DIY filter ?

Subject: DIY filter ? Wed May 28, 2008 8:31 pm

Have any of you every built your own filter for an aquarium? or know of a good site that shows how to?
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Subject: build your own Thu May 29, 2008 6:42 pm

Have built undergravel filter for the 20gal long out of plexiglass plate with holes drilled in it on top of some marbles. powered with a couple return tubes that had air tubes into them near the bottom of them just above the plate. It worked pretty well with a corner filter for charcoal and some floss in there too, I kept livebearers in it at the time with a bit of salinity. (I was fourteen at the time and now that tank has the expesive store bought plate with a jet pump on it . And a small canister filter, too.

As a temporary accessory to small decorative ponds in atriums (emergency) flow thru box with charcoal and detritis catching media, to add to return flow tubes before a waterfall deal. Seasonal stuff. Saves a disaster with existing other filter systems as well.

Have built a copy of the hang on back "slim jim" (from your grandfathers age,) in bigger scale.
HOB with a vertcal plate, Perf. at the bottom, toward one end. Media goes in the big part with a intake siphon. The pump out (in the smaller part) is a big tube, curved into the tank, with a tube of air stuck thru the side of it near the bottom.

Don't know of sites but might have a book or two. I'll look around for both, yet.

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Thu May 29, 2008 11:07 pm

i just finished building a 45" protein skimmer, and a 35G wet dry... 100% DIY status... except for the pumps...

i'll post up pictures soon... but no how-to instructions... i don't remember what pieces i used or how i put it together to be honest... lol... it just came together somehow...

Subject: skimmer Mon Jun 09, 2008 8:18 pm

Please just give brief description of your homemade protien skimmer. Your pics would be great but I think I could get it with the words.

AND I think that sounds awesome if I could do that myself for the fishys.

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:55 pm

okay from the ground up...

piece of wood...
a 4" abs toilet flange...
4' of 4" PVC pipe...
some reducers and 2" PVC pipe...
and a bunch of 3/4" PVC pipe...

um... let me find a picture of diagram of it... lol...

kind of like this...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/diy/skimmer1.shtml

but... the pipe where the water goes in is 4" off the ground, and the exit starts 2" off the ground on the other side of the pipe... then i got a 90* elbow and made the PVC go all of the way up to where i want the water level... then right there i put a TEE... one piece of PVC going straight up so the air bubbles will get out and then it goes back down...

damnit... i'll try to get pics soon...
something like this...

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:36 pm

It's-not-really-home-made,-but-I-used-a-HOB-filter-and-a-Fluval-canister........I-removed-the-impeller-and-slide-in-filter-pads-from-the-HOB-and-I-use-the-outflow-from-the-Fluval-and-dump-it-into-the-HOB,-which-is-totally-filled-with-bio-sponge......Not-only-do-I-have-the-Fluval,-but-I-have-a-huge-amount-of-bacteria-filled-capacity-in-the-modified-HOB-which-doesn't-need-the-impeller-as-the-Fluval-constantly-dumps-water-into-it.

I-also-use-a-nice-protein-skimmer-for-one-of-my-freshwater-tanks.......I-know-there's-no-good-reason-for-this.....I-just-think-it-looks-cool-to-have-a-little-water-tornado-going-all-the-time-and-it-does-aerate-to-some-extent....My-son-will-probably-think-it's-cool-too.

As-for-a-home-made-filter......It-should-be-pretty-simple-with-a-powerhead-and-a-sturdy-container.......Just-have-a-water-in-tube-at-the-bottom-and-a-water-out-tube-at-the-top-so-air-automatically-gets-pushed-out-via-the-out-tube.....Get-some-non-corrosive-screening-and-use-marbles-or-somthing-to-keep-the-bottom-open-under-the-screen.......Then-make-some-simple-baskets-to-hold-different-filter-media,-make-sure-you-have-an-easily-opened-water-tight-lid-and-there-you-have-a-canister-filter.....You-could-connect-the-powerhead-backwards-to-suck-the-water-out-of-the-canister-so-it-was-empty-when-you-open-it-for-cleaning-too......The-powerhead-would-be-in-the-tank-and-could-have-a-sponge-filter-attatched-to-the-intake-to-trap-most-of-the-particulates-so-you-wouldn't-have-to-open-and-clean-the-main-filter-as-often.....Most-of-the-time-all-you'ld-need-to-do-is-rinse-out-the-sponge-filter.

I'm-not-sure-what-type-of-container-to-use......I-think-those-5-gallon-plastic-buckets-lids-would-be-hard-to-make-seal-well.....I-like-those-approximately-2-gallon-plastic-containers-used-for-bulk-olives-as-they-have-nice-screw-on-tops-with-a-good-seal-and-the-plastic-is-thick-enough-to-drill-out-and-attatch-hoses-to......Problem-with-these-is-that-the-opening-is-smaller-than-the-rest-of-the-container.....I'd-still-use-it-and-maybe-just-use-bio-sponge-at-the-bottom-and-fill-the-rest-with-ceramic-bio-peices.......Then-all-you'd-need-is-one-screen-at-the-bottom-over-the-marbles-and-you-could-probably-bend-it-to-get-it-through-the-opening.

On-a-large-scale,-I-used-to-have-a-hot-tub-filter-I-kept-for-years......It-looked-like-a-3-foot-tall-capsule-(pill-capsule-shaped)-and-that-would-have-been-perfect-for-a-small-pond.

Pretty-cool-you-made-your-own-skimmer-Gumbii....Impressive!

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:38 pm

all of the filtration on my ponds are DIY... i use 4 50g barrels all piped together to have a huge syphon effect on my small ponds... the large pond has 10 50g barrels, and a 4,000g bio filter with bog plants and lava rock... insanity...

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:18 pm

I was thinking of a diy canister filter, and you have all given me some good ideas.

Great work Gumbii!!
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Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:26 pm

Here you go, this was most helpful to me... Just the picture alone is the best and easiest looking setup.

http://www.petfrd.com/forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=87

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:09 pm

That looks like it is what I was looking for, great link thanks.
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Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:05 am

Hey I am making one now. It's called a Fluidized sand bed filter, and is said to be able to handle very very large amounts of fish waste. Way more than normal filters. Here the pics of it so far.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o293/j-w-e-b/Aquarium/DSCF7398.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o293/j-w-e-b/Aquarium/DSCF7397.jpg

It will eventually look like this...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_fbf.php

Google its name if you haven't heard of them. They seem to be amazing. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I get the rest of the parts in on the 22nd.

Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:58 pm

When I get more time I'll have to read that link. When you get it done please post more pics, this is great info you have found. Thanks for sharing it with use.
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Subject: Re: DIY filter ? Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:19 pm

Gumbi has tons more info than me. I just google stuff, but i try. I am just now delving into the DIY area and I have tons of ideas.