Diy Filter For Small/Fry Tank

[mini_matt]

Just posted this up for someone else after doing this a few days ago for my fry tank, I loved my picture so thought I would post so others can love it too! lol any comment would be great! I did find a tiny fry in the bottle this morning actually so some floss over the intake is advised, the fry was unharmed however

the sponge filter in my fry tank never seemed to work very well so what I did is, get a water bottle, small powerhead from an internal filter, my fry tank is only small so it didn't have to be too beefed up and I didn't want my fry getting sucked up into the filter.

take the water bottle and drill a 5mm hole in the top(lid) and the bottom, push some filter floss in to the bottom (i used a chopstick to help) then take some media from your main tank I took a few bio rings and some of that stuff that looks like corral, you could use some gravel from your main tank as this should have a certain amount of bacteria in it, if your using an internal filter take some of that sponge just to start off your bacteria well. then you get a length of airline (6mm) and run that from the powerhead out to the lid of the bottle (it will fit just squeze it in and there you have it! I found mine quite noisy so pushed a short peice of airline in the bottom of the bottle so it just trickles in the tank, oh yeah and the bottle will have to be above the tank here, not sure if it would have the power to push the water back up an airline but it might work, I have my main tank next to my fry bowl so the lip on the neck catches on the rim of my main tank quite nicely, sucured with duck tape just to be sure.

I drew you a picture on paint so u get the idea a bit better

 

[OldMan47]

That is a good looking Rube Goldberg filter Mini Matt. Why not use the bottle and media the way you did, put a few more holes around the bottom of the bottle, put the bottle in the tank and use the power head to pull water from the bottle? I think that would also make it safer to use around small fry. There would be less chance of the fry being sucked up by the power head that way.

 

[nano_reef_ubergeek]

I guess that's too protect the fry if you have a filter.... I'm hoping to raise plankton, fry and shrimp in a small tank myself. I was thinking that if I have live rock and no filter -- maybe the koralia powerhead would be enough. I'm wondering if the fry and plankton would be harmed by the powerhead though.

Ultimately, I'm hoping to have a 20 gallon tank with shrimp, green water(phytoplankton), and plankton, plus fish ..... self sufficient.

I did try this with my ten gallon, but the water became greener and greener because there was nothing in the tank to eat the water born algae (I guess).

So I had to give up (until I can find out more).

 

[mini_matt]

I think I understand what you mean there, could you maybe draw me a paint picture to explain easier? this could also overcome the problem of internal filter powerheads not designed to push water up, however would need to use a smaller bottle for my tank but not a problem for 10g tanks.

Edit: just looked up who Rube Goldberg is, basically the idea is that rather than use the simple sponge that would be with the filter this way there is a lot more media for the bacteria to live therefore it filters the water better

 

[nano_reef_ubergeek]

I think that what oldman is saying is .... just submerge the bottle part way and reverse the flow .... this would depend on a very good connection at the top of the bottle though -- so there would be no air leaking into the bottle.

 

[OldMan47]

My concept was quite simple really. I have tried to give a graphic picture of the idea in this simple line drawing. I really believe in the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid.

 

[Tolak]

I've been doing something like OM47 describes for years, it keeps the bottom of bare tanks clean, especially when dealing with messy fish. The suction of the power head is diffused enough to make it safe for fry, the flow out of the power head keeps debris from settling.

I was just going to set one up today, have some pike cichlids growing out that are real messy.

 

[mini_matt]

that looks quite good actually, much better filtration than the standard sponge filters, I guess you could just fill the bottom of the filter with media instead of the sponge but the reason I did this is because I have limited space in my fry tank