Bending Clear Perspex Tubing

[Nelson]

don't know if it's just me,but can't see the pics.

 

[JamesM]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48753982@N02/

Not a bad first attempt, but plenty of room for improvement me thinks. Might try a spraybar myself actually...

 

[Nelson]

cheers james.

 

[bigmatt]

don't know if it's just me,but can't see the pics.

Not just you - i am apparently an idiot! I've edited the post with photbucket links (rather than Flickr) and they seem to be working now
Cheers
Matt

 

[Nelson]

they look great when in the tank 😀 .

 

[Garuf]

I wouldn't say your filter is over rated, I used a ex1200 on the same size tank 😉
I'd say that for the difference in dimensions it wouldn't be too difficult to step up, really it'd be the thickness that's an issue rather than the over all dimensions of the pipe, there'd be a couple of issues but not too much.

 

[Lisa_Perry75]

Awesome bigmatt, thanks for testing this out for us!

 

[zig]

Very good effort Matt I can see this catching on, lots of new custom combinations of inlets outlets and spraybar lily pipe arrangements etc, trial and error at first but Im sure some new techniques will surface to advance this side of the hobby. I will have to dig out my heatgun and see what I can come up with. Thanks for doing the roadtest Matt.

 

[samc]

i made a spraybar for my emersed setup which came out very neat. i heated a pin and pushed it straight through the pipe which made a neat hole. it didnt push the tube in when you push which i thought it might.

only problem is that spraybars are very hard to clean

 

[bigmatt]

I clean all my tubing (so to speak...) with one of those bendy brushes. I've tried it on this setup and it seems to work well.
I just drilled all the holes with a drill bit meant for metal. I can see that the hot pin method would be great for an emersed setup where you need a lot of fine sprays to saturate the plans. Yet another reason why custom building rocks!
Matt

 

[bigmatt]

QUick update - now really reaping the rewards of home fabrication as i rescaped my tank with a much greater slope to the back of the tank, meaning my old filter intake was too long. Five minutes in the garage and i now have a new filter intake that sits exactly where i want it. Also made a drop checker that works brilliantly!
Cheers
MAtt

 

[Garuf]

Sounds brilliant, Matt. Where did you get your tubing from out of interest?

 

[bigmatt]

I get mine from Clear Plastic Supplies on eBay - the link's earlier in the thread somewhere.
On a different note i also found that piece of perspex tubing with a 6mm hole drilled in it and a piece of CO2 tubing secured in it makes a very useful inline CO2 delivery device when fitted just below the filter intake! Getting complete dissolution of CO2 in the water column!

 

[ghostsword]

So the CO2 would go straight into the filter and then from it into the water collumn on the outake?

 

[bigmatt]

That's the one!
Seems to work brilliantly!
Matt

 

[ghostsword]

I will try this out today, will place the difuser close to the intake. 🙂

 

[Garuf]

Having a mist is actually better than totally desolved co2. it sounds like a good idea though, very tidy too if outsied the tank.

 

[Aeropars]

I'm curious. How have you attached the filter tubing to this without any leaks?

 

[bigmatt]

Glued the CO2 pipe into the perspex tubing with cyanoacrylate superglue then waterproof electical insulation tape over the top of that as extra security. Now running it on the outtake pipe to create a venturi effect to create bubbles in the water column which seems to work well
Matt

 

[Aeropars]

Sorry, I meant the filter tube onto the pvc pipe. I don't understand how its being held on with no water escaping.