Quick and Cheap Wet-Dry

[Dan Feller]

I built this filter in about an hour last Sunday. It is made from two 5-gallon buckets.

I started by drilling holes in the bottom of the top bucket.

I then cut about 2" off the bottom off bucket #2 and drilled it full of holes.

The bottom of bucket #2 became the drip tray/pre-filter, the remainder of bucket #2 became the stand for the filter.

I used the lid from a 2-gallon bucket to make the yellow ring that holds the filter pre-filter pad in place.

After filling it with bio-balls, it was done (a lot of people talk about pot scrubbies, but I've got about 20 gallons of bio-balls left over from a reef tank setup).

The water is filtered through an Eheim 2017 (efi-mech and coarse floss) before it goes into the wet-dry. The Eheim is actually powered by my Iwaki. The impeller broke and hasn't been manufactured since 1989, so I cut off the cord and hooked the intake to a valve from my return line.

Anyways, you could make a bunch of these for practically nothing (except the cost of media).

[Dr Joe]

That's definitely your basic bucket bio-filter.

Nice afternoon project for tank or pond. I've had up to 12 of these running at one time.

As far as bio-balls go...if ya got em use em but don't buy em unless you have too ;).

Nice work.

Dr Joe

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[Gr8KarmaSF]

Nice work!

[Dan Feller]

Nice work!

Thanks! Since this picture I added a simple spraybar to even out the flow a bit.

8:54 Am... Must be P.E. or music, too early for recess :)

[labiatus55]

are they noisy??

[Dan Feller]

are they noisy??

Not that I can hear, but there is quite a bit of noise in my crawlspace from the pump and water returning from the tank. A lid would quiet it down some, but I think the prefilter pad helps keep it quiet as well.

[Dr Joe]

A lid limits gas exchange/aeration tho.

[Dan Feller]

A lid limits gas exchange/aeration tho.

Dr. Joe, always thinking, aren't you? :)