# The Perfect DIY Canister Filter



## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

Im going to build a a canister filter for a 20g and want some input on what would make the perfect filtration system. 

What do you components do you guys think would make a perfect filter for a fauna/flora tank?

this goes for media type, chambers, size of canister, etc.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

My dream canister filter would hold about 1/10th the volume of the tank it will be filtering. It would put out 8-10x the tank volume per hour with a pressure pump...so that a clogged media or intake, etc...would not reduce the flow. I'd have 1 large chamber with a mix of course and smooth media (lava rock and ceramic stuff) for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. No other media would be used.


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

Thanks for the response!

I was planning on getting a 1-2 gallon lock n lock tupperware then retro fitting a power head in there. 

Is there reason why you do not want to use any other media besides lava rocks/ceramic media? no filter pad? how would it stop the small debris from entering back into the tank?


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

anyone else have any input?


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## Pen3 (Jul 9, 2006)

My old setup was ocean clear 318 and 320 canister filters in line with a MD40RLT pump at the 2nd canister for my 120gal. It holds a lot of seachem matrix and i plan on reestablishing it for my 25gal crs cube, but with a MD20RLT or MD15RLT since i got both sitting in the garage.


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## BobAlston (Jan 23, 2004)

Read some of the posts here and other forums. there is lots of history on TRYing to make DIY canister filters. A lot of "water on the floor" type history.

bob


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## t-rex (Feb 17, 2012)

this may be slightly off topic but i hope it helps! While i was looking into what canister filter i would get for my 50 gal i came across this. it was posted by niko http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...club/75400-excited-word-about-filtration.html


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Filter media is up to you, but IME the finer media plugs up too fast, the coarser to medium sponge media cleans the tanks pretty well, yet lasts longer between cleaning. Make sure the media is slightly bigger than the chamber it fits in. Sponges tend to deform over time, and can shrink away from the walls, leaving a gap for the dirt to sneak around. 

I would skip the bio-media, because the bacteria will grow just fine on sponges and such, and it is a planted tank. The plants are a large amount of the bio-filter, so you need a much smaller population of N-cycle bacteria.


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## funnytrash (Sep 5, 2010)

Hi there, I myself succesfully made one out of tupperware and i just have to say. its not as efficient nor pleasing to look at. If i were you id just go on craiglist and search for a cheap rena filter . but yeah feel free to give it a go tho! but keep in mind that powerheads usually have a small filter pad in the intake to prevent particles from going in so only use it for the output not the input.


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## PaulG (Apr 25, 2011)

The hardest part is finding a large enough container for the filter housing that's water tight. If I were to build my own I'd want it bigger than an FX5 not a small tupperware container.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

There is a screw-on lid for 5 gallon buckets. This has been used to make filters, and as long as there is no clogging of the intake, the bucket does not collapse. 
That water flow HAS to be kept moving. 
Perhaps redundant intakes, so if they start to plug up there are alternate paths for the water. 

I have seen pictures (a long time ago, I do not remember where) of a collapsed 5 gallon bucket. The pump kept on pumping, even though the intake was getting plugged up with debris.


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## DerekFF (Nov 21, 2011)

Im making one right now out of 3 home water filter canisters plumbed inline. Wont have any water on the floor, but dont know how efficient theyll be though

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## Tot3nkampf (May 10, 2012)

+1 to home water canister filters. i wouldnt DIY anything for a small tank unless it was a Hamburg MattenFilter / Powerhead with sponge prefilter combo. It looks to be a good idea for larger aquaria and i have thought about using one home cansiter for particulates with a coarse sponge or element and then add a valved manifold downstream of it. one branch would contain a biomedia canister, one would be modified as a purigen / CO2 reactor and then a main branch for the inline heater. I could then balance flow into a main return header. The reason I would want to flow balance is so that I could get high flow (8-10x) through the mech filter while lower flow (2-5x) through the biomedia and still be able to balance the chemical reactor to optimum flow. thats how it works in my head anyways


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

This is all fine and dandy, DIY and stuff. But why invent the wheel when the little Japanese guy has figured it out for more than a decade now and has hundreds of tanks to show his filtration works. I am not an Amano fan at all, far from that. But what they do is practical and nothing less.

The biofilter must NOT be subjected to a fluctuating flow. Meaning that if you have a mechanical filtration before the biofilter, in the same unit you are setting yourself up for failure. Unless you love to open the filter and rinse the sponges of course.

No mechanical filtration can replace property set up biological. Period.

The filtration of a planted tank is different from the filtration of fish tanks. In a planted tank, if it is setup properly, the debries flying around are minimal, if any. The biofilter handles it all. If you have a mechanical filter that you have to rinse every so often because it gets dirty then your aquarium is not setup right. You are constantly maintaining it. It is not maintaining itself as it is supposed to, at least in some ways.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

I started a thread in the Houston Area Aquatic Plant Society sub-forum that tests filter capacity in systems such as you are concenred about with the high organic waste. The test is for the capacity variable, but one of the things the sample set up will allow is easy access to the portion of the filter system where such debris will be collected. The remainder is meant to not be messed with.

I failed at posting a direct link to it earlier, but it's here on APC in the clubs area, so it's easy enough to find and check out. The set up imitates a sump using a stacked drip/rain system.


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