Building Your Own External Filter?

[VaegaVic]

I was just looking at pond pump/filter sets online, in planning for my 350L which will have superb filtration on it.
I noticed that alot of them require to have a power-head like pump at the bottom of the pond and then an external canister for filtering.

I was just wondering if it would be possible to mimic this in the aquarium trade.

For example, I have an old Interpet EPF sitting upstairs doing nothing.
Could I buy a 1000lph powerhead, rig the tubes to fit onto the outlet so that the water drawn into the powerhead will be sent flying down the pipe into the EPF, filtered and then pushed back into the tank?

Could this be even more simplified by using just a water tight container, basically a storage unit like one of those clippy fresh boxes for food.

Or have a just described a sump and not even realised until getting to write this sentence?

 

[VaegaVic]

Bumpety bump

 

[coldcazzie]

It'd have to be a very powerful powerhead to manage to pump the water all the way through all the filter media and then back up the tubes into the tank...if it wasn't powerful enough surely it would just fill your external to overflowing and you'd end up with a flood! I thought that was why most powerheads draw the water through the filter media behind them and back into the tank?

If you have a pond then it matters less if something overflows, but it's much more of an issue in your living room!

My instinct would say that yes, you can (carefully) make your own external/sump with the bits, but that the powerhead needs to be the last thing in the series of components rather than the first thing. I'm sure someone else with more experience can give more help than me...

 

[Verminator89]

Yes you'd probably require the powerhead to be the last in the stages of filtration. Correct me if i'm wrong but a filters powerhead is used to pump the water back up/out the filter into the tank, with gravity taking the water into the filter unit once you've primed it. Thats my understanding, that way less power is wasted pushing it through the filter. I'm not experienced enough to advise on what can be done, someone should be here soon enough who can give you the information you need.

Thats just my two cents,
James.

 

[shroob]

I was just looking at pond pump/filter sets online, in planning for my 350L which will have superb filtration on it.
I noticed that alot of them require to have a power-head like pump at the bottom of the pond and then an external canister for filtering.

I was just wondering if it would be possible to mimic this in the aquarium trade.

For example, I have an old Interpet EPF sitting upstairs doing nothing.
Could I buy a 1000lph powerhead, rig the tubes to fit onto the outlet so that the water drawn into the powerhead will be sent flying down the pipe into the EPF, filtered and then pushed back into the tank?

Could this be even more simplified by using just a water tight container, basically a storage unit like one of those clippy fresh boxes for food.

Or have a just described a sump and not even realised until getting to write this sentence?

From my basic DIY knowledge, I think you've just described a type of trickle filter. Verm~ is also right that once primed, the powerhead in external filters are to return the water, not to 'push' water through the media and then back into the tank, thats done by the syphon.

I'm surprised more people don't use DIY filters, they are remarkably simple to make and offer much more value for money than off the shelf ones. Like you say, all you basically need is a water tight container, a powerhead and some pipes for the basic filter. You could use an overflow to syphon the water into the container, where it is divided into compartments, then a powerhead to push the water back. The only real tricky bit is calculating what size powerhead you will require.

Theres articles online on how to build your own filter, heres an example, or even a filter thats basically a powerhead, here.