Habitat - Indoor :: filter pump

[laurapa]

I think I'm going to build my own filter. I've seen lots of good models and designs here and I think I can do it!

But my question is....

Where in the world do you find an affordable 250 gph pump? Do regular hardware stores carry them? How big are they? Presumably they all come with a waterproof power cord, right?

Then I need to attach some tubing to the pump. Where do you get nice flexible tubing?

I'm excited about this project!!

[Daniel3507]

im not sure about the pump but you can get some plastic tubing from a hardware store. thats where i got some extra that i need one time. they have alot of different sizes.

[Chrisbarnett]

you can get the pump at a hardware store as well. I for sure have seen them at OSH, and I'm sure home depot or lowes would have them too.

They are pretty small, only a couple inches by a couple inches.

[laurapa]

So I'm thinking about making a "drip" filter that I read about somewhere on here. The drip filter hangs or sits above the tank. That sounds great to me because in an old apartment building where I live above people, a catastrophic canister filter leak sounds like a nightmare. A filter that hangs over the tank, if it leaked, would just leak right back into the tank!

Apparently you use a pump and plastic tubing (I'm looking at a 250gph for my future 55g tank) to pull water up into the top of the filter. The filter is composed of four or five buckets stacked on top of each other. Each bucket contains a different kind of filter media and is punctured with holes on the bottom. The holes are covered with mesh so the filter media doesn't pass from bucket to bucket, but water can pass freely (with gravity) from the top bucket to the bottom bucket. Water flows with gravity through each bucket and its filter media, and the filtered water pours from a hole in the bottom bucket back into the tank.

At least that's how it's supposed to work!

I think I'm going to buy some Snapware so I can put an airtight/watertight seal on the top bucket. I'll drill a hole in the lid for the plastic tubing, which I might secure with silicone.

I think instead of hanging the thing (yikes) I'll take a piece of sturdy plastic and cut a hole in it the size of the very bottom of the bucket (which is wider at the top than the bottom). Then the bucket can sit securely inside the piece of plastic and drip freely into the tank. That will also enable me to take the buckets apart from time to time to clear out the filter media (e.g. if I need to replace carbon).

If this all makes sense...what do you think? It seems to me there's no reason it shouldn't work as well as any other filter if I have a strong enough pump. But this will still cost a good deal of money, so if you all think it will be ineffective and I will end up buying a canister filter anyway, please let me know. Or if you can think of any improvements to the design, improve away!

[Chrisbarnett]

I'm having a hard time picturing anything else than a sump, or an overflow setup, with your description, but I can picture what you're talking about and it sounds good in theory.