Blondie's Water Garden

7. Drain Fittings
Flip barrel over and repeat the last three steps, measure 4" over, from the side of the bottom to mark your hole, insert coupling and gaskets and nut, and tighten firmly. Cut a 3" piece of 2" PVC and glue it into the female end of the coupling. Glue the PVC 90 onto the pipe. Cut another 3" piece of 2" PVC, and glue it into the 90. Glue the 2" PVC Valve onto the pipe. This is your clean out drain.

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8. Aerator Pipe

**Important Note!! We tried to keep the cost low on this project and one of the problems that occurred was the 1" pool hose and the 1" PVC T didn't fit together. The pool hose's ID is a little small for the fitting. To solve this problem, use a grinder and grind the T end until the hose fits. I have not tried this, but a helpful individual emailed me with an alternative to grinding the T. He suggested using a hair dryer to heat up the pool hose which will allow it to stretch enough to fit over the T.

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Aerator Pipe

9. Prepare the Aerator Pipe
Make a mark six inches down from the top of the 4" pipe. Use a 1" hole saw, center on the 6" mark and drill a hole for the PVC T. The T should be inserted inside the pipe, with one opening facing up, one down, and the third opening extending outside of the pipe. Insert the T into the pipe and place a hose clamp on the end extending out of the side of the pipe. This will hold the "Aerator T" in place. The inlet pool hose from the submerged pump will be connected here.

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Notch Aerator Pipe end

10. Notch Aerator Pipe

Cut 3 triangular notches, approximately 6 inches long into the flared end of the 4" pipe

11. Prepare Gravel Platform
Mark a 4" hole in the center of the bottom of the milk crate. Use a jig saw, cut the hole. The sides can be cut out also for better circulation. This is where you insert the aerator pipe. The crate also supports the gravel off the floor of the barrel, Creating the Biological Effect.

12. Assembly
The assemble will look like this, except it will be placed inside the barrel.

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