DIY aquarium filters?

[TattdxMama]

I've been using pre-made filters for my Whisper 30-60 on my 33 gall tank. The person I bought the tank from said he used to make his own filters with filter charcoal and pre-made cartridges.
I haven't been able to find the cartridges at my local stores, so I looked on YouTube trying to find acceptable alternative. Every time I saw a filter making method I thought would be fairly simple to do, there was controversy in the replies of "___ isn't a safe ingredient, try ___ instead" and then someone saying the suggestion wasn't safe, try a third instead. I figured it best to come to the experts.
I'm not spending ridiculous amounts on pre-made filters, but I have a lot of spare time and the extra money would definitely be nice, especially with a new 30 gallon tank (With hood, lighting system, filter, etc) coming home this Saturday that'll also be needing filters.

Does anyone have anything they'd like to recommend? Be it sticking with pre-made or a particular method of DIY filters, please feel free to share.
Thanks in advance!

 

[trennamw]

I think most of the whisper filters have an option for un assembled filters. Try amazon.

There are a lot of back and forth opinions on filter media.

The good news is the main thing with filter cartridges is ... Change them as rarely as possible. They have all the bacteria so you don't want to throw those guys away. You just swish them in tank water to remove solids.

The charcoal will quit helping pretty quickly but bacteria live in the charcoal so most agree it's fine to leave it in. Some think old charcoal can re release toxins, some think you need something way fancier to host bacteria.

You can also cut correctly sized pads from foam and filter floss, and some people use polyester quilt batting if they're certain it has no chemicals on it.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[TattdxMama]

The good news is the main thing with filter cartridges is ... Change them as rarely as possible. They have all the bacteria so you don't want to throw those guys away. You just swish them in tank water to remove solids.

My Whisper has a sponge in it that I was advised to never wash, at most dip it in a bucket of aquarium water and gently wipe (not squeeze) while submerged if necessary but it was rarely necessary. He did tell me to change my filters about once a month though. Does the sponge make a difference or should I forget about changing the filters frequently?

And I'll definitely check out amazon for the cartridges if the sponge is the difference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[dalto]

If the filter cartridge is just carbon than you really don't need it in most cases. If it is a combination of carbon and a fine pad than you can certainly make a DIY fine filter pad/floss yourself.