Proto-Type 5 Gallon Canister Filter

[Sparky]

It really doesn't say whether is can be used "outside" as an external pump. It says it is fully submersible. My design here uses a external pump. But I think if you really wanted to, you could modify it to use a submersible.

You can go to Grainger Online and look at the pumps they have. I made a mistake on the price of the one I got. I paid 75.00 for it, but it sells for 109.00 at Grainger. Of course you could get it cheaper by looking online at different places.

Mike

 

[Sparky]

OK, I am now really impressed. What took me 2 days to do (clearing my water from the "Tropical Storm Sparky") now took less than 2 hours. After I get everything back into place and cleaned up I am going to open the filter and inspect the media to see what I got in there so far. I will post pics of that later.

Here are the before and after pics of tonight's sand storm.

 

[hockeydude15]

cannot wait to see the results!!

 

[hockeydude15]

btw how could i make a submersible pump work for your design?

 

[Sparky]

Ok, I busted down the filter this morming after running all night. The pictures I took will show that the 100 Micron filters at the very bottom of the filter did a pretty good job of "cleaning" the sand from the water. I still have a small amount of tweaking to do on this yet. Maybe with the filter media, changing the Micron size or type of media. I am open for suggestions on the filter media if anyone has any other ideas.

The first stage filter media is the bulk (pillow stuffing type) media. I put about 4 inches of that in there. The second (middle) layer is activated charcoal in an old pair of pantyhose my wife let me have. and the last layer (bottom) was the 100 Micron filter sheets. I put 2 of them in there. Each layer was seperated by a piece of eggcrate.

The first canister will go into production this week. I will be hard piping the one I use in. I will document the process, but I won't be posting pictures as I go along. Instead I will include them into the document.

 

[krap101]

erally nice. but arent canisters like 100$??

my mistake havent really looked at canisters very well since im not interested with that at the time

 

[chasgood]

I'm new here and just got back into the hobby. Been 6 years without a tank.
Sparky... I like this idea of a homemade filter. Once you get the bugs worked out I might be able to scale it down for a smaller tank. Maybe a 1 gal plastic condement jar and a 100 to 300 GPH pump.
Keep up the good work.

 

[hockeydude15]

hurry up with those plans , lol

 

[Sparky]

I have piped in my setup. Put everything together and filled the bucket with water. I tried for 3 and a half hours to get it started. I could not get it primed correctly. I got all pissed off, and took it all out. I have a Word Doc for building this complete with pictures. I don't know if it was just the way I did this thing or what, I just could not get it to fire. It works fine with the tubing (?????maybe) but with the hard piping I lost it somewhere. If anyone wants the file I got now just PM me. Maybe you will have better luck with it than I did. It works great with the tubing. I just didn't want it hanging around the tank. I am going to revisit this project, but only after I get this failure out of my system. I put alot of hard work into piping it in and tore it out in about 5 minutes. I have learned a few thing about the design in that 3 + hours of frustration. Hopefully when I restart this it will go a little better with the new found knowledge I got.

Well, live and learn. I only threw away about 20 dollars on pipe and fittings, so it wasn't a financial loss. If anyone may have a suggestion on to why this happened to me (no dumb jokes please..LOL) I would appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[chasgood]

Don't give up. Sounds like just a plumbing problem.
I would guess it could be 90 degree elbows. Did you use any? These pumps are so small they can't fight against any back pressure or restrictions. Sharp turns restrict flow.
Did you set it up with a longer run? Back pressure if the pipe is to long.
Maybe you need bleed valves at the high and low points to get the air out.

 

[discusmad]

I have used a nappy bucket has a great seal followed some of the plans here and its been working great for the past 2 months! and a under water pump inside the bucket and making a hole for the power lead out of the bucket side

I was having problems with either the water would drain into the bucket faster than it would pump out or it would pump out mor from the bucket than it would suck out of the tank.

when it all came down to it all the problem was the tank intake pipe.

I had been getting very annoyed all day trying to work out what the problem was so i swaped the spray bar for the intake.

the water level started to drop and then it suddenly stoped going down and stayed at the same level with out raising or falling.

Taking a close look at the intake pipe (the spray bar) i saw the level of the water was just below the top of the last hole and sucking a little air into the pipe so i drilled a hole into the tank intake pipe (and put the spray bar back) and it work fine without a problem at all.

just one more thing because of the air going into the bucket i had to make a small hole in the lid of the bucket .

to prime the pump all i have to do is hold the pipe from the lid of the bucket while its sealed on the bucket and cover the small hole in the lid and gently push the pipe up and down and it runs great.

This has been a great project

 

[PK Tester]

What ended up happening here?

 

[darthmbuna]

alright man, help me out here. . .
i want to build your exact filter here, but with a 5 gallon food container(because they are sealed and wont leak) so. . .
how much did the canister, and all the threads cost?
will a mag 5 as an external pump be useful(500 gph)
and what threads will i need to hook the mag 5 pump up to the 5/8" tubing you are using?

i want to build this over tomorrow, because my canister just died tonight, lol. i only have 68 bucks, and 54 of that is for the pump. is the other 16 bucks gonna be enough for the threads, container, and any other supplies needed? (besides the tubing, i have loads of that)

thanks for any help
-steve

 

[redBernadino]

Sparky... I'm not sure if you covered this, but what was the exact problem with getting it started? Sounds to me that you got the pump to pump water, just not strong enough to push it all the way up to the main tank. If its not too late (and for what it's worth) maybe you should try filling the pipes up with water after you prime the 5 gal. This way, when you switch on the pump, it should start working. I had that problem with my wet/dry, and just need to make sure the pipes were full of water before I switched on the pump. HTH

 

[darthmbuna]

hey man, i really need some help now. . .
the mag 7(700 gph) is on the way, will be here thursday
i have used 3 fresh new lids- they all leaked, and they all have orings in them, and i got them for free from a deli. i have built my filter the same as yours- i just didnt put the outlet tap on the top, it is on the side of the bucket. please tell me how you kept your lid and o-ring from leaking. i have silicone here- is it possible to fix mine with that?

 

[PatM]

Looks nice. The 5 gallon bucket filter is actaully quite common in ponds. My father in law built one similar and it clears that pond in no time. His leaks all over, though being outside it doesn't matter, it runs back into the pond anyhow.

 

[darthmbuna]

GRRRR come on help me!!!!!!! i really want to make this, but for some reason all my o-rings leaked. where did you get your bucket? can you post pics of the o-ring? does your leak at all? can i possibly get the same bucket as yours online?

 

[krap101]

i havent filled mine with water but im almost positive its watertight. its really hard to open so that helps too.

i got mine from subway. some of them give them ouit for free (got 3 from 1 and 1 from another)