Will this filter design work?

I'm looking into making a cartridge filter for my aquarium (been watching king of DIY a little too much maybe), and this is the design I've come up with. Do you think this design will work?

 

I'm by no means an expert, but the drawing looks like it should work. Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in on the issue and you can get to work building it.

 

Mechanically I know how to set things up, used pvc and such for a lot of products before. I'm mostly wanting to know if I have all the filtration needs covered: mechanical (which i'm getting from that 1" thick ammonia-reducing mesh foam used in a lot of hang on the back filters), biological (from the volcanic rock which should form the slime coat/bacteria colony), and chemical (from the activated carbon in a media bag).

 

I wouldn't bother with the ammonia reducing foam. In a cycled tank, you'll have the bacteria necessary to convert the ammonia anyway.

I really like polyfill for mechanical media. It's cheap and it works well. Really no need for activated carbon either, unless you have impurities in your water.

 

I wouldn't bother with the ammonia reducing foam. In a cycled tank, you'll have the bacteria necessary to convert the ammonia anyway. I really like polyfill for mechanical media. It's cheap and it works well. Really no need for activated carbon either, unless you have impurities in your water.

Havent heard of polyfill. I was mostly going with that ammonia-removing filter pad because it's what I have on hand, a whole sheet of it made to cut and fit whatever. It seems like it'd do a really good job of removing particles from the water, since it's kind of like a thick mesh.

 

Polyfill is batting which is used in quilting. Many people use it as a super cheap filter floss. It's the same thing only differently marketed and therefore far cheaper at a fabric store vs lfs.

 

I still wouldn't use it. I'd worry about it removing ammonia and starving the beneficial bacteria that you need to process ammonia. When it can't remove any more ammonia, you won't have enough bacteria built up to break it down. (At least I think that's how it works).Polyfill is a cheap, non-absorbent material found at craft stores.

 

I'll look into getting the polyfill. I think ill probably keep the activated carbon just to be on the safe side though. I think part of the problem with my tank currently is that the hang on the back filter I'm using doesn't have enough media for the biofilter to form properly. My ammonia levels just keep spiking. Nitrite is taken care of just fine but there doesn't seem to be enough bacteria growing to handle the ammonia conversion, so I keep having to do water changes. The filter I'm using has very little room for gravel to use as the media - I think if I had a cartridge filter full of lava rock it would work out a lot better.

 

This is my revised design, I think it'll work a little better if the whole thing is kept as one unit:

 

I made a canister filter when I started my 55 gallon. It worked great, but it leaked at the bulkhead on one end (it was drilled just like King of DIY). The other end I used reducers to get from the 4" to the 3/4" pipe and it sealed a lot better and was easier to assemble. You might look into that to save time and headache later on lol.

 

I might give that a shot. I'll be using 2" pvc rather than 4" for this, I think, much cheaper and more available here.