# home made filter???



## jkcole (Sep 5, 2011)

anyone ever done it or used it? i have been running home made fiters on my turtle tanks for yeard they really do a great job so now i set one up on my 80 gal....cheap and effective. just wondering if anyone else out there runs them on their cichlid tank?
ty


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

What flavor of home-made filter do you run? People around here use lots of different home-made filters, including sumps, sponge filters, and hamburg mattenfilters. A few have attempted cannister filters, some of whom have even reported success . I don't think I've ever seen a DIY HOB, but I suspect someone has tried!

We'd love to see pictures of your home-made setups!

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## chptunes (Jul 19, 2011)

..agree with Rick.. would love to hear details and see pics of these homemade filters...


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## jkcole (Sep 5, 2011)

want to be sure and not allow it outlet to get clogged other wise ur pump will just empty the tank and the water wont be able to get back in i use the green whatever things in the pic local hardware stores gotem









u can see the outlet and the pump in this one it will be more concealed when i get my cichlid rock in









my attempt to paint it and make the wife happy.........not to bad 

ok let me see of i can explain  altho im sure yall have seen this before
its a version of a skippy filter(skippy dont sell them just shows u how to make them its more a design than a brand) . suposed to be next to maintenance free and so far i have only cleaned my turtle ones out in 6-8 months....u can see the pump the hose goes in to the bottom of the 5 gal bucket....goes around the edges at the bottom as to give a spinning when the water comes in...............there egg crate on top of the hose then lava rock the scrub pads on top of those the soap free ones of course.......the u drill a hole in the side of the bucket high up.....to what ever size pvc u will be using and fit it all together and bango the water comes out the tank to the bottom of the bucket is pushed up threw the media and falls out the pvc back in the tank....i have the outlet facing left and the pump on the rt as to get good flow


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Interesting... an overhead filter, and you're pushing the water up through the media? Cool .

Have you considered building one that goes the opposite direction? Stick with the 5-gal on top of the tank, and use eggcrate again... lava rock on bottom, scrubbies in the middle if you like 'em, and then on top would be a drip-tray covered in filter floss/quilt batting? Probably need to leave some room on top and put an emergency drain up there... then you plumb the water into the top of the bucket rather than the bottom and add a drain at the bottom of the bucket back to the tank.

You'd lose some usable space since you need room above the drip tray, but you'd get both an easily replaceable mechanical pre-filter (the quilt batting/filter floss/blue bonded pad, whatever) and you've now gone wet/dry, which should make your aerobic bacteria quite happy (and for these bacteria, it's oxygen rather than whiskey that makes them a little frisky).

Just a thought if you wanted to try something different on the next go 'round!

Out of curiosity -- with your current setup, does the bucket siphon back into the tank if the power goes out?

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who is contemplating using some of those green scrubbies in his HOB filter instead of cartridges)


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## jkcole (Sep 5, 2011)

hmmm never thought of that i might haft to try it  and yea when power goes off it will all go back in the tank.......i have thought of a check valve but havnt found one yet would haft to be 3/4 od the hose im useing is 3/4 id


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

Love it, no empty tank, maybe a little on the floor if power goes out, no biggie. asia is using above-tank filters w/more regularity, expect some commercial units within a few years.
agian, good idea :thumb:


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Really? While it might work no way in he-- my wife would go for that painted or not and I am not sure it's painted? Unless I am missing something thats a 5 gallon bucket semi painted on a tank? Sorry but there is a reason filters go under the tank, I am sure it works and I am pretty sure the guy's and companys that think that chit up have already thought of that. Could be wrong but I doubt it. Wish ya luck though!


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Hah, wouldn't fly in my house either, but it's a cheap and easy way to set up a garage tank, with fewer worries about overflow than a traditional sump. If you've got a spare pump and a homer buket lying around... you're in business!

My biggest worry with the way he has it set up now (other than the spousal approval factor (SAF(tm))) would be 5 gallons of water backflowing into the main tank at power outage (or the 5-gallon drop in water level during operation, which imho would be less than ideal much much preferable to the alternative).

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who does plan to put his wet/dry in the traditional location -- below the tank)


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## jkcole (Sep 5, 2011)

lmao guess i just got a kick a*# wife  i am not worried about back flow when u know its gonna happen u set up for it..........anyway ty for the comments it works for me for now..budget wise and it is an eyesore but we dont have the fanciest of homes so no big deal...im sure when we move up in a few years it will be a different story .....


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

No big deal! Nothing a bit of pretty cloth and a flower pot on top wouldn't hide. Which looks worse? A bucket or a picture of a gnarley old woman in a rocking chair? Just a matter of what we like. My wife would have to cover it but that may just be a personal problem I've had to deal with.


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

PfunMo said:


> No big deal! Nothing a bit of pretty cloth and a flower pot on top wouldn't hide. Which looks worse? A bucket or a picture of a gnarley old woman in a rocking chair? Just a matter of what we like. My wife would have to cover it but that may just be a personal problem I've had to deal with.


You could always try to DIY a sump in the hood?










Shouldn't be too hard to put that in a good sized hood!


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Yeah, I like the idea of the overhead filter like TKC showed, though imho for a display tank, having the water level constant in the main tank trumps the simplicity and "no spill" design of an overhead filter vs. under-tank sump. On the other hand the overhead filter opens up some fun possibilities for plant filtration... grow houseplants hydroponically in an open-topped overhead filter and they'll suck the nitrogen right out of the water!

If I were building a custom tank, it'd be tempting to build in filtration compartments either in the back or side, just so it's a self contained unit with no external plumbing.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Rick_Lindsey said:


> If I were building a custom tank, it'd be tempting to build in filtration compartments either in the back or side, just so it's a self contained unit with no external plumbing.
> 
> -Rick (the armchair aquarist)


I'm with you there! On the 125G I'll be building I put a sump in the back:


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## pdandy88 (Dec 27, 2010)

I have a 75 sump on my 135 gallon tank. Two corner overflows run into the top of a sterilite plastic organizer with 4 drawers. Each drawer has holes drilled in the bottom so water runs from one to the next. Each of the top two drawers has filter pad and floss and the bottom two have bio media.

http://www.midwestcichlid.com/showthrea ... h-75g-Sump

Here is a link to the entire build thread on midwestcichlid.com


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

pdandy88 said:


> I have a 75 sump on my 135 gallon tank. Two corner overflows run into the top of a sterilite plastic organizer with 4 drawers. Each drawer has holes drilled in the bottom so water runs from one to the next. Each of the top two drawers has filter pad and floss and the bottom two have bio media.
> 
> http://www.midwestcichlid.com/showthrea ... h-75g-Sump
> 
> Here is a link to the entire build thread on midwestcichlid.com


Eager to see that, but can't. You must be a member... Although I'm tempted to join just to see that thread :lol:


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## pdandy88 (Dec 27, 2010)

The King Crabb said:


> Eager to see that, but can't. You must be a member... Although I'm tempted to join just to see that thread :lol:


Just posted a thread on this forum for everyone to see!! Take a look!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=

Let me know what you think


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