DIY Aauarium

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DIY Aquarium

By Blane Perun

Toilet Kit Surge

rodreef.com

Parts List

1 - 36 quart Rubbermaid waste basket
1 - American Standard flush valve kit
1- hard plastic replacement flapper
1 - toilet float
1 - 2' female adapter
1 - 2' x 1.5' reducing bushing (slip fit)
1 90 degree 1.5' street elbow
1 - 4' length of 1.5' PVC
1 - 90 degree 1.5' elbow
1 - 6' length of 1.5' PVC (for the discharge riser)
1 - 90 degree 1.5' elbow
1 - 2' length of 1.5' PVC
1 - 90 degree 1.5' elbow
1- x length of 1.5' PVC ( this will depend on the height above the tank the bucket is mounted) (Its nice to have varying lengths, to experiment with depth of discharge)
1 - 90 degree elbow

Replace soft flapper with hard plastic one. The ears holding the flapper on the flush kit will need the vertical tips snipped off.

Cut hole in bottom of bucket. Its best to use a hole saw, but I have done it with a utility knife

Turn rubber washer upside down, so the flat part is facing the bottom of the threads

Insert threads through hole (washer on the inside, flat side down), and screw on nut on the bottom of the bucket.

Drill a hole in the float to attach chain (or fishing line) to.

Attach flapper to float using the chain (or fishing line). This will need some adjustments later

you will also need a 3/4' coupling, and a length of 3/4' pipe (not shown in material list or pictures) to extend the safety overflow

Wrap the threads of the flapper kit with Teflon tape and screw on 2' female adaptor

Glue on (PVC cement) 2'x 1-1/2' reducer

Glue in 90 degree street elbow. ( the next picture shows a male adaptor between the bushing and the street elbow, because the LHS was out of slip fit bushings)
Glue in the rest of the fittings as shown in the picture after the material list except for the last length of PVC.

for the last length of PVC it is a good idea (but not shown here) to cut one length about 3-4 ' long and glue it in place, then glue a 1.5' coupling to that, now you can freely experiment with different lengths form there.

Some experimenting will need to be done. but its not difficult, and once its set they can be forgotten about. If the discharge is too deep it will cause backpressure and then need a bigger feed pump to lift the float. I have had some discharges submerged fairly deep, and the float would not lift until the water would flood the safety overflow, which worked fine. Mi theory here is, when the surge discharged below the water level of the main tank, it would siphon the contents of the discharge tube completely, therefore creating pressure on the flapper again. Letting the safety overflow flood solved this problem, and I thin a hole drilled above water level may solve it also.

Another problem with this surge (external plumbing) is that it is difficult to mount. A larger version of the other surge could be built as easily