making my own filters

[Briarmoor]

I picked up some fiber filter material at the LFS plus some carbon. I noticed after I made a filter out of the stuff, using a piece of old pantyhose legging to house the carbon (spreading it out evenly), that the filter leaks some from the intake housing. Is the fiber too thick or is there some other problem? The levels of nitrite and ammonia are fine in the tank, so the filter is working, but maybe not as efficiently as it could. Should I be thinning the layer of filter?

P.

 

[Lateral Line]

Insufficient information. I have no idea how to begin to answer your question!

 

[Briarmoor]

Okay, this is the 55g tank (but I make filters now for the others and the homemade filter in the 20g is working fine, no leaking from the intake). The 55g has a Whisper Model 60, the dual sides with central intake. I use the filter cartridge housing from the old filters and wrap 100% polyester filter fiber from HBH Aqua-Pure, cut to fit. One end goes at the top, I wrap the length around the bottom, then clip the other end at the top. Inside in the middle of the homemade filter cartridge of this goes a bag of evenly spread carbon, the brand I'm using right now is activated filter carbon from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I bought one cotton bag for carbon and used old pantyhose for the other side. Seems to make no difference and holy old pantyhose are much cheaper.

The finished filter is thicker than the store bought, so that is what is making me wonder if the thickness is causing the run over at the intake? The filters are fairly new, not gunked up, just replaced one yesterday and the other 10 days ago. But it is backing up like if filters are past due to be replaced and too gunky for water to get through very well.

I see that I could split the thickness of the roll of fiber if that might help water go through better. I even tried making a filter and not using carbon to see if it affected it, but it didn't. I also took the intake tube off and cleaned it. There was java moss stuck in it, but when I put the cleaned tube back on, it made no difference in the leakage.

Thoughts? You may not need all the info, but just in case. Let me know if I can add anything to help. I don't like that backflow over the intake reservoir, it can't be efficient and that is water not being filtered either.

P.

 

[Tolak]

I've done this before with cheaper hob filters, you sure can't use as much media as an Aqua Clear. Pull out some of the floss, it really impedes water flow. Carbon doesn't block the flow too much, as long as it is the granular sort, and not packed in. Try using the panty hose only, the pump may not have enough flow to push through the cotton bag.

Try adding some sponge in place of the floss, it lets water flow through better.

Tolak

 

[Briarmoor]

I've done this before with cheaper hob filters, you sure can't use as much media as an Aqua Clear. Pull out some of the floss, it really impedes water flow. Carbon doesn't block the flow too much, as long as it is the granular sort, and not packed in. Try using the panty hose only, the pump may not have enough flow to push through the cotton bag.

Try adding some sponge in place of the floss, it lets water flow through better.

Tolak

[snapback]876654[/snapback]​

I'll do that. This is probably why the more expensive Penquin 100 with the biowheel on the 20g is working fine, even with the homemade filter. I will try taking some floss out of the Whisper on the 55g as well as using pantyhose for all the carbon. Thanks and I'll let you guys know if it works.

P.

 

[Briarmoor]

Update: splitting the thickness of the floss by half did the trick.