I'm thinking about making a diy canister filter for my 10 gallon fw community tank. If I decide to do it I will use 2 powerheads, the type of tubing that is used for gravel vacuums, a 5 gal bucket, a smaller bucket, and a bunch of filter media. To do this I will drill a hole in the bottom of the smaller bucket and somehow attach it to an onside side of the big bucket. I will have one powerheqd pump water down from da tank to the small bucket which will have a bunch of filter media in it. The water will trickle down through the hole and pool into the big bucket and then another power head will pump clean filtered water back up to the tank. Tell me what you think.
DIY Canister filter
- Thread starter maxwellag
- Start date
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BigJim
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Only use a pump to pump the water back up to the tank. If the return pump fails in a two pump system, you've got a flood. Use a siphon or overflow box instead.
Look for a bucket with a lid. A lid will seal the system from outside contamination and prevent the filter from overflowing if the pump quits. My brother works at Dunkin' Donuts and gets me all sorts of buckets and lids. The buckets are used for frosting so the plastic is food-safe (read safe for your fish) and the lids have O-rings that seal well. The stores just throw them out so you might be able to score a good bucket for free. You'll just have to wash it well to get the rest of the frosting out first.
For media baskets, look at Snapware. I bought some of their big boxes for a future sump build and I think they'll work well. If you can find some that fit inside the bucket, all you'll have to do is poke some holes in the bottom of each compartment and you've got a stack of compartments to separate your filter media.
Look for a bucket with a lid. A lid will seal the system from outside contamination and prevent the filter from overflowing if the pump quits. My brother works at Dunkin' Donuts and gets me all sorts of buckets and lids. The buckets are used for frosting so the plastic is food-safe (read safe for your fish) and the lids have O-rings that seal well. The stores just throw them out so you might be able to score a good bucket for free. You'll just have to wash it well to get the rest of the frosting out first.
For media baskets, look at Snapware. I bought some of their big boxes for a future sump build and I think they'll work well. If you can find some that fit inside the bucket, all you'll have to do is poke some holes in the bottom of each compartment and you've got a stack of compartments to separate your filter media.
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