Diy Budget Aquarium And Filter

I always wanted to build a canister filter, and I found part of a steel aquarium stand on the curb, with how cheap pond pumps are on amazon, seemed like the time was right. My goal is to make as much of it as possible myself, spending as little as possible. Wish I photographed the project from the start but here's wht Ive got made so far.

1) The canister filter and a $14 370gph pond pump. Also in this is some plexI glass cut to fit the tank top. I got 4 large cracked plexI glass sheets for $0.35 from the ikea's damaged furniture section. No one piece is intact to be a cover, but there's enough there to make it in 3 sections.

1

• Wickette
• Sep 9, 2018

2) I added wood internal framing to the steel stand, using 2"x3" wall studs and shelves from a book shelf, also left out on trash day. All spray painted black (havent made a door yet)

2

• Wickette
• Sep 9, 2018

3) Cut up a sheet of interlocking foam exercise matting, and used caulk to glue it around the top of the frame (its not completely flush). I also added a few sheets of cardboard wrapped/sealed in plastic, to add some cheap insulation under the tank,help reduce heating cost.

3

• Wickette
• Sep 9, 2018

That's it so far, Id love feedback/ideas

 

And added part of the water output pipe and early stages of the canopy/cover

41390513_233914443962048_1837058092043337728_n

• Wickette
• Sep 9, 2018

 

Questions for the pros: filter flow order fill from the bottom or empty from the top or the other way around? Bottom to top makes more sense but also means it will be a huge pain every time I change the filter floss

also, how about a 2" layer of regular aquarium gravel at the bottom of the canister for etxra mechanical/bio filtration, good idea? It would make it easy to clean with a gavel vacuum, change the poly fill less often etc. It doesn't seem like gravel makes good media too big and smooth BUT people use under gravel filters all the time so IDK

 

I would rather crush some lava rock and have an inch of that at the bottom, I imagine it has more surface area than gravel. But I assume it wouldn't hurt to have either or down there.
The setup looks great so far

 

Thanks
I already have 4" of Crushed Lava rock is ready to go, I don't want it to get clogged quickly, same thing with the poly fiber, hence the loose gravel as a pre-filter its easy to syphon clean.

I have reservations of how much gunk gravel will actually trap or how much bio filtration it can do.

 

Today's updates.
Bottom third of the canopy frame is done, I don't think Ill be able to stop my cats from jumping in the tank, so need to build something sturdy and cat proof.
Ive got extra fittings so I'm going to incorporate my old under sink filter to the canister (might need a separate pump) but either way will do wonders with chemical filtration and softening the water. AND my old kitchen cabinet door, turned on it side is a perfect fit for the stand (totally forgot it was in the attic)

41479917_961012897416285_7143563153450729472_n

• Wickette
• Sep 10, 2018

41473138_283230755622462_8209642459441922048_n

• Wickette
• Sep 10, 2018

41447905_496571974141926_8472214301535371264_n

• Wickette
• Sep 10, 2018

 

Any updates?

 

Many updates I supposed. This has been done for a while, then redone, Then ran out of things to do so working on a 75 was a DIY sump, DIY stand, \DIY hob overflow,vDIY ATO now (all this stuff in the current tank is going in the 75, floor won't support both)

Tank (all the rocks are broken up home depot slate tile and silicone) Red PEX piping used for the in tank plumbing... looks nicer, no painting. But had to switch out the rest of the plumbing for 3/4" PVC (3/4 PEX is only 5/8 ID, limits flow too much)
the 10 gallon quarantine is next to it, not getting anymore fish, so its betta tank now.



DIY Canister filter (zip ties keep the pump from vibratating):


DIY spray bar (it was a little too much surface flow so some of the output comes out at the bottom, and some is being fed to a 3/8" tube that goes to an HOB breeder box full of pothos and carbon:



Breeder box with pothos (output of that pour straight down onto the heater)

 

Awesome!

 

Nice looking tanks. Do the potho plants in the hob do any good?

 

Short answer, I think so.

Long answer: I also have pothos growing in the tank. The water from the tap is 30ppm, the tank water looks slightly lower than the tap water using the test kit (closer to 30 than 20ppm). I admit the lower reading might be wishful thinking super hard to tell so such a small amount with any test kit, but the fact that nitrates don't go up ever is pretty amazing.
But as long I do water changes I don't think I can add enough pothos to get nitrate to a "safe" level.
Pothos is toxic to cats so I swap out them with a short piece when one gets it gets 8-10" long. I think that photo is the two very first cuttings I had, there is a lot more in that HOB now... and pothos on every high shelf, it grows fast once it reaches a certain minimum size.

 

So you are thinking itll take a lot of pothos to keep the nitrates down? And does it help with algae growth?

 

So you are thinking itll take a lot of pothos to keep the nitrates down? And does it help with algae growth?

I did a lot of research before going with pothos its, supposed to be one of the best budget friendly plants that helps with nitrates and algae.

I assume the pothos is helping lower my nitrates, but the Ive seen setups with 25x more pothos on youtube I got to think, most people don't have nitrates in their tap water t begin with if that much pothos doesn't get nitrate starved, it takes a lot of pothos.
My kH is very low so I have to do regular water changes or else my pH plummets, I never gave the pothos enough time to see if they could actually soak up more nitrates.

I put a 2' lucky bamboo (loose ones they sell at the super market for $2) in the tank, that thing shot up to 5' then hit the ceiling and started to yellow and droop so I took it out,.Bamboo is much denser but still managed to grow more in aquarium water than any single pothos vine. Not scientific evidence but I'm willing to bet the bamboo is better at taking in nitrates than pothos.



As far as algae goes; I get small brown diatom spots every 4 weeks that I wipe off in 30sec (so sno significant growth) , Aside from that Ive never had any other algae growth.


My Disclaimers:
1) I put the pothos in the same time I first filled the tank with water, so I don't have anything to compare it to, The tank is in a room with 2 windows (both about 12' away). There should be a lot of algae. I do have a lot of flow for a 40 gallon tank and lots of out put nozzles. My pump is 500 actual gph, rated @900gph, High flow/low dead spots helps with algae so does plants, maybe its just one of those things that does all the work.Its working so I'm not messing with it, but IDK why its working.
2)Nitrate tests are super inaccurate, the tank water could possibly have more nitrates than the tap and the test doesn't show it and the pothos is doing less than I think, but Ive never had a fish die after leaving the quarantine tank. So again, its working so I'm not messing with it, but IDK why its working.

 

This was the bamboo that lived in the tank its cut into 2 tall plants, 1 short one, it doesn't seem to be growing noticeably outside of the aquarium. I put a $20 bill by the vase to give an idea of the size... ridiculous. Once I get around to making a way to support it Ill stick it in my QT tank. Its tall enough that I can plant it in the gravel and not worry about it rotting



ps some of my excess pothos is in one of those vases too, I don't put it in the aquarium til the cut part scabs over and starts growing roots (I don't think a cut open stem leaches anything harmful in the water but I don't take the risk)