to dry. Just a little chilly, but gluing PVC inside wouldn't have gotten a warm reception either.

So far the nitrates are a little high, but water changes are taking care of it.

[PastorKDS]

I've started my tubefuge project, after discovering that my Nitrates were through the roof (at least 160ppm because that's as high as my test measures) Doing the Waterchange route too, but really needed to get begun on this.

I would have loved to install a RDSB (like Anthony C recommends) but didn't have the space available to me (OK, the wife said that I couldn't just set a bucket by the tank). Anyhow, I decided to double deck the tubefuge and RDSB by making my tubefuge BIG! I was going to go 6" pvc up to 24" and then down to 4" for the fuge up to 54". but when I got to the plumbing store, I found that the 6" wouldn't fit behind the tank, so all 4".

The bottom 18" will be sand, with the water inlet tube going down to 1" ABOVE the sandbed. Rock will fill the rest. I really looked at using the coil denitrefier tubing style, but felt it would be difficult to fit it properly.

My decisions:
1 - bring nitrates down
2 - keep wife happy
3 - have tubefuge sit on floor to avoid undo stress of hanging
4 - fit in narrow space behind tank
5 - make it look good in the area that tank is (see item #2)

To do this I picked up:
1 - 5' 4" pvc
1 - 4" tee
1 - 4" - 2" bushing
1 - 2" street ell 90
2 - flat screw caps for 4" clean outs
1 - outer fitting 4" clean out for bottom (so it would sit flat)
1 - slip in 4" clean out for top of tee (to be able to get in to the thing)
2 - 4" j-hook pipe supports
10' 5/8" polypropelm tubing to go from small rio pump through 2" 90 to bottom of live rock)
1 - Rustoleum spray paint for plastic in brown to match molding
1 - 50# play sand (I know I'll have some left over)
rubble rock

I have pictures, will post them soon, the paint is drying right now - but it may take a while out side at 32 degrees, I think I'll go bring it in...

BTW, Brooklyn, MICHIGAN - if you're a NASCAR fan you've heard of it.

more later!
Kelly

PastorKDS - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[Astrivian]

Wow. i am glad this caught so much attention. I dig your design Teach, it looks much cleaner than mine did. I will have to stop by a plumbing store sometime and see what toys i can find. I dig the size of your tube too; after i built my little one i thought it would have been better to go all the way to the floor. It shouldn't affect the pump any since all it has to do is push the water over the top; a siphoning would nearly suck the water down after that. Having the outlet up (oh, and i dig the tubing from it as well) would force a siphon to shut off just from gravity.

Also, putting a DSB at the bottom is a great idea Kelly! If mine were taller i was thinking of doing the same thing. Maybe put a rock or something directly beneath the water outlet so the pressure doesn't drill a hole through the sand. With tall the rock on top though, you will probably be okay.

Glad to hear you two like the idea!

[ITeach2Wheels]

My tube has been up almost a month, I started with mostly dry rock with a couple pieces of live rock for seed. The only problem I've had is getting everything started again if I lose prime. Otherwise it's a great project.

I am getting some nice slimy bacteria growth on the sides of the pipe, but nothing else as far as I can see.

The only modification I will make to the next version is to put a piece of 1" or 3/4" id hard PVC in the tube to the bottom. Then I will pile rocks against that. Then I will have a chase for the nylon tube to slide in when I need to remove it or make changes. I would probably use the PVC with an ID that closely matches the OD of the nylon I am using. I think the water will flow the same, it's just that the elbows are a bugger to remove from the tubing, and having a slip would make it easy to make the assembly cleaner.

What do you think??

[ITeach2Wheels]

One more thing, If you use the PVC inner pipe like I suggested, you could cap it and drill holes at the level above the sand bed to slow the flow as well as changing it's direction.

[V]

astro my friend.. youv'e started a movement!

Hats off to you brother, & then my hat goes back on cause you didn't start selling astro components online & capitalize on this movement like all good americans are belived to do! lol

[CarmieJo]

Hi Pastor Kelly and to TR.

[PastorKDS]

Before Shot

[PastorKDS]

[PastorKDS]

[PastorKDS]

The best part of this project was that 3 kids and my wife asked me when the project was going to be done NOT REALIZING IT WAS INSTALLED AND RUNNING. So keeping the wife happy was accomplished, now waiting for the nitrates to go down.

I really liked the j-hooks adding stability! I have 18" of sand in the bottom and the balance filled with rubble rock.

I will most likely add a 90 in the poly to make it work a tad better and an extension on the 2" to put the end just in the water to avoid splashing noise. Currently there is really no way for it to leak, which is the reason I didn't cut the poly pipe.

Total cost, $63. Total time, about 2 hours of construction and painting

[ITeach2Wheels]

It looks very cool!! I should have painted mine, but I am impatient and just couldn't wait. Maybe the next one.

Did you keep track of how much water you have in the tube?

Mine holds almost 2g but yours looks taller than mine. Good job!!

[PastorKDS]

It looks very cool!! I should have painted mine, but I am impatient and just couldn't wait. Maybe the next one.

Did you keep track of how much water you have in the tube?

Mine holds almost 2g but yours looks taller than mine. Good job!!

With the 18" of sand in the bottom, mine holds about the 1.5 to 2 gallons. And the painting was really simple and dried in about 2 hours, although I left it overnight to be safe.

Thanks for the kind words.
Kelly

[CarmieJo]

It looks really nice. I like how you made it blend in!

[PastorKDS]

At the 1 month stage, my nitrates are down from 160+ to between 20-40. I didn't check the water coming out of the fuge last night when I ran the test.

I did make one addition to the setup. Letting the water fall from outlet to the water caused a lot of salt creep/spray. So I added a cleanout to the end and drilled the cap and stuck a nylon fiting in it with a tube going to just below the water line. I'll add a picture of it soon. I also drilled a "snafu" hole in the cap so if the tube got plugged the water would flow out of it and drip into the tank instead of leaking out soemplace else

[JustDavidP]

At the 1 month stage, my nitrates are down from 160+ to between 20-40.

Holy fish turds .. was this 160+ during a cycle? I've never seen nitrates that high. I'd wonder if the test kit was still trusted.

Do the tests even go that high? I thought 160 was top threshold.

Dave