DIY Canister Filter

[CichlidMomma]

I wanted a canister filter for my discus tank but the cost left me a little discouraged. After some research, I came up with this. I'm not going to lie and claim that I build this for $10.00. It was more like 30-40 by the time all was said and done.

I used a

30" tall 4" PVP 'sewage' pipe
1 end cap
1 4" rubber top cap (has a metal screw clamp on it to secure it tightly, like the kind on your radiator hose in your car) with two 1/2 inch holes drilled in top.
2 hose fittings
2 - 3 inch threaded pvc pieces
1 - 24 inch long 1/2 " pvc pipe
15' of hose (cut into two pieces)
aquarium safe silicone
3 lbs lava rock
20 or so plastic pot scrubbies (they are small)
2 green scrub pads

I am using a 320gph powerhead which is submerged in the tank, the powerhead is pushing water into the canister not sucking it out. An inline pump would be nicer so I dont have to see it in the tank but I wanted to use as much equipment as I had on hand.

The intake is at the top and the water will flow down through a green scrub pad, then about six inches of plastic pot scrubbies, then about 3 pounds of various sized lava rock, then another green scrub pad and finally about six more inches of pot scrubbies. The 1/2 inch PVC pipe is secured to the top and extends down to about six inches from the bottom of the canister. I drilled several small holes along the bottom few inches of pipe to allow more water flow up the pipe. The pipe is secured to an outlet hose which flows back into the tank (I made this hose a little longer so i can use it to pump water out of the tank when i need to.)

Before sealing the fittings with silicone I hooked it all up to see if I'm getting enough water flow and I was impressed with the results. Now its all siliconed up and waiting for a full cure before I give it a shot tomorrow.

http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/kelly_clark1/IMG_20130606_211427_zpsfe4103cd.jpg (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/kelly_clark1/media/IMG_20130606_211427_zpsfe4103cd.jpg.html)http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/kelly_clark1/1359170731861_zps15f940ba.jpg (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/kelly_clark1/media/1359170731861_zps15f940ba.jpg.html)http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/kelly_clark1/1358788885594_zpseae3f7df.jpg (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/kelly_clark1/media/1358788885594_zpseae3f7df.jpg.html)http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/kelly_clark1/1359170720129_zps6f27f993.jpg (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/kelly_clark1/media/1359170720129_zps6f27f993.jpg.html)

Thoughts...comments?

[CichlidMomma]

Ok so... silicone is not a strong enough seal for the pressure and I was getting water pushed out of the top between the pipe fitting and top cap. Also, connecting the uptake tube to the top was a bad idea since its a ***** to get it back down in the canister without having to shake the media all to hell, I'll need to keep the uptake inside of the canister and use some kind of flexible tubing to connect the top to it... off to the hardware store for some better options

[MKD]

i think it'll cost you more at the end and/or disaster. I suggest shop on Craiglist for used one may cost around $30-40 or go with sponge filter or do diy sump from plastic container which cheaper, safer and easier to wc.

[radafmd]

I am very happy with my aquatop canister filter which was much cheaper than the comparison. Incredibly quiet too.

[a volar]

i think it'll cost you more at the end and/or disaster. I suggest shop on Craiglist for used one may cost around $30-40 or go with sponge filter or do diy sump from plastic container which cheaper, safer and easier to wc.

+1
Yep..

[CichlidMomma]

Thanks all for taking the time to reply =)

Most of the original setup was given to me used and I've had to replace pretty much everything so I'm not a big fan of used right now. I 'should' have ditched the UGF from the beginning rather than just replacing the powerheads but I didn't so I at least wanted to get some use out of the new powerheads. Once I modified my design a bit and got all of the fittings tight and secure, its running like a champ. I had two 320pgh powerhead pumps, I used one for the canister and attached a sponge to the other so if the canister fails (assuming it doesn't pump all of the water out of the tank) I have a back up running. Buying a new canister was not an option, $50 was my absolute budget and I dont like HOB filters so this was a good option for me. I'm pretty excited about how well it turned out, its small enough to fit behind my stand, its completely silent and I have quite a bit of flow coming back into the tank. (stronger than I thought it would be)

I'm not all that familiar with sumps but they seem to require more space than I have to devote to it. I've seen some nice sump setups where there are plants etc in the sump tank so being visible is ok... that might be something i do some more research on. For now I had to do something immediately.. my UGF was not doing its job even with 640 total gph powerheads and I lost my fav red melon discus to poor water conditions (even w big WCs).... the remaining three are in a 10g hospital tank until I get things straightened out.(thankfully they are doing well)

If everything still looks good tomorrow I'll take some pics of the modifications.

[CrazyAngels]

Best of luck to you. This world revolves around ingenuity, so I hope all your effort pays off with a nice safe filter to keep your little guys in good shape.

[Disgirl]

I admire your creativity! This is a new invention and lots of what we buy and use now was someone's invention. I hope you can make it work.
Barb

[CichlidMomma]

I admire your creativity! This is a new invention and lots of what we buy and use now was someone's invention. I hope you can make it work.
Barb

Thank you! That's pretty much my philosophy on everything... if someone else can do it so can I. Everything I used was designed for either sewage or sprinkler systems so it makes sense that they would work on something like this.

Now my fish have better water than what I'm drinking..... Hmmm... maybe I should make a DIY water filter too!

Too bad I wasn't able to get it done in time to save my red melon =( we miss him terribly and the tank just doesn't look the same without that splash of red.