Anybody Here Tried A Diy External Filter For A Smallish Tank? (15 Gall

[14gtr14]

Ok, I'm having real trouble with my new fluval 2+. It needs cleaning out every week at least and it's only 3/4 weeks old! Compared to my eheim ecco which I bought secondhand about a year ago now and it has only been cleaned out about 6-7 times! The flow rate on the fluval is great at first, but after a day or two the flow rate rapidly decreases. I'm sick of it and would love another external, but since I spent 20 odd quid on the fluval recently I can't afford one.

Does anyone have a DIY external that they have made and works well? Or does anybody have an idea that I could even try?

The tank's 15 gallons and I have a couple 2 litre bottles lying about, as well as media and a small internal filter, if this helps any.

cheers,

greg

 

[cuticom]

Its really simple to make a wet/dry trickle filter, I've made one for one of my tanks.

If you dont mind having stuff on top of the tank, its basically having the pump or filter in the tank, pumping water up to a top container through a drip plate, onto media then pouring back into the tank.

If the tanks on a stand and you wnat it under the tank its a bit harxder to do as you need to make an overflow etc.

 

[iairj84]

Economically wise it's probably not the best idea for a freshwater setup, unless you have all of the materials already. I have gone back and forth on whether or not I should try and make a DIY external with a 1.5 gallon bucket. It could be done fairly easily, stacking media and so forth but the biggest issue is the leakage problems that can come with DIY. By the time I was to buy the bulkheads for the tubing and all the media as well as a 300+ GPH pump I might as well look for a used external on ebay. At least then I know it's been tested and is engineered to work right... That being said the wet dry trickle filter that the previous poster mentioned is not a bad idea, it's just not quite aesthetically pleasing or feasible in most situations.

 

[14gtr14]

...only problem is I've an open top aquarium so i don't think it would work! The problem is as well the reason I want an external is due to my Fluval being rubbish and if possible I would like to free up space in the aquarium.

thanks!

 

[14gtr14]

ok, i came up with a plan. is this roughly what you were suggesting cuticom? I have a shelf above my tank. I thought of this:

Do you think- if it works- that I should just have sand in there? Should I go with a 5 litre or 2 litre bottle? Should I have taps on the in/out flows? What lph value of powerhead?

Any pointers about it would be good!

 

[Phoenixfish]

the one problem i had with an old filter that worked like this was all the cr*p gos through the powerhead and then onto the filter media which is fine aslong as you dont have a planted tank wich has alot of plant/leaves dieing, otherwise it would work

 

[14gtr14]

the one problem i had with an old filter that worked like this was all the cr*p gos through the powerhead and then onto the filter media which is fine aslong as you dont have a planted tank wich has alot of plant/leaves dieing, otherwise it would work

so do you mean that the plant matter would clog the powerhead? that's what I was thinking just after i posted this. would it make a big difference? I guess that's what's happening to my filter just now. After a few days it gets clogged with leaves etc, but atleast just a powerhead would be easier to clean.

 

[Danno]

ok, i came up with a plan. is this roughly what you were suggesting cuticom? I have a shelf above my tank. I thought of this:

Do you think- if it works- that I should just have sand in there? Should I go with a 5 litre or 2 litre bottle? Should I have taps on the in/out flows? What lph value of powerhead?

Any pointers about it would be good!

That is what is called a sump. It is very popular to do this in the land of saltwater. They do work in saltwater but I don't know if they will work in freshwater because the two types of tanks filter completely different.

 

[voo]

I think you'd need to have the pipes the other way round, so that the outlet was at the top. that way if the media gets blocked, it wont overflow if you did have the top cut off.

I'm also thinking about having something like this in my tank, there's 2 filters in the tank but they dont seem to be working well. I already have the powerhead, but it'll give 10x turnover

 

[cuticom]

Mine are very similar, except I have a drip plate above the sump container which evenly distributes water over the media. Theres also a prefilter of filter wool before the drip plate as it really polishes the water and makes the tank very clear.

It works wonderfully for me, though I'm in the process of converting tanks over to a new type of DIY filter, the wet/dry trickle filters worked wonderfully and can be done very very cheaply.

 

[14gtr14]

i think I'll go with this actually. I can pick up a second hand powerhead dirt cheap on ebay.

How did you make your drip tray? Just a tray with several holes in it?? In your filter is there a constant water level ( as in deep enough to chuck in duckweed or elodea) ? Would that work? Or would there be anyway of doing this?

ye I think i would add a pre filter to it too. Like a pice of sponge inside the powerhead guard.


sorry about all these questions !

 

[cuticom]

The sump area holding the media on my largest tank is just over 12l (3g) and is designed for blackouts so the media never dries out. The overflow is very high up in it and the water just pours back into the tank, but cant drop below a certain level.

Th best thing for a drip plate I've found so far are the flat puff pastry containers. But you can do it with virtually anything, you just punch holes in it,.

I wouldn't be sure bout putting plants in though. As my drip trays cover the sump fully so its pretty dark in the sump, not enough light for plants...

 

[14gtr14]

I think you'd need to have the pipes the other way round, so that the outlet was at the top. that way if the media gets blocked, it wont overflow if you did have the top cut off.

sorry, never saw this comment yesterday voo! i was thinking about this today. Would it work as well? Would the power of the powerhead not move th gravel etc out of the way?

and is designed for blackouts so the media never dries out

how does this work?

The overflow is very high up in it and the water just pours back into the tank, but cant drop below a certain level.

If your outlet is at the bottom how do you keep a pretty much constant water level?


thanks again all of you!

 

[cuticom]

Heres a pic of the old set up, its been changed now but it did work well. The pump is situated in the tank, and pumps water into the container in the corner of the tray, the container has holes in the bottom so the water streams out over the drip tray and into the media box. The overflows/output have been set almost at the top of the container so the tub always hold 12l of water preventing the media drying out.

The overflow are the little blue tubes sticking out of the blue tub. I made them short as I like the water fall effect but its just as easy to make them long and lead straight into the tub.

 

[14gtr14]

thanks alot cuticom! that looks good. I get it now