My Ultimate HOB Fuge

[Funkmotor]

Well, I read all the articles and looked at all the posts and then I decided that I'd make mine better.  I believe I've done that, and here I'll show you how I did it and help you make your own.

In this first instalment, I'll cover the HOB itself.  Next time I'll cover the surface skimmer attachment.

First, you need to get yourself an AC110 Power Filter.


You'll need some plexiglass.  I used 1/8" Lucite and it seems to be fine.  You need to cut it to size so it will fit the filter tightly, but not so tight that it will break the filter box.  I might whip up a template for this if there's interest.


Next up, you need to site that within the box and sand things a bit to rough them up.

I sand first with the plexiglass in place as a guide, then remove that and rough things up some more.

The next thing I did was build the fences.  Most of these that I've seen have the one fence across the front - and that's okay - but I wanted to have some inverts in my refuge so I put a piece across the side as well.  These are just pieces of the basket that comes with the AC110 itself.


Top down, you can see that the back of the filter is bowed out.  They do this when they're full of water anyway, so by putting a piece of plexiglass in there that pre-stressed it, I lessened the chances that it would pull apart.


Now you can glue it.  For glue, I used "Amazing Goop", which I got at RONA.  It does go white once under water for a while, but it stays stuck and nothing holds like it.  It's not marked as aquarium safe,  but I've had no trouble.  (I have used silicone before and it just does not stick well enough to all the plastic.

One thing I added was a "grate" on the pump side that would allow me to sit things in there without having them drop down next to the impeller itself.  By cutting out a piece of eggcrate to size, I managed to come up with a remarkably tight fitting grate (that did not need glue) that would serve my purpose.


You can see from the side that there's more than enough room there for it:


And that was it for the initial build.

Once I put water in it, I noticed that there was just too much flow.  That pump whips the water, and there was so much getting stuck inside those baffles that it was coming back out around the uptake tube.  So what I did was cut a gate into the fence to allow more water to rush out.  Problem solved.  I've since modded the impeller to make even less flow, which I feel is good for the fuge.


And I also added a backup heater to the arrangement.  You can see here how I cut a piece off the side of the plastic that seals the base of the uptake tube to clear the heater, and I also cut an "X" out of the eggcrate to get just a pinch more height.  The heater is a Hydor Theo 50W, and it's set to come on only when the tank temp drops lower than normal.

(In a power outage, the only things plugged into the backup battery are the AC110 and this heater.)

And now that the fuge has been in operation since October, you can see that it isn't dirty in there...and I don't clean it.


It's a 5" deep bed of CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand, about a handful of LR rubble, a lump of chaeto, 1 blueleg hermit, 2 snails and an absolute pile of pods.  They keep it pretty clean for me.  The nitrate reading of the 25 this is hanging off the back of is about 1.5mg/l...and I'm pretty sure I overfeed my tank.

So that's my HOB Fuge.  What do you think?

[Mettle]

Maybe you could explain why it is better versus the classic builds that you see around the internet?

[Funkmotor]

Maybe you could explain why it is better versus the classic builds that you see around the internet?

Wow, that's pretty sharp.  How about you tell me why it isn't?

[RossW]

Thank you very much for the effort and detail you included.  It is appreciated!

[Darth]

Sorry for sounding like an idiot, but what's the plexiglass for?

[Darth]

Maybe you could explain why it is better versus the classic builds that you see around the internet?

Wow that was harsh, I appreciate it and think it's better because now I don't have to search for how to do it most places just give you words he included pics of a play by play, very well done IMO, thanks Ross

[Funkmotor]

Sorry for sounding like an idiot, but what's the plexiglass for?

Don't worry about it.  If you look at the 5th picture, you can see the plexiglass baffle in place.  What it does is create the separate area that you use for the refugium.

It's in the other shots, of course, but that's the clearest of where it goes.

[groupie02]

looks like you have a sponge in there. How often do you clean it?

[Mettle]

Wow, that's pretty sharp.  How about you tell me why it isn't?

WOW. Calm down. I think you took that WAY too personally. Haha. 

You said it was better than the ones out there but I didn't find that you really compared it to some of the current, easier builds that are present on the net to explain the added benefits of your specific model. That's all Im wondering.

[Zoe]

Wow that was harsh, I appreciate it and think it's better because now I don't have to search for how to do it most places just give you words he included pics of a play by play, very well done IMO, thanks Ross

Why is it harsh?  I don't think it was meant to be. I understood that mettle was just asking about it, opening the door to discussion about this model versus the other types you see out there - and who better to explain the pros of this HOB fuge than the creator?

I don't see how any offense was meant. 

[Mettle]

Exactly Zoe - I was just attempting to engage some discussions on this particular take of the Aquaclear fuge idea. But apparently some people don't want discussions and they only want praise? 

[groupie02]

maybe it's not that they don't want to discuss. Maybe they read the wrong intent in your post. Let's see how this evolves.

[Zoe]

maybe it's not that they don't want to discuss. Maybe they read the wrong intent in your post.

I agree... I think he just misunderstood your comment, mettle, and took offense where none was intended 

[Funkmotor]

looks like you have a sponge in there. How often do you clean it?

I don't run with the sponge all the time, but when it's in there every 2 days, usually.  Sometimes I miss by a day and there's times I'll do it every day.  Depends how much gunk is in it when I look at it - which is every day.

[groupie02]

I don't run with the sponge all the time, but when it's in there every 2 days, usually.  Sometimes I miss by a day and there's times I'll do it every day.  Depends how much gunk is in it when I look at it - which is every day.

Good to see that you're keeping up with the maintenance.

[Funkmotor]

maybe it's not that they don't want to discuss. Maybe they read the wrong intent in your post. Let's see how this evolves.

Hey, I'm always open for discussion.  Anyone that knows me would tell you I'm probably one of the most easy going people on the face of the Earth.

I wouldn't have posted the thing here in the first place if I didn't think that others might learn something from it, and there's always the hope that someone will say, "you know, it would be really great if..." and then that leads to something better for everyone.

I've seen lots of HOB fuges and I'm sure there are as many ways to do one as there are of them.  I just wanted to present the best thing that I could come up with.  Hence the title, "My ...".

When I see the first comment is "Maybe you could explain why it is better versus the classic builds that you see around the internet?", it reads like a snipe.  There's nothing offered for discussion, no ideas, no "why did you do it that way..." or other real question, only a shot that asks me to defend why I've just posted the thing.

So, I took offence.  I would think any reasonable person placed in my position would feel the same, but perhaps many would not reply in kind, as I did.

Sorry I took offence, and I hope this is the end of this.  Back to the 'fuge!

[Funkmotor]

Good to see that you're keeping up with the maintenance.

Oh, but of course!  A clean tank is a happy tank.

[littlelil]

Yeah, i think it was the wording of the comment was placed in an offensive manner, be it intended or not.... but i guess all is well now..

I love the pics and steps! Maybe it could be included in the do-it-yourself section of this page since i dont' think there an article for a refuge there yet! I really think there should be a LOT more articles in there. I followed the instructions on how to make a stand out of 2 x 4's when i first started in FW a while back. I even printed out the pictures and labelled each piece on the picture. I still have it taped to the inside of the stand!

I think the steps were explained really well. Now to find myself an AC 110... hmm...

THANKS, funkmotor. this is awesome. May I ask, what is the length of your heater? I don't see much length in the AC's intake section... not enough space for a heater... unless it's a really short heater..

[Funkmotor]

May I ask, what is the length of your heater? I don't see much length in the AC's intake section... not enough space for a heater... unless it's a really short heater..

That's why I recommend the Hydor Theo.  The 50W (and the 25W) are both about 6.75" long...but they only need about 4.25" submerged...which is just about exactly the water height you've got in a running AC110.

If you're not worried about the high-flow area for media and you remove the eggcrate, you can fit a 50W Stealth or most other 50W heaters in there.  100W ones are out though (though 2 50W heaters would be doable.)