diy canister filter

[burgoid]

been looking for plans on a DIY canister filter but havent come up with anything besides this. http://www.aquaticsbykr.com/DIYCanisterFilter.htm

and i just gave bunnings a call for a price on their cheapest water purifiers and its $118.95 Surprised have any of you's built or attempted your own filters or found any good plans?

any advice would be helpfull

cheers dave

[Ash]

Someone on here build one out of a large piece of PVC pipe with at least one screw on end - I think it might have been in the photography forum somehere as it was servicing a fishroom & was spotted in one of the pics & then discussed from there.

HTH

Ash

[D6C1]

There was a link on Sydneycichlid.com, but doesn't seem to be there anymore. Or I cant just find it.

[AzFish]

didnt CThompson have one running or was it cobalt craig or they the same person? it was someone from the menai area thats for sure that made one... from memory he had one in his fish room that he had made up....sort of looked like those huge eheim filters....

[trofius]

i had one made from 2, 25l water containers it was really good excep t that it needed a 4 hour clean out every 6 months worked a treat but.cost a tad over 200 to make. i have sinced scrapped it for parts as i have simpler easier to use filters now

seriously make an above tank trickle, or buy a canister filter, it will save a lot of headaches!

[Satanoperca]

Hi Burgoid,

Give it a go, they are not that hard to make and are very efficient and effective.

I have tried trickle filters but was to noisy and you required a large pump for a head height of 1.6mtrs and 3000 litres and hour.

I have built two know. The cost of the last not including the pump was about $100.

The pump is 4800 litres an hour. I would like to go larger, butare restricted due to the pipe sizes I am using.

This is the filter system. It uses a course, then medium and then filter wool inside. I have never had a problem with nitrates etc but the tank is fully planted but also over stocked.

I also run a Fluval 304 filter as well. Tank 500 ltrs

cheers

Ben

[teflon]

I have seen a few that have been made but IMHO I think they are a waste of time because once you buy the materials,tools etc it usually works out costing just a tad more then a decent second hand one would from ACE.

I also can't say im a big fan of canister filters myself I have made quite a few filters both above and internal which i think work more efficiently then canisters and they usually only cost about $25-$30 to make including pumps!

HTH

[Satanoperca]

In regards to the cannister filter I posted above, I forgot to add that my tank is heavily stocked including 7 greens horse face (15-18cm) and 2 Red Humps sub adults and at least 15 bristle nose.

I clean the filter onces a month and it is absolutely fithy, proof that it cleans everything out of the tank.

An intank filter is always going to be more efficient as it is not pushing the water up or down. I personally do not like seeing any filter or parts in the tank and my inlets and outlinks for the filters are built into the fibreglass rocks.

Cheers

[CThompson]

didnt CThompson have one running or was it cobalt craig or they the same person? it was someone from the menai area thats for sure that made one... from memory he had one in his fish room that he had made up....sort of looked like those huge eheim filters....

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What ever filtration style you choose, they all have their pros and cons. The “con” for canister style filters is that they are a hassle to clean. The pro is that you only have an inlet and outlet to hide in your tank, so aesthetically they are good, and in addition, dependant on the canister size relevant to tank size and stocking, it can be a long time between cleans when compared to say a sponge or box filter .

The advantage to making your own is that you can select the size of the canister itself (= cleaning frequency), and two, you can select the power the pump, and not be fixed with the size of the canister it comes with the commercially available ones.

They can be expensive to produce, DEPENDANT on what you make the canister out of, and what brand of pump you select. But then to balance that out that means you can actually produce a canister filter, the size and power of which has no commercial equivalent.

Personally, I always go with Eheim pumps, as it doesn’t matter how good a job you’ve completed, if the thing breaks down, and Eheims don’t seem to do this (not with me anyway).

I have made mine in the past from large clear (approx 150mm) perspex piping that I got for free, the down side was trying to match it up to available white PVC plumbing end caps. It was doable, but more hassle than just using all plumbing piping.

Plumbing piping when you get up to these sizes (150mm) can be expensive, but if the job is the prime importance and money within reason is not too much of an obstacle, then this is the way to go.

I’ve made two styles of canister filters, one standard mechanical with aerobic biological filtration, and two, denitrate filters. I’ve made these in a tube fashion with inlet and outlet at opposite ends, and also, better but more expensive with 150mm plumbing fittings with a “T” piece, so I organise the water to come in via the side, and exit the top. The advantage is that I can have the finished unit stand on its end and have a much smaller “footprint” under the tank where room is at a premium.

I am in the finishing stages of completing another one of these filters for nitrate removal. Unfortunately with no digital camera I can’t post shots of construction, and time limits my explaining further here step by step explanations.

Craig