Pretty much making this:
Without spending too much of this:
I was looking for a way to spray water evenly on the bed of my aquarium since i have white sand. Cause everytime a fish poops, it stands out like a oscar in a tetra tank.
I first looked at the Powersweep powerheads, then i found the fluval spray bar. Looked at it for awhile, then decided to make my own cause i wasnt gonna pay almost 15-20 bucks for a plastic tube with holes in it.
To start off, your gonna need these things.
1. 1X T or L Valve, depending on your own specs
2. 1X Plastic or PVC tube
3. Thumb nail
4. Drill, or anything to make a nice sized hole, but not too large
5. Pipe cutter, or somthing that will cut a pipe nicely
As you notice, i didnt put a size for the T-Valve or the Tubing. Because i dont know what size will work with your filter or your tank. But, the size i have noted will be for a fluval 204 in a 29gal.
Now before you start, figure out how you want your spray bar to sit. So measure from your filters outlet, to how deep you want it to sit (I wanted mine to sit all the way on the bottom). Then, how wide you want your spray bar to be (I wanted mine to reach from one end, to the other). Then add up all the Measurement, and go out and look for a tubing that long.
Then figure out how thick you need the tubing to be to fit and work with your tubing, and find a T-valve that will also fit your tubing.
I used a 1.5inch tube because it fits perfectly on the outlet of a fluval 204.
Then after you have figured out how you want your spray bar to sit in your tank, do the cutting.
Now for the holes. I taped a small ruler on the tube because i wanted each outlet to be 1inch apart, this also helps if you want your outlet to be perfectly even. Then i would poke small holes at each one inch mark with a thumb tab.
Since i wanted mine to reach from one side of my tank to the other, i used a T-Valve. If you dont want to do it like me, you can also use a L-Valve to make it sit on the side of your tank, rather then on the back.
Now all you have to do is make the holes a lil larger, and find somthing to plug up the ends so the water will spray through the holes...duh. Now you dont want your holes too large unless your spray bar is short, but since mine was long, i kept them small.
Now heres how mine sits.
If you want your spray bar to stay in place, you can always go out and buy a hose/heater holder with suction cups. Now i used the hose holder that came with my fluval cause i had no use for it in the first place.
Then that should hold it nicely in place.
Not that hard of a project, but its as custom as your gonna get. Like i stated before, figure out how you want your spray bar to sit in your tank, then get the parts needed. This write-up is pretty much just all the basic stuff you need to know. And dont forget, your filters only so strong, so dont go make crazy designs and cause the bar to not even work as good. So do your math first!
P.S. Sorry for the boring tank! Its still under construction as im in the search for drift wood and live plants.
Thanks
-Q
