# 5 gal bucket filter



## afoctober2 (Apr 7, 2007)

I have a lot of 5 gal buckets at home and my 90 gallon tank. My stand has been built for a while so no room to fit anything big in the door. I was wondering if a simple filter can be made of it I was thinking plenty of bio media than some filter wool or some kind of sponge. I also have 1in pvc pipe at home. Would that send to much flow into a 5gal bucket? I pretty much have all the materials even a 780gph pump. Some input would help. This is what i found so far.

lastly i forgot to mention how would I prevent overflow in a power outage?

http://www.sydneycichlid.com/bucket-trickle-filter.htm


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

This is a pretty commonly used concept.

Not exactly sure what the question is here.

Do you already have a sump setup to place this filter in? What is your overflow setup? I am also not sure if you are saying you have a 1" drain? If so 780gph is probably too much for a single 1" drain.


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## afoctober2 (Apr 7, 2007)

No I don't have a sump just the stand alone bucket i would use. Yes I have 1inc pvc that I would use to drain into the bucket. I thought it be to much draining for the pump to keep up.

I also wanted to know what do i do to keep the bucket from overflowing if power went out. All I can come up with is making the drain short enough so when it reaches level that it can no longer drain water the bucket isn't overflowing


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

That is a very unconventional (but not necessarily bad) idea.

The normal application would be that the bucket is in a sump. Water from the tank drains into the bucket. The water passes through the filter media in the bucket and then into the sump. A pump in the sump pumps the water back into the tank. In this setup the bucket drains into a sump and the return pump is in the sump.

Here are two good links
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php
http://www.cichlidforum.com/phpBB/viewt ... c70777c77a

If you wanted to use it without the sump then things could get a bit tricky. I suppose you could place the pump inside the bucket and use a bulkhead for the return pipe outlet, but then you have less space for filter media because you need to leave room for the pump and some extra water to account for evaporation rate. Actually, the more I think about it the more plausible this idea seems.

In either case there are two commonly used techniques to avoid water flowing back into the bucket when the pump is not on. On the return pipe you can drill a small (but not too small) hole right below the water line. This way the siphon will break and stop once the water in the tank drains past the drilled hole. The second thing you can do is use a spray bar as the return from the bucket. Normal placement for a spray bar would have the outlet holes at or above the water line. In this case a siphon would never form.

Another thing you could do, if you are not using a sump, is to seal the bucket well enough so that if water flowed back in to the bucket it would not leak out of the bucket - the bucket would just fill up and then the back pressure would stop the siphon.


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## 3569Ryan (Jul 8, 2008)

I like the idea of a sealed off bucket like bored at work said. It would just be a DIY canister filter. I'm sure it's been done I just don't know how well.


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## afoctober2 (Apr 7, 2007)

Would the pump i have laying around be to much its 780gph. I would be using 1in drain and 1in outlet from the pump. Someone mentioned that the pump would be to strong.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I think you will find that the pump can move a lot more water through a 1" pipe than can drain through a 1"


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

3569Ryan said:


> It would just be a DIY canister filter. I'm sure it's been done I just don't know how well.


A DIY cannister has been done, one was posted by Aquatester55. However, if the bucket is not sealed it still counts as a wet/dry. If you seal it then its a can.

The only problem is that if its not sealed, then you are susceptible to flooding. If you use the bucket in a sump then any overflow from the bucket from clogged media or whatever overflows into the sump. If you the bucket is not sealed and you don't have a sump and the water flow is clogged then the water will leak onto the floor. So maybe sealing the bucket is a better idea. But then it would no longer be a wet/dry.


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## OceanDevil (Jul 17, 2005)

afoctober2 said:


> lastly i forgot to mention how would I prevent overflow in a power outage?


Put the bucket above the waterline as a dump filter. Pretty much fail-safe, but you have to worry about hiding it.


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

OceanDevil said:


> afoctober2 said:
> 
> 
> > lastly i forgot to mention how would I prevent overflow in a power outage?
> ...


How would water from the tank get into the bucket? Unless you put the pump in the tank and not the bucket.


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## OceanDevil (Jul 17, 2005)

boredatwork said:


> OceanDevil said:
> 
> 
> > afoctober2 said:
> ...


Yes most pumps push water more effectively. This idea is no good for a show tank, more trouble than its worth. But if looks are not an issue it's a real winner. I use a 10 gallon rubbermaid. Basically a giant HOB.


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## afoctober2 (Apr 7, 2007)

Yeah i don't want a bucket outside my tank I like it looking neat. I"m thinking I will ditch just the bucket and get a rubermaide container inside maybe 18 gal. my door opening is 16.5 wide by 16.5.

How would i match siphon to pump thats 780?

Forgot to mention I was thinking of sticking the heater in the sump and maybe a hob filter not sure though.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Do you happen to know the brand/model of the pump. It would help in figuring out how much actual GPH you'll have at your given head height.


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## afoctober2 (Apr 7, 2007)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=9849

3000 10 ft 1" MPT 780 40


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Ok the other thing you'll need to know is how high you'll need to pump your water. This will likely be the measurement from the bottom of where the rubbermaid will be placed to the opening of your tank. In the link you provided there are graphs that show the flow for the pumps. This is the one for your model.









So for example, if the top of your tank is 4'-6' high, then you'd be ok running an overflow rated for 600GPH. There are many commercially made overflow boxes available, or you can DIY one yourself...


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