Diy Hob Filter?

[aly_starh]

Any links or experiences, does anyone knoe how to make one.

 

[bitteraspects]

you will need a small submersible pump, and a container to hold your filter media.

what size tank will this be for?

 

[aly_starh]

Small 10L Planted Shrimp Tank

 

[bitteraspects]

You're probably better off going with a sponge filter powered by an air pump, but let me see what I can throw together.

 

[bitteraspects]

ok, i took a few minutes when i got home and threw this together.

heres what i used

snap tight tupperware container (i think its the one for holding pasta. maybe bread)
2 1" bulkhead fittings (you can use threaded PVC fittings)
i drilled the container and installed the fittings, then sealed them with silicon

2 90 degree elbows (slip into the bulkhead fittings)

1/2" ID plastic tubing threaded through the lid and sealed with silicon

and a rio90 submersible pump

i connected the tubing to the pump, and ran the other end to the bottom of the tupperware container.
filled the bottom of the container with poly-fill, and added bio media over that. (i used scrubbies, you could use bio balls or whatever)
from there i just hung the container on the side of the tank, stuck the pump to the inside of the tank and plugged it in.

it would be best to add another pvc leg, or stuff something between the container and the tank so that it sits vertically rather than at an angle. but for a quick build, it works.

the rio90 is rated at 54gph @ 1' pump head, and i doubt its actually using that much pressure. but for the sake of argument, lets just round it down to 54gph. that gives you 5x turnover in a 10g tank, and more than enough media space to handle a much larger set up.
with that said, if you decided down the road you wanted to upgrade the tank, you would just need a slightly bigger pump.

hope this helps.
sorry for the ghetto build, it took me maybe 5 minutes to assemble. lol

 

[Betta5]

WOW bitteraspects thats a great simple filter. Some black paint and I could easily see it being a decent filter. Does the water just go un through the lid and then come out of the 2 tubes?

 

[bitteraspects]

yup. it follows the same basic principals as a canister.
the pump pushes water to the bottom of the tank,it flows up through the media and out the overflow pipes. as long as the mechanical media as tight around the tube, you wont have ant bypass issues. i folded the poly-fil a few times and punched a hole through it for the tube to fit through, so the water is forced to go through the media rather than around it.
the clip on lid provides a water tight seal, but as long as your overflow tubes are plumbed in around 3/4 of the way up, the water should never get to the lid.

oh, and with 2 1" openings, you are able to use a much larger pump without worrying about the container ever filling all the way up.

 

[aly_starh]

thats brilliant, will try it. thanks!

 

[bitteraspects]

i built another one similar to this a little while back out of 3" PVC. im sure i have it in my "aquarium stuff" storage shed somewhere, but i couldnt find it.

basically it looked like this (this is not mine, but this is where i got the idea)

same idea, except instead of using the plastic tubing to run to the bottom of the big PVC tube, you would use a smaller diameter PVC for the inside, and a hose barb fitting to connect the hose between the PVC pipe and the pump.
and with the 3" PVC, the scrubbies fit perfectly in the tubing, and the thinner CPVC pipe that runs down the middle fits perfectly in the middle of the scrubbies.

the only thing with this design is, i never really found a way to hang it on the tank. i just made it tall enough to sit on the table next to the tank.
i wrapped an old wire hanger around it, and fashioned some hooks on the end to hang on the tank, but it looked really ghetto, and didnt hold very well. lol. but im sure theres a way to hang it on

 

[mini_matt]

mate thats muckin fagic! lol i love it so simple, you could even run the pipe through one of the bulkheads so you don't have to silicone the pipe in the top but looks like it would work well!

 

[bitteraspects]

youd be surprised what you can do with a little DIY ingenuity

 

[Mikaila31]

I have a old 80's aquarium book and it has a diagram of a air driven HOB filter. I never realized there could be such a thing. there is a diagram, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

 

[bitteraspects]

you sure it was a HOB?
ive never heard of an air driven HOB.

 

[Mikaila31]

I haven't heard of an air driven HOB either, but thats what it looks like. They call it a external filter. I scanned the page, maybe someone knows what it is. I've looked at it for a while, but the diagram doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Its the one on the right. There are numbers, but the book doesn't say what parts the numbers are. All it says is, "The outside filter(C) works on the same principle as the inside filter filter(B), but water is placed outside the tank and water is syphoned off from the tank, cleaned by the filter than return to the tank" ......Its like some weird air driven HOB/stump hybrid thing. Maybe?

 

[OldMan47]

Back in the 50s and 60s, the air driven HOB was the absolute height of modern filtration. We had mostly box filters, but the air driven HOB on the display tank got the filter box out of the tank and served a much larger tank more effectively than any box filter you could buy at the time. The lift tube worked the same way as the lift tube on a modern sponge filter or a UGF. It lifted water above the tank rim and into the HOB through a U shaped tube. The media was in the external box and the return was a filled siphon tube connecting the outlet of the filter back into the tank. It did not provide the high flow rates that we are used to these days but it worked and kept the fish healthy. If you wanted high water circulation rates in the tank, you added a couple of air stones to stir things up. Setting up the air driven HOB was a bit of a pain because you had to establish that full return siphon. The rest of the filter filled itself using the air lift. A modern HOB has just substituted an impeller for the air lift and the return is easier now that you can get enough lift to allow the filter to overflow back into the tank.