DIY canister

[Brohawk]

I tried making a mini canister once, but eventually gave up. Fixed one leak, only to have another. If you do make one, from my experience do 1 of 2 things:

1) use a submersible pump w/ the inflow on top, outflow on the bottom (you'll run into more pressure/leakage issues if reversed).

2) use an inline pump, attached to the outflow. Avoids having to run/seal the submersible pump's power cord through the canister.

 

[Sploke]

I'v never seen 6" PVC at home depot, largest mine have is 4". they have 6" drain pipe and perf pipe, but not nearly as much option for fittings.

 

[Spunky]

good advice all... my head is spinning a little with all the possibilities. 2 questions...
1.) i have a AC 30 (150gph) i could use. Is that enough for a 30?
2.) why does the Lock-n-Lock plastic container not work? I know they make larger ones. Will it not hold up under pressure?

 

[Sploke]

What is a lock-n-lock container?

 

[The Zigman]

5' of 6" PVC is $37 from www.mcmaster.com or you could go to home depot and buy 2 feet and be done.

I forgot to mention, I got a Rena XP2 canister filter for $45 off of craigslist yesterday; a used filter from ebay/craigslist might be your best bet.

yeah, but how much are the fittings and shipping?
I was ganna build somethin outta 6" PVC but a T was like $26!!

 

[Cory Keeper]

no, I tried.. never got it to seal. If the pump is placed in the canister, it might just work. But the pump draws water through the media, instead of pushing it. I somehow doubt it would work as well. Plus pumps tend to have issues if they can't get enough of a suction. You can usually restrict a pumps outflow all you want, but never try to restrict the intake.

 

[Que]

If this is what I think it is you could silicone seal this to a 5 gallon bucket. The top screws on with an oring seal. Nice and cheap.

Q

 

[Spunky]

this guy uses it... How to DIY a Canister Filter

 

[Sploke]

Ah...something like that might be good for low-flow applications but I would imagine you'd have a hard time getting it to seal if you were pushing high flow through it, or if it was below the tank too far.

 

[Sploke]

However one thing that I just thought of was using an old marine salt bucket. They are about 5gal sized, but the top screws on with a rubber gasket instead of just snapping on. That might be robust enough to hold the pressure, and will hold a ton of media.