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#1 (permalink) |
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Born to be mild
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Inspired by Curares excellent idea, I started making my own non-lily pipes.
Got the material from Tap Plastics, a rubber fuel hose from the local hardware store, and some undisturbed time with my gas stove. ![]() Turned out pretty decent (I washed them before taking the picture, that's why they don't look that clear). The trick is to find the right softness where you can bow it without the radius getting flattened (which makes it especially hard to remove the fuel hose!) Now that I replaced both XP3 in/outlets and made them invisible, the heater cable looks awful. I guess it's time to look at a Hydor... This is a very recommended tweak. Material cost for the four pipes (two pairs) about $20, with a little bit left over. Not too bad, compared to what glass pipes cost.
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#2 (permalink) |
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Planted Tank Enthusiast
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What is the inside and outside diameters of those tubes? I called around and can get 5/8 O.D. (3/8 I.D.) for $18 for 6'. I am really thinking of making 2 sets for my tanks seeing how nice these look.. but am not too sure if the 3/8" ID is too small?
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30 Gallon Planted - 2-T8 ODNO, AC300, HP CO2, Fluorite/Gravel 55 Gallon Planted - 4-T8 ODNO, XP3, HP CO2, Fluorite |
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#3 (permalink) |
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Born to be mild
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I got 3/4 OD which fits the 5/8 hoses of my Filstars perfectly (after a short bath in almost boiling water):
![]() (inset is how it looked before) Big difference...
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#4 (permalink) |
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Planted Tank Enthusiast
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How do you prime it now? Heheh.
Oh, and do you have suction cups/clips somewhere in the setup?
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30 Gallon Planted - 2-T8 ODNO, AC300, HP CO2, Fluorite/Gravel 55 Gallon Planted - 4-T8 ODNO, XP3, HP CO2, Fluorite |
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#5 (permalink) |
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Born to be mild
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Easy. Both priming and emptying. It's a secret, but I will share it
Take a vinyl air hose, and shove it up all the way where the bend starts. Then carefully suck out all the air, until <gag> the first splash of water hits your taste buds. Then pinch the hose and pull it out. Bingo! (the outlet doesn't need to be primed, doh!) To empty it (so you can replace the dirty acrylic non-lily pipe with a brand new one) you do the same, but blow instead of suck.
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#6 (permalink) |
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Born to be mild
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Nope, no suction cups. Never quite understood why you'd need them. It's not like someone is going to lift them accidently out of the tank, or push them around.
![]()
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#7 (permalink) | |
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verdure
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Quote:
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Eclipse system 12 heavily planted AH 36w retro kit light 2pm-11pm Substrate: Flourite Pressurized Co2 with Red Sea 500 Reactor jbj regulator PMDD PreMix/EI _____________________ 10g shrimp Only tank Flourite Red 28w corallife aqualight Various Mosses. whisper 20 w/ sponge pre-filter. Feeding HBH Lobster crab bites and Algae Wafers. No Co2 and very light fertilization |
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#8 (permalink) |
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Born to be mild
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Well, why make it simple when you can do it really complicated? You are absolutely right!
(I only have to prime once every two years when the hoses need a good cleaning. Therefore, I suck!).
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#10 (permalink) |
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Planted Tank Obsessed
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Nice work WP!!!!
Well done! I've got a fluval 304 that needs some funky downpipes now too. BUt that's gonna be fun, 3/4" hehe! Also, I've been experimenting with ways of cleaning them as they do fill up with gunk. Time for another DIY epsiode eh!
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The Phoenix 10 gal Curare's bombed 3 gal nano 50 gal Australian native Like drops of fertiliser into the tank, so are the days of our CO2... |
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#11 (permalink) | |
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Born to be mild
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Quote:
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#12 (permalink) | |
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Born to be mild
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Quote:
Let us know what you find out about cleaning them. Knowing me, I am probably too lazy to take them apart, and just let them gunk up for the natural looks... I am looking at my AquaClear inlet... there must be a good way to convert that grey thing to a glass clear acrylic pipe!!!
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Click here for answers to all your questions All my tanks Cheap Autodosing Cheap Water Change Cheap Filter Acrylic Filter Pipes |
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#13 (permalink) | |
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Moderator
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Quote:
I found a way to clean my lily pipes (post #29), and thought you might be interested. This, because the brush I use isn't made of metal. The very tip is, actually, but the long handle is made of soft, flexible plastic. I thought this would be worth noting, since scratching the acrylic is an obvious worry. I bought two different size brushes, the 7/8" and the 1". Strangely enough, they have very different bristles. The 7/8" is much stiffer. The 1" is considerably softer. For your purposes, I would recommend the 1" (if you were interested). If you'd like better photos than the ones on the website, I could snap a few shots. http://www.justmanbrush.com/catalog/...electCatalog=2 |
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