aqua clear filters in terrarium setups
- Thread starter jft
- Start date
Hi jft!
Not sure I am following your question.
The AC filter line is a collection of HOB (hang on back) type filters. If your water level isn't very high, you can buy and add extensions to your intake tubes. If your water discharge is dropping too far, you can place a rock or something below to quiet it slightly.
In my turtle tank, I set up a "stair step" collection of small plastic tubs. The top of the "stairs" is under my filter discharge. I placed pebbles inside the tubs to weight them down. The water now cascades down the tubs and is a lot quieter than letting it free fall into the tank.
In your terrarium, if you have a pond in the center, you will have to get more creative. You will probably be better off with an internal filter and hide it behind some structure.
Not sure where you are going, do you have photos of your set up?
Good luck!
Not sure I am following your question.
The AC filter line is a collection of HOB (hang on back) type filters. If your water level isn't very high, you can buy and add extensions to your intake tubes. If your water discharge is dropping too far, you can place a rock or something below to quiet it slightly.
In my turtle tank, I set up a "stair step" collection of small plastic tubs. The top of the "stairs" is under my filter discharge. I placed pebbles inside the tubs to weight them down. The water now cascades down the tubs and is a lot quieter than letting it free fall into the tank.
In your terrarium, if you have a pond in the center, you will have to get more creative. You will probably be better off with an internal filter and hide it behind some structure.
Not sure where you are going, do you have photos of your set up?
Good luck!
Sorry photo didn’t work, but if you can't get the intake to reach the water level, you could put a cylinder into your water that has some notches cut out of the bottom of it, that way the cylinder is not making 100% surface contact with the bottom of your tank and can still pull in water.
Then insert your intake tube into the cylinder, pour some water into the cylinder so the water level reaches the intake of your filter and once it has suction it will continue to pull water on its own.
You don't have to use just a cylinder any shape container that will hold water will do, get creative.. You can even use a small piece of flex tubing and run that to the cylinder that would be feeding the intake on your filter.. Sorry if this is confusing.. It's hard to explain without a picture.. Let me know if you don't understand it and I will try to upload something when I get home to help you.
Then insert your intake tube into the cylinder, pour some water into the cylinder so the water level reaches the intake of your filter and once it has suction it will continue to pull water on its own.
You don't have to use just a cylinder any shape container that will hold water will do, get creative.. You can even use a small piece of flex tubing and run that to the cylinder that would be feeding the intake on your filter.. Sorry if this is confusing.. It's hard to explain without a picture.. Let me know if you don't understand it and I will try to upload something when I get home to help you.
I appreciate your responses I am mostly a aquarium guy but my daughter bought me fire belly toads for Christmas and I want to setup a aquaterrarium with an aquaclear filter to help puirify the water. I want to eliminate splash and I am trying to entertain ideas for waterfall or silencing the output of the return, Like to see what others have done or Ideas I might not have contemplated. Thank You.
If the main body of water is too low, it will not have the head pressure to pull up the intake. Even if you put the cylinder in there, gravity will eventually have the water level at the same height as the main body of water. The HOB type of filters are not the best for this type of setup, canisters or sumps will work best.
Ohh I see, for the return you can get aquarium safe epoxy and glue rocks together and build them up like a natural set of stairs, so they are right below the return and have it trickle down.. Some small flat river rocks would probably work and look great.
If your water level is more than a couple inches below the top a HOB is not a good idea, as Joel said earlier. Not only will it be difficult to get started, if the power goes out your filter can lose prime and then fail to restart when the power comes back on.
No reason not to, Youtube has some videos on buliding waterfalls, but I think if you stacked some rocks under the return it would cascade down nicely.