Hi All

Here is part 2 of building my Amazon tank and it all about the plumbing, here are a few tips that I hope you will find handy. I’m sorry if this gets to basic for you tradies and handypeople out there but I am doing this so beginners can understand it too.

PLUMBING Pt 1
These are the peices you will need, the size I am using is all 25mm. I bought them all from Bunnings.

PLUMBING Pt 2
Cut the hole in the background ready to fit the flange through. I poked it through with a phillips head screw driver then trimmed it with a stanley knife.

PLUMBING Pt 3
Next I cut the hole in the base board where my plumbing outlets will fit through. First drill the holes in each corner. Then use a jigsaw and cut the peice out. I finally got a chance to use my brand new jig saw that I bought ages and ages ago! :

PLUMBING Pt 4
First fit your flanges.

PLUMBING Pt 5
Fitting the pipework together. I recommend that before you start glueing or using threadtape first put it all together and make sure it all fits properly. That way if you cut something wrong you dont lose everything because youve glued it all together. I measured the pipe length using the square and a slight approximation, because of the thread joint below you have a bit of room to play with so a few millimetres out in length shouldnt be a problem.

PLUMBING Pt 6
Modifying the tank inlet pipe/flange, I trim this flange as this is the bit that will be visible inside the tank so I like to make it as small as possible for asthetic reasons - I dont want in big black plastic flange in my face when I look into my tank! File away the sharp corners, as the last thing you want is a prized fish injuring itself on something sharp!

PLUMBING Pt 7
OK now we want to cut the outlet flange thread so the nut sits flat against the background. working out how much to cut off is simple, just screw it in and measure the amount of thread you have protruding between the background and the nut, as this is the amount you need to cut off, in this case I had to cut off 30mm.

PLUMBING Pt 8
OK all fits together, yippee, once you do one side just copy the components for the other side, no need to measure it all up again- except for the tank inlet flange, you need to measure both sides as the background may have varying thicknesses on either side, so that will require different lengths of thread.

PLUMBING Pt 9
OK now that you know it all fits properly glue your pipework, when fitting pipework always make sure you have pushed it all the way in, especially when its dry during measuring up, because when you glue it the glue will create short term lubrication and allow you you push the pipe in deeper than when dry. A simple way to avoid this problem is when measuring up put a texter mark around the pipe so you know not to push the pipe in deeper into the fitting than where you put your mark. (Notice the join in the background? I friggin hope not!)

PLUMBING Pt 10
Outlets, these outlets are 25mm, choose your outlet sizes according to your cannister hose sizes, changing outlets is simple so if you change filters you can easily swap them. A word of caution, use alot of tread tape on this thread join and screw it in as far as you can or it will almost certainly leak!

I have also updated Pt 1 BACKGROUND to show the finished background.

OK I hope you liked it, next installment will be filters and cabinet making, I’ll show you an easy way to build a wooden cabinet that anyone can make and it will last a lifetime.

Written by Den (Forum member and a Perth cichlid enthusiast)