# DIY Power head filter



## beaker99 (Apr 15, 2007)

Hi All
Below I will explain and show how I made several power head filters. And how I hide them in the backround.
1. First get an empty plastic bottle, preferable a water bottle. Then with a scissor, or serated knife, cut off the bottom and top as shown below: 
















Below are the materials I used:








Then use a hot glue gun, as shown, to attach artificial plants as shown below:








When you are finished you will have what you see below. Note the comparison of the before and after bottle. 








Blow is a picture of the bottle filter before and after:


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Someone after my own heart. If you are going to drop something into the tank that moves water, might as well hang a filter off of it. :thumb:


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## beaker99 (Apr 15, 2007)

I am not the first one to come up with this idea. Rivermud on the cichlid-forum site gave me my initial motivation. The site below will pull up his original thread.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... c&&start=0


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## beaker99 (Apr 15, 2007)

Hi All
Haven't been around in a while due to illness. A problem with this type of filter is that the power head, hagen 802, is so powerfull that it will suck some of the pot scrubber filter material into the impellor. A fix for this is to take some egg crate material and cut it to size for the plastic bottle and size it to fix snuggly to the upper curved section of the bottle. I have five of these power head filters in my 125. And these filters, along with a finer sand that doesn't allow detritus build up, keep my tank crystal clear with a minimum of work. I made 10 of these filters so that I could have an extra set of filters to switch out when I do a filter clean. I switch out the filters every 1-2 weeks. And do a water change about once a month or so. 
One problem I am having is that the artificial plants I hot glued to the bottles would not stay in place. Any ideas out there how to hide these filters?


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

Another DIY'er in Melbourne!!!

Looks like a DIY background is your next level. I love how all this gets started!!
Let me know if you'd like to brainstorm together sometime.


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## beaker99 (Apr 15, 2007)

iwade4fish said:


> Another DIY'er in Melbourne!!!
> 
> Looks like a DIY background is your next level. I love how all this gets started!!
> Let me know if you'd like to brainstorm together sometime.


I've tried a DIY backdrop a before and found it too messy and eating up too much aquarium space. Besides living in Melboure all you have to do is go down to the beach and you can pick up all the coquino, or shell rock, you want.


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## newcichlidiot (Jul 7, 2010)

I just put a slice in a sponge and slide over the powerhead input and, voila. Instant semi-sort-of-filter.


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

:thumb:


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## testtube (Jan 23, 2014)

Hi All
I.ve been gone a long time and had to change my name to testtube. I tried logging on with my old user name but got no where. Anyone looking for an excellent DIY power head filter must try this. I have had my 125g tank up and running for several years now, and except for cleaning scruby filter substrate, and once a month water changes, I have not had to do a tank tear down in all this time. The fine sand I have in my tank does hold the detritus on top of the sand so the power heads can more easily pick it up. You won't believe all the gunk those scubby filter remove in a week. 
I'm Back


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## mnnice (Dec 21, 2013)

Its a cool idea.. May have to try it with my 125! Also welcome back!


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## testtube (Jan 23, 2014)

Here's a seven year update. This system's still working great. And still have not had to do a tank tear down to clean. Any record out there for how long your tank has been up without a cleaning tear down?


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