- Cut two pieces of the 3/4" PVC to fit the front and back of the bottom of the tank. Then, cut two pieces to fit the ends of your tank between the two front and back pieces. Cut one piece to fit diagonally across the bottom from front corner to back corner, or one piece for the middle of the tank from front to back. Place the PVC in the bottom of the tank up against the outside walls, but leave about an 1/8" between the glass and the PVC.
- Sculpture the egg crate to fit the bottom of the tank, fore and aft, side to side, but cut it leaving about an 1/8" away from the glass. By doing this, when you place your media base on top of the filter it will allow a little of the media to go between the glass and the filter so you can't see it or the 3/4" support PVC underneath it.
- Carefully cut holes in the egg crate at the back of the tank about 1" from the back glass to fit the 1" male PVC fittings. Once the holes are cut, twist the male fittings tightly into these holes to see that they fit securely and won't fall out.
- Make the uplift tubes by inserting the 1" PVC pipe into the male fittings that are stuck into the holes, measuring to cut them so that they reach about 1" below where the water line will be at the top of the aquarium when filled. Once cut, remove the male fittings with the uplift tubes attached and set them aside. If you desire to create a current in the tank, you can install PVC "L's" on the top of the tubes and point them in the direction you wish the water to flow to go. If you plan on doing this, drill a hole just big enough to fit the air hose into the top of the elbow, push the air hose through and attach the air stone from underneath then attach the elbow to the uplift tube.
- Cut the fly screen to fit the top of the egg crate, then silicone it to the egg crate. Let the silicone cure for 24 hours. If you want you can overlap the fly screen and wrap it around the edge of the egg crate, inward to about 1/2 inch on the bottom side. Silicone it down, let it dry, then take a needle and some monofilament fishing line (about 15 lb. test) and sew the fly screen to the egg crate, using a running/basting stitch through each of the egg crate squares. We found that if you are keeping Wrasses or other fish that like to burrow in your substrate, over a period of time they can separate the screen from the egg crate. This results in a lot of the gravel getting underneath the UGF plate, instead of remaining on top where it belongs. By sewing the fly screen to the egg crate, this helps to avoid this problem. Once done with attaching the fly screen to the egg crate, cut the fly screen out of the holes where the male fitting/uplift tubes go, leaving about 1/2" around the inside of the hole. Now twist in the male fittings/uplift tubes into the holes and place the completed filter plate on top of the 3/4" PVC pieces already positioned on the bottom of the tank.
- Rinse the substrate material to remove any fine sand or sediment. If you do not, it will end up clogging the filter plate over time. Distribute the substrate material evenly on top of the assembled filter plate.
- Make the air lines by taking an air stone and attaching it to one open end of the hose. Lower it down inside one of the uplift tubes so that the air stone sits level with the male fitting ring, then cut the air hose to the appropriate length to reach the air pump, or "T" connector if using one. Repeat this process until you have made one air hose line for each uplift tube. ( TIP: I f you have trouble with the air hose wanting to raise up out of the uplift tube when running, place some type of small weight around the area where the air hose attaches to the air stone. A large enough sized pinch-on, soft lead fishing line weight works pretty good. Large enough means, it will fit at least least half way around the hose and plastic connector part of the air stone when pinched on, so it won't fall off.)
- Fill the aquarium with salt water and plug the air pump in.
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