Victor, I've only posted on two of your threads. The light and the sponge thread. I saw your canister filter thread but I don't know enough about those sorts of DIYs to say anything good or bad. It looks like you got some advice on building a better handle and it looks like you did modify it, but I don't know what you did because I didn't look. If it works for you then I'm sure it's great. It probably won't be as durable as a commercial one, but as long as you check it to make sure it doesn't leak I don't think it will be that big of a deal.
I did see your light thread, and like pretty much everyone else I thought the same things: 1) wait a minute, is that safe? it doesn't look right... and 2) OMG all those lights put together are 783 watts! over an 125 gallon tank!
So what is the positive thing I can say about it? It's a huge power guzzler for what you're getting. I can't say that I like the way it looks, it's too top heavy - but you did put a nice stain on it. "More light is better, so as much light as possible must be best!" - I don't agree with that (and actually, most people don't). The best part is that you and your daughter had fun making it. Oh, and that part about getting free light bulbs. But you could run 16 Fluval FX5s for what it costs to power your light. You already know that it's going to be cheaper in the long run to use something else, and have said so. And using the plug in light bulbs or whatever those were, make it different from other light DIYs where people used the right materials. It's not like we're a bunch of elite snobs...it's just safer to do things by the book.
The sponge...huh. What do you want us to say there? It's an ugly yellow sponge that's way too fine to use as a prefilter. It cost $3...the right sponge costs $5.
Almost all sponges say "not for aquarium use" - you know how when you get them out of the package they're a little bit damp and they have that "clean" smell? Well, that's because they have mildewcides on them.
I don't know if your sponge does, and neither do you - only the manufacturer knows. And the manufacturer probably doesn't think that you're going to use a mop refill to scrub inside an aquarium, but they DO think that you might use a dish sponge - so they put that warning on the dish sponges.
