Homemade Filtration

[luque]

http/i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120/luque_93/filter.jpg

http/i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120/luque_93/filter2.jpg

on the second one the tube goes out of the water then back in (end facing bubbles) is this ok?

luke

 

[SamUK]

your jus making funny looking airstones, not filters.

 

[Kribster]

heh, this sounds even more complicated than my Biolife 35.
it came with the tank and is about 10 years old. Still going strong.

Now if u have a canister, an air-pipe in thru the top and holes in the surrounding, then the air coming in thru the pipe would replace that leaving the hole at the top, so theoretically you wouldnt get any suction?

Ill have a closer look at the pics, but something doesnt quite fit.

 

[Torrean]

I've had a thought like this floating around in my head for a while.

It's easy and it should work

The key is that you have to have uniformly sized gravel/filter media. Or atleast a minimum size for the gravel.

1. find a container. It should have a tight fitting lid that you can poke/drill holes in. This may not be necessary though.

2. put a hole the size of airline tubing in the top. Next poke lots and lots of small holes all over the top.

3. poke a line of holes just smaller than the smallest piece of gravel your using around the very bottom rim of the container. The bigger the better. However, larger gravel provides less surface area so it's kind of a give and take relationship. Smaller gravel means smaller holes which means less water flow through the filter. Larger gravel means larger holes which means less surface area.

4. run the airline through the top and push it through a long ways. Much longer than the depth of the container.

5. Next buy a flexible airstone (other kinds will work but I think flexible is best) and put about an inch of media in the bottom. this is to prevent all the air from just squirting out of the holes in the bottom. You know, things look for the path of least resistance.

6. Put the airstone on top of that media, then connect the airline to the airstone and fill the container with filter media whatever it may be. (I plan on using ceramic chunks if I ever make one)

7. Now turn on the filter and hope that it works.

The idea is water flows into the container through the holes in the bottom and out through the holes in the top. Don't know that it would work.



EDIT: I started writing this a while back and had to walk away from the comp for a long time.

 

[bogusmove]

The gravel is a bio filter which takes care of nitrates, nitrites, amonia, the

Not the nitrates. Those are dealt with by your water changes.

 

[kribensis12]

Not true. In the wild, is there someone to take care of the water changes? The bateria, eats up the nitrites. If you have a well stocked tank, a good filter, and appropiate feedings, you will only have to add water when it evaporates. Unless you think that gravel looks bad.

I've had a thought like this floating around in my head for a while.

It's easy and it should work

The key is that you have to have uniformly sized gravel/filter media. Or atleast a minimum size for the gravel.

1. find a container. It should have a tight fitting lid that you can poke/drill holes in. This may not be necessary though.

2. put a hole the size of airline tubing in the top. Next poke lots and lots of small holes all over the top.

3. poke a line of holes just smaller than the smallest piece of gravel your using around the very bottom rim of the container. The bigger the better. However, larger gravel provides less surface area so it's kind of a give and take relationship. Smaller gravel means smaller holes which means less water flow through the filter. Larger gravel means larger holes which means less surface area.

4. run the airline through the top and push it through a long ways. Much longer than the depth of the container.

5. Next buy a flexible airstone (other kinds will work but I think flexible is best) and put about an inch of media in the bottom. this is to prevent all the air from just squirting out of the holes in the bottom. You know, things look for the path of least resistance.

6. Put the airstone on top of that media, then connect the airline to the airstone and fill the container with filter media whatever it may be. (I plan on using ceramic chunks if I ever make one)

7. Now turn on the filter and hope that it works.

The idea is water flows into the container through the holes in the bottom and out through the holes in the top. Don't know that it would work.



EDIT: I started writing this a while back and had to walk away from the comp for a long time.

That was my idea, but not sure about so many holes.

 

[three-fingers]

Not true. In the wild, is there someone to take care of the water changes? The bateria, eats up the nitrites. If you have a well stocked tank, a good filter, and appropiate feedings, you will only have to add water when it evaporates. Unless you think that gravel looks bad.

Sorry, not entirely true. You DO need to do water changes to get rid of nitrates, or heavily stock your tank with flourishing fast growing plants (even this will just reduce the need for water changes, not remove it)..
'In the wild', is the water anywhere near as densely populated? No, less much nitrates are produced.
Nitrates are broken down into nitrogen by ANAEROBIC denitrifiying bacteria. That means bacteria that live in conditions with no oxygen, the exact opposite of your filter . To recreate anaerobic conditions, you need a very deep substrate with no plants, UG filter or anything else that could aerate it.
Then you wait for anaerobic pockets to form and the bacteria will colonize them.
This method has two problems, you would need to stock the tank extremely lightly to be able to get rid of all the nitrates, and anaerobic pockets are reported to kill fish if they escape from the substrate (as they like to do...).

Check out http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrification .

 

[demonmagus]

in the wild the rivers are having forever water changes if you think about it

 

[kribensis12]

What I said was a thoery( should have told you guys that) and that beneficial bacteria do help with nitrates.

 

[three-fingers]

And who's theory is this?
Seriously though, you should never test such a theory without frequent use of a test kit .
My uncle was told this 'theory' by one of his friends who had apparently been keeping fish for years, when I tested his tank his nitrates were 160ppm+ .
I think this 'theory' Is probably just the plants in peoples tanks, or even the algae...

 

[kribensis12]

I test my water weekly, so I always know whats going on and my nitrates havent spiked! But I still do gravel changes once a month and even twice if needed be( to dirty).

 

[kribensis12]

I test my water weekly, so I always know whats going on and my nitrates havent spiked! But I still do gravel changes once a month and even twice if needed be( to dirty).

 

[Torrean]

gravel changes?

 

[mnbyiuopre]

I think he means water. If you do mean gravel you have some interesting "theories"

I think everyone here is taking this a little too far and turning it into a fully fledged debate! This was Kribensis's idea and I don't necesarrily think everyone should be yelling. If it works for him then great! I guess the filter idea is like a breeding net;it works for some but not all.

 

[Ava_Banana]

Kribensis....I love DIY........so keep up the good work on trying things out. and seeing what works and what doesn't.

....however...(and no I am not yelling....just giving my opinion).

Maybe I am reading your instructions incorrectly, but all you would be doing in the filter you talked of at the start of this thread would be to filter the air.

The idea behind most pumped air filtration is to allow the rising air to draw water with it as it rises within a narrow(ish) tube. This drawing of water must draw water from somewhere....and that is normally through a sponge or some other sort of filter media.

And please be careful people (not specifically aimed at posters on this thread) when posting theories.......some people really take all they read on the internet as fact.......it is often difficult to tell what is specifically researched fact and what is "something someone read somewhere".

As I said........I am a great one for DIY.......so keep on giving it a try and let us know how you get on.

P.s....I still want to try to make my own DIY filter and am just getting all my "junk" together....