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Introduction
I chose to use this cast acrylic canister that I had spotted at Walmarts a few months earlier.Then with a bit of trial and error developed this final design. It is simple to build and requires no special tools or materials. All that is required to complete one of these canisters is the following.
Material List
- One Mainstay's Home - Acrylic Large Canister 74oz (from Walmart UPC:86348 19110)
- One 1/2" CPVC 90 degree elbow fitting
- Two 1/2" CPVC 45 degree fittings
- Approximately 18" 1/2" CPVC Pipe.
- Approximately 18" 1/2" CPVC Pipe.
- One 150 - 200gph pump (RIO 600 works well.)
- One 6" x 12" piece of "egg crate" light diffuser.
- A 5/8" spade drill bit.
- Multipurpose PVC cement.
Construction
Drilling
Once you have gathered the materials the first step is to mark and drill the holes for the input and output tubes. The input hole needs to be centered about 1" up from the bottom. The output hole needs to be about 3/4" down from the top metal ring and offset slightly from the input so that they won't interfere with each other when you plum them up.. Resist the urge to put the output in the lid of the canister. Although it may work, I'm not sure how well the lid seal will hold up if there is eve an obstruction in the output line. Doing it this way limits the pressure on the seal thus making sure you will remain leak free.Once you have marked the locations, you can carefully begin drilling. Make sure to leave the lid latched in place, this adds strength and will help prevent cracking. Also, when you choose the drill bit for this project, get one that has the little points on the outer edges so that like the point in the center that guides the bit, they pre-cut the outside edges making for a very clean hole.
Since we are using 1/2 CPVC pipe a 5/8" bit is perfect for this and allows the pipe to fit snugly into the hole helping to create a watertight seal once glued.
Apply only enough pressure to keep the bit moving, Do not try and muscle the bit through or you will cause the plastic to crack or worse yet break.
Plumbing
Once you have successfully drilled your two holes you are ready to install you inlet and outlet piping. You will need to cut three peices of 1/2" CPVC pipe about 1 1/4" in length, 1 90 degree elbow, 2 45 degree fittings, and one female pipe coupling. First you will need to use a saw and cut about 1/2" off of each end of the coupling. The resulting "rings" will be used on the inside of the canister to help with the seal. Dry fit the peices to ensure that you have a tight fit and understand how they will best fit together. This is also the time to decide upon what direction you would like the fitting to point once glued. With a little creativity this design can be quite flexible, I use mine sitting up in th edge of my sump, but it could be just as easily configured to hang on the side, or sit remotely. But now is the time to make that decision, because once it is glued, you are committed.For the inlet (bottom), using pvc cement, glue one of the 1 1/4" peices of CPVC pipe to the elbow, make sure that there is a bit of excess glue so that it is pushed up the pipe by the fitting. While the glue is still wet push the pipe into the hole in the canister squeezing the excess glue into the hole and out arround the fittting. Now apply PVC cement to one of the "rings" and slide it onto the pipe from the inside of the canister and hold pressure on the ring and fitting squeezing the canister wall between them for a couple of miniutes untill the glue begins to set.
Repeat these steps with the outlet pipe using instead one of the 45 degree elbow, the second 45 degree fitting and remaining peice of cpvc pipe will be used to complete the 90 degree turn. This completes the plumbing portion of the canister. Please let the glue dry for 24 hours to properly bond the pvc to the acrylic and reach the proper strength before you attempt to use it.
Media Riser
The final part is the media riser, Because the the inlet is on the side we need to lift the media off the bottom of the canister to be most effective. I did this by making a small platform from scrap peices of "egg crate" light diffuser. DIY Canister I cut on piece just large enough to fit inside of the canister and then added two small pieces to act as leggs. The leggs are then glued to the large piece using pvc cement, This works well as long as you allow 24 hours drying time. once this is done and has dried, you can then place it into the bottom of the canister.You will want to cut 2 pieces of filter floss / sponge the diameter of the canister. A better alternitive is the needle point backer pictured. It can be bought at craft stores and is great for carbon and other large media. But the floss/sponge will still be needed for the finer media like phosban. One will go on top of the media riser and the second can be used on top of the media (like phosban) to help keep it from escaping into the tank.
Conclusion
And here is the completed canister, ready for final plumbing and pump.The pump I am currently using on mine is a RIO 600 that I happened to have laying around, but any low flow pump about 100gph will work great. You could venture as high as 200gph but I thing a lower flow gives the media more time to do it's job properly. Now a great pump to use is the 180gph pump that Harbor Freight sells, It is often on sale for $9.99 and is a great little utility pump with a ceramic shaft. This is a quick and easy DIY project that cost me less than $10 and a couple hours work. I now have an easy way to run whatever media I need and the flip top lid makes cleaning and changing media a snap. Yes the clips and rings for the lid are metal, however I have had one in operation for nine months with no visible signs of corrosion.
