Making a DIY sponge filter

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bigfuzzymonster777

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 1, 2013
Messages
250
Location
Indiana,
I need to make a sponge filter for my twenty gallon... How would I go about this? Do I need an air pump? I need this as soon as possible because I have a betta from chard56 on hold, so I don't want to keep it there for, like, two and a half months (just one and a half, lol)
 
Yep. I used coke bottle sponge filters in my breeding tanks and they worked really well.

Materials:
Coke / water bottle (20oz works well for 10g)
Uplift tube - I use a thin clear plastic tube made. They are generally made for sponge filters. I bought mine at my LFS. Should fit very snugly inside bottle lip.
Gravel - Weight
Filter media
Airline tubing
Airstone
Air pump

1. Insert uplift tube into opening of bottle.
2. Cut the bottle in half at a smooth spot.
3. In bottom half cut as many slits with a utility blade as you can. The more the better
4. Add a few handfulls of gravel to the bottom
5. Add filter media to fill the top and bottom halves.
6. Slip the two halves together so that one is nesting inside the other.
7. Cut notch in uplift tube to hold airline tubing

I ran about 5 of these on different tanks and never really had a problem.
 
You can probably get a small air pump for $15. Airstones will probably cost $1. I know how you feel about the tight budget, I've been on one myself for the past few months.

If all you are getting is a betta then you CAN go without a filter but it's not recommended. You will need to do frequent large water changes to make up for the lack of one.
 
Getting two bettas and an axie (the tank will be divided, with dividers I'm making out of craft mesh that will have tiny holes so the fins/gills don't get caught or nipped in the mesh.)
 
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