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My DIY 48" spraybar.

4K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  thelub 
#1 ·
A little over a month ago i upgraded from a HOB to a sunsun 304B canister filter. I never liked the spray bar that came with it due to it's length and flimsy nature. It's fate was sealed when i knocked the inlet to the spraybar off one day while cleaning and realized how much flow the filter actually had! It was blowing my MS out of the gravel from the opposite side of the tank :drool:. I decided rather than having to modify it later i would go ahead and build it with all of the bells and whistles i could ever need including dual outflow, a surface skimmer, and making it so it could be disassembled and cleaned. Here are some pics of my DIY 3/4" CPVC spraybar.


I cut a section of pipe the length that i needed leaving enough room to disassemble it once installed. I had to find the centerline of the pipe so i clamped it to a piece of angle aluminum and marked it.





I drilled two pilot holes, one on either end.



I decided on 16 #21 holes which works out to roughly 75% of the surface area of the 3/4" CPVC. I started off with #40 holes so i could cheat a little :icon_mrgr I used a rivet fan to get my hole spacing perfect.



After drilling all the holes with a #40 bit i bumped it up to a #21. Here you can see the difference.



The finished product with all the holes drilled.



Instead of capping the ends and having a separate outflow pipe i decided to kill two birds with one stone. I plugged the ID of the spraybar on both ends and added a "T" for the filter inlet. The plug is held in with clear RTV. This will all make more sense later.





There will be a gap in the pictures because my camera died. I marked the spray bar in the middle of the tank and cut it in half so it could be disassembled. I figured the flow throughout the bar would be more even if fed closer to the middle rather than from the end. I only glued one end so it could be slipped apart and cleaned if need be.




On either end i added a "T" for the outflow. I am only using one righ now but if i need another for whatever reason all i have to do is uncap it.





I glued a short section from the kit inside the CPVC. It happened to be the perfect size for my sponge filter. I also cut the attachment point off for the surface skimmer and glued it to the CPVC. I still have to get a small piece if clear PVC to extend it to the surface of the water.




The finished product before install.

 
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#13 ·
If you don't mind I want to copy exactly what you just did there. Nice job there. Just curious about the skimmer part on the far left. Just me being not so smart in this category, but not sure what you have going on there.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the complements everyone.







I don't mind at all. I didn't really come up with any of these ideas i just tied them all together. The surface skimmer has a smaller tube coming off the main inlet that has a small attachment that floats just below the water level. It pulls a small amount of water from the surface removing any film or floating debris. Here is a quick vid of it working. I am still getting some CO2 bubbles in the tank and plan on fixing that this weekend. Sorry the tank is a mess, i have not been feeling too good lately.



http://youtu.be/W4CNhMQ9eno
 
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