Someone in chat had asked me to write up some ideas on how to build your own filters, so I'll put together a list of some ideas, hopefully with some links.
I first started building filters for my turtles. These may not be of interest to fish people because they're usually big and sometimes difficult to find. I basically just build giant canister filters for biofiltration. I started with an 8' piece of 4" pvc, 4 end caps, 4 barb fittings, 2 Y-barb fittings, a pond pump, and lots of lava rock. Basically you just fill the PVC with lava rock (two 4' sections), glue on the end caps and drill holes and screw in the barb fittings. I had them on the ground parallel to each other, so the pump pumped water out of the tank, into the pipes side by side, and back into the tank. You'd probably want some sort of prefilter too. I had this setup on a 100gal turtle tub, so it would handle a large fishtank. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this setup.
I did it again with my snapper, except I used a 5 gal bucket and another pond pump. This one is a lot harder to hide, since it just sits in her pool. That way if it drips I don't have to worry about water getting all over the place.
You can see the hose going out off the pump and back into the bottom of hte bucket. The water just flows up and out.
Another filter in this style built by another turtle keeper
And actually, the whole link as to how she made it:
http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php?showtopic=48950&hl=
And here's a how-to for a fluuidized bed filter, I haven't made one of these yet but I really want to. Looks pretty easy and very effective.
http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNfbf/bnfbf.htm
I think thats about it for now, you can make pretty much anything with enough pipe fittings and pvc cement, and a little creativity.
I first started building filters for my turtles. These may not be of interest to fish people because they're usually big and sometimes difficult to find. I basically just build giant canister filters for biofiltration. I started with an 8' piece of 4" pvc, 4 end caps, 4 barb fittings, 2 Y-barb fittings, a pond pump, and lots of lava rock. Basically you just fill the PVC with lava rock (two 4' sections), glue on the end caps and drill holes and screw in the barb fittings. I had them on the ground parallel to each other, so the pump pumped water out of the tank, into the pipes side by side, and back into the tank. You'd probably want some sort of prefilter too. I had this setup on a 100gal turtle tub, so it would handle a large fishtank. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this setup.
I did it again with my snapper, except I used a 5 gal bucket and another pond pump. This one is a lot harder to hide, since it just sits in her pool. That way if it drips I don't have to worry about water getting all over the place.
You can see the hose going out off the pump and back into the bottom of hte bucket. The water just flows up and out.
Another filter in this style built by another turtle keeper
And actually, the whole link as to how she made it:
http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php?showtopic=48950&hl=
And here's a how-to for a fluuidized bed filter, I haven't made one of these yet but I really want to. Looks pretty easy and very effective.
http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNfbf/bnfbf.htm
I think thats about it for now, you can make pretty much anything with enough pipe fittings and pvc cement, and a little creativity.
