the infamous 5 gallon diy canister filter. can it be done????
- Thread starter iamvictor2k
- Start date
I know your a big fan of the fx5 gunner and so am I. Bottom mounted designs have there advantages as well. My comment was made in reference to this design in it will be a major PITA to clean the fine filter medium, which is always the first to clog. With a bottom motor design on "this" filter, it's not going to be as easy as say with the fluval to just simply lift out the baskets, he has to scoop out all the bio media to get to his sand layer, and that sand will clog in a matter of days.
that is incorrect. i have made baskets that lift out of the bucket. if you will go back and look at the previous pics you will see there are 4 baskets made from egg crate, another cut up 5 gallon bucket, zip ties and yarn. alowing me to pick up each layer and service what ever section i need.
also i spent probably about an hr just on the sand layer. i took it to the sink with a spray head and made sure that all the particles that were going to bypass the media were flushed. during my testing i haven't had any sand come from my output tube.
No-no, I was just speaking in specific and ideal terms and why I dissected your quote. Anyway I should have PM'ed you to discuss it as a side line with respect to the author.
Sorry about that iamvictor2k, our conversation about that has really nothing to do with your thread. Irregardless of what any of us have said, your doing the same thing most of us have and no doubt you will have a working DIY canister and the exspirience to go along with it.
small problem during testing. last night i ran the pump all night and came in the morning to fined that the bucket was empty of water. upon inspection because of the unexpected negative pressure came an air leak from one of the top fittings. i have a solution for this problem already. i will get another 2 washers for the top of the bucket and also fined sum thick hard plastic washers to go on the backs of the washers. and of course for a fail safe silicone. during my testing for the first 3 hrs there were no problems at all no leaks from the lid or intake or output hoses. i also put both hoses in a 5 gallon bucket filled with water and lifted it as high as i could lift it and my wife unplugged and plugged the pump back in several times and no leaks. seems to be a sound container but i have just a few little bugs to work out.
Ok, well I didnt see the additional baskets in your last group of photo's. That will help, although I do think you will find the sand not to be a good medium, sand filters are typicaly high pressure devices (although they work marvelously). if you get to carried away with too fine a filtration in your baskets, 90% of your flow will be around the medium and not thru it.
during washing the sand before installation i noticed how the water went threw the sand coming at full blast from the sink. i cannot imagine how it would not allow the water to flow threw it. i mean the water went threw the sand with out even puddling. i have seen filter media and sponges that allowed less water flow. i understand that you are saying that it will clog fast and then bypass the sand. i dont really have a problem with that. i mean it will be doing a much better job with the sand than without. if you took the sand out it would just bypass the sand 100%. im more happy with 10% sand filtration than with 0% sand filtration.
Remember if your pump is strong enough like the FX5 and my DIY Lock&Lock canister which had a Rio 2100 pond pump, negative pressure created by the pump needs no pin hole to displace water with air as the air is literally pulled out of water solution. I had to have my DIY canister on a timer shutting down every 6 hours because being 1/4 the size of your bucket mine would literally drain itself of water in a matter of 6 hours and there was no air leak. Just like the FX5 when it shuts down after 24 hours it belches allot of air it has pulled out of solution.
i remember you saying that before either on this thread or on one of yours. i went out yesterday and happened to fined a sump pump alarm at lowes regularly priced at 30 dollars for 3 dollars. this only works when there is water it sounds an alarm. so i plan on doing another thread diy for altering the sump alarm to switch the pump off automatically when the water reaches a certin level and come back on automatically when the water comes back up. should be a fun thing to do. let me know if you know of a product like this available for retail and what the price is so i can make a comparison for the one that i build.
