After and before pictures
In February I bought a new aquarium. I bought it by accident. I had a ten gallon aquarium and updated to a thirty seven gallon aquarium. The only problem I had with it was I did not have a big enough table for it. As my wife was in Texas I went looking for a new chair. Mine was getting pretty ragged. I found the one I wanted, in a local store. It was kind of expensive as it stands you up which makes it a lot easier on you. My youngest daughter Glenda passed away in August of 2010 and she had one, loaned to her by the local fire department. She had a brain tumor and fought it for seven years. The chair really helped her mobility. As I am now seventy three it seemed like a good choice for me. When I picked it out I had to find a recliner rocker that matched.
I found one and as I sat in it testing it out I started looking at the table in front of it and thought it would be perfect for my aquarium. The salesman said he had a hundred twenty gallon tank and that he no longer used it. He would sell it to me for $150 and it came with a stand. The filters were $60 extra. In mid April when doing a water change I screwed up. I came back to my room to find 60 gallons of water on the floor. That made me realize I wanted in tank filters and not external ones.
It became almost an obsession studying YouTube and other sights. After a month I found one that would work for me with a small modification. Some people may not like the look of it, but you could paint it or put a cover on it. For me it is just fine. it really sucks out the dirt. It is super easy to clean and super easy to make. I probably have about $50 dollars in the whole thing. Seventeen dollars is the price of the power head pump. I had to have two pipe caps for four inch pipe, which were about $7.50 each. Then I needed a sponge to filter, the brand I used was $10.50, some medium to absorb and hold the dirt. Hopefully the pictures I used make it clear how I made the filter.
As you can see the water was very cloudy from an algae problem. The filter I made took care of the problem.
This is what the water looked like after adding my homemade filter. I am not exactly the best photographer.
This is one of the filters that came with the tank. I have them for sale cheap. You can have both for $50 plus shipping and handling. They may need impeller rebuild kits which are $39, The filter tanks are about $175 new.
Going from right to left is the bottom cap which has lots of holes. I made the the first one with 3/16 inch holes, the second one I put in 3/8 inch holes and it really helped clean the water better. the white stuff is medium for filtering dirt out of the water. I used a regular filter sponge in a 12 inch long piece of 4 inch pipe. The black bag holds activated carbon, I buy it at Walmart.. between the bag and the cap I have several layers of scrubbies as a final filter. the top cap and finally the pump.
The power head sucks water into the tube and thru the filter media and then recirculatess it back into the tank minus the fish poop and debris. Notise the holes are in the bottom cap. The last picture shows a minor change I made that really helped. Going from 3/16 inch holes to 3/8 inch holes seemed to really help the cleaning process also.
The final assembly looks like this. I use the imagitarium power head which I get from Petco.. It is rated for 40 to 75 gallon aquariums. I use two of them; one in each end of the tank.
I tend to reuse the filter media after rinsing it. I got the strainer at Walmart for just a couple of dollars. I use the tote to move the filter to the sink without making a mess and as a place to put the disassembled parts for cleaing.
This is a pretty good photo of how much my filter pulls out of the water in just ten days. I generally clean the sponges and inside parts and then I am back in business for another couple of weeks, I usually do my filters on Saturdays. I have the two hand made filters with power heads and six sponge filters. I usually clean them when I change water in the tank. The whole process takes less than an hour normally.
As you can see from the pictures the bottom of the filter tube sets on the bottom of the tank. To make it more efficent I glued a 2 inch pipe cap on the bottom which improves the water flow in the filter.
I have had several questions about my moving media bottle
in my aquarium. It lasts 3 to 4 months and then needs cleaned of
replaced. It helps hold good bacteria and gets rid of the algae
in my tank. Not very fancy but I am enclosing
a how-to picture.
This is the diagram
This is what a used bottle looks like, you can see the algae
build up in the bottle.
This bottle is really simple, I use a powerhead, a two
liter bottle with the bottom cut out and a powerhead
that sucks water in the bottom of the bottle
and thru the fiber fill which removes the
fish poo from the water. I have to change the
fiber fill about every other day. I simply drilled
a 5/8th in hole in cap and it slides right on
to the neck of the powerhead.
This is what the fiber fill looks like after about 48
hours. Really clears the water up, even if it
isn't that pretty it works good.
My room and aquariums
with only intank filters, after a 60 gallon spill I
decided under tank filters did not get it.
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