# DIY 6 gallon bucket canister filter.



## AquaTester55 (Aug 16, 2006)

So I decided on a 6 gallon bucket for canister filter. Im going to use a Gamma Seal lid and the plumbing is as follows. Slight changes have been made whic are not pictured and that is just that the intake and output are on the same side of the bucket. Structual reinforment may need to be done with acrylic on the inside of the bucket. I don't want this collapsing in on its self under negitive pressures.

here is a pic from USPlastics.com









This is a sketch of what the filter setup "could" look like. Change probubly will be made as I go along. The water will swirl inside the bucket.









I will use an external pump that will pump about 1000-1500 GPH. The pump will be located on the output side of the canister filter. The filter will purge itself without the pump but may not purge 100%. Should purge enough to prime the pump. With the pump on, the small purge tube you see should allow air to be evacuated from the top surface and replaced with the water coming in from the intake.

So I bought some stuff to start the build. The bucket that is in the pictures below is NOT the bucket I will be using. Its only for a temp solution to see if the bulkhead fittings will work.

Here are the bulkheads. I had to use a 1 1/4 inch intake so the ID of the barbed fitting would be atleast 1" instead of 3/4" if I had went with a 1" barbed.

I may just copy the output style for use as an intake instead of what I have.




































I ordered the bucket and the gamma seal lid and I will hook this up to my Fx5 just so I can have some negitive and positive pressures running through it to test it out.

Moving the fittings back and forth doesn't cause them to leak at all. This is something I was worried about. So Moving hoses around while they are hooked to the filter won't cause the filter to leak. The bucket just flexs a bit.

The 90* barbed fitting is not pointing at the angle I would like it to be. A 45* would work better but I couldnt find any. I Will keep my eyes open or maybe PVCfittings.com has something that is female threaded on one side and slip fitting on the other at a 45* angle.

I filled the bucket with water and it holds great.

Here is a picture of the purge tube









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Above this line is a copy and paste from another forum.... So the past tence wording may be a little off since I already got the bucket and lid yesterday.

The bucket is very rigid compaired to other buckets. I was very surprised as to how rigid it was. Wall thickness is about 3/32"

It will hold between 16-18 Liters of bio media and have a flow velocity of .5-.7" per second @ 1000 GPH. Bio filtration section is 10" high so that is between 17-20 seconds of contact time.

Did some work to the bucket, The purge tube you see I may redo. I think its a little short.


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## AquaTester55 (Aug 16, 2006)

I calculated the bio capacity wrong. I first said it was 18L but thats not right. It would only be around 14L.

I decided do something a little different. Instead of using coarse and slightly coarse filter foam/fiber pads to remove large waste, why not use filter socks or even 800 micron media bags on the inlet? This way I can eliminate 3" off the mechanical filtration and put that 3" into the bio filter compartment. Now instead of 10" high it will be 13" high compartment. I figured for a 10.75" diameter since the bucket is about 10" on the bottom and almost 12 at the top. That will give me just over 19L of bio capacity. I like that number better than 14L. After all, this is suppose to be a "big" filter.

The filter media bag I will use will be 4" diameter by 12" long. That will give me about 150 sq inch surface area compaired to the 108 sq inch surface area of filter pads laying flat. I could also go with a 7"x14" bag which would give me about 538sq in area.... I think if im doing the math right.

I would have to figure out how to secure it to the inlet and I think I will use those spring loaded round clamps. I have to find them online or in the auto store. You can unclip them with your fingers.

looking at these bags
http://www.petsolutions.com/E-Z-Close-M ... 10432.aspx
http://www.petsolutions.com/Nylon-Filte ... 10432.aspx


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## AquaTester55 (Aug 16, 2006)

here is an image of what the filter could look like.


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## AquaTester55 (Aug 16, 2006)

Im not going to use the wire clamp pictured above, I found some and you need plyers to remove it because its so stiff. I think a barbed fitting with a good thick rubber band may do the trick.

I did some more quick work to it. I decided to continue with the 1.25" barbed fitting for the filter bag and just use a 1.25" -> 1" bushing to reduce to a 1" pipe on the outside of the bucket.










Using a bushing will cause a large chamber to form within the barbed fitting, counduit fitting and bushing which could cause turbulance in flow. So to remedy this I just cut a small piece of 1" pipe to fit inside this assembly and it worked and fit perfect. The fit is a tad looser than normal but some glue or silicone at both ends of the pipe will keep it secure. Pictured Below;










I also don't think I will need to upper seporation tray. I will do without for now and see how it works.


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## cdienzo (Jul 16, 2008)

Was this project ever completed? If so, I'd love to see the finished product.


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way. I am trying to ask this honestly, but after seeing tannables DIY trickle filter I am wondering what would be the point of a DIY cannister like this? I am guessing you are going for a large volume cannister to have a lot of media. But essentially its a bucket with a pump. And a cannister introduces the complexity of watertightness and purging.

OK I came up with once reason. A cannister doesn't need any type of drilling or overflow. But there are several DIY drilling overflows/drilling that, combined with a DIY trickle wet/dry, would probably still be easier than a DIY cannister.

Aside from my potentially insulting questions, I still think its an interesting project and would also be interested in updates. At least its definitely not as futile as the PVC pretzel!


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

Seems to be a good idea, but IMO its being made more complicated than it needs to be.


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