You can see more about this indoor/outdoor system in my thread "Patio Tanks Rock". I replaced my fireplace with a 125 gal, and replaced the chimney with a 55 gal and a 30g sump.
I needed more room and better filtration on my main system, so I switched the 30g sump to a tank, and built this new filter. Here’s the patio tanks all covered in Styrofoam insulation for the winter. The little 30 gallon tank on the bottom was my main filtration and sump for both the 55 above it and the 125 gallon tank inside the house. But now it is just the home to a few African cichlids and guppies.
Here is the new DIY Rubbermaid "Brute" can filter:
The 44 gallon Brute trashcan has a 32 gallon Brute can stuffed inside it (after cutting off the handles.) I drilled several holes in the rim of the 32g, and I shot the gap between the two cans with spray can insulating foam. Here it is before I cleaned up the leakage, and after drying overnight. There's 2" of foam in the bottom & I put 30 gallons of water in the inner can so it wouldn’t float up on the expanding foam, while it was setting up. It all feels pretty solid.
I put the 32 gallon lid on top of the 44 gallon lid, with a piece of 1” Styrofoam in between them, and I put one stainless steel screw through the middle. I cut a 1.25" diameter hole through both lids for the corrugated hose.
Water drains from the overflow on the 55 down thru the (white) corrugated 1.25” hose, Into the brute. The dirty water drops through 1” of well-aged filter floss, 1" of new filter floss, an 18” diameter x1” thick coarse floor buffer pad, 2 inches of coarse aquarium gravel, 2” of ceramic rings, and 3” of barbecue lava at the bottom. Everything was pre-aged in my various aquariums except for an entire pillow full of new filter floss.
A 2” ABS drain pipe comes up from the bottom, through the middle of everything, & is capped with a 2 inch elbow. It exits to the right through a bulkhead fitting and a 1.5” ABS pipe that overflows filtered water back to the 30 gallon tank. Two Eheim Heaters and two pond pumps are in the 30 gallon tank. One pump returns to the 55 and one returns to the 125 indoors.
My 30 gallon, when it was serving as a sump, really only had about 13 gallons of water in it. Now I can fill it up nearly to the top. That probably adds 15 gallons of water to the system as I have moved all the filter media out of it and into the Brute. The 32 gallon Brute contains all the media +25 gallons of water. So essentially I have added 40 gallons of water to my system. I have tripled the amount of filter media.
What I have not done is added any heaters, yet I have exposed the entire surface of that Brute filter can to the outdoor atmosphere. Hopefully, my insulation job works OK & I’m going to have to keep a close eye on system temperatures to make sure that my 400 W of heat can keep up with everything. I suspect it’s going to be borderline if temperatures drop into the freezing.
More photos when the water clears and the sun comes out tomorrow.
I needed more room and better filtration on my main system, so I switched the 30g sump to a tank, and built this new filter. Here’s the patio tanks all covered in Styrofoam insulation for the winter. The little 30 gallon tank on the bottom was my main filtration and sump for both the 55 above it and the 125 gallon tank inside the house. But now it is just the home to a few African cichlids and guppies.
Here is the new DIY Rubbermaid "Brute" can filter:
The 44 gallon Brute trashcan has a 32 gallon Brute can stuffed inside it (after cutting off the handles.) I drilled several holes in the rim of the 32g, and I shot the gap between the two cans with spray can insulating foam. Here it is before I cleaned up the leakage, and after drying overnight. There's 2" of foam in the bottom & I put 30 gallons of water in the inner can so it wouldn’t float up on the expanding foam, while it was setting up. It all feels pretty solid.
I put the 32 gallon lid on top of the 44 gallon lid, with a piece of 1” Styrofoam in between them, and I put one stainless steel screw through the middle. I cut a 1.25" diameter hole through both lids for the corrugated hose.
Water drains from the overflow on the 55 down thru the (white) corrugated 1.25” hose, Into the brute. The dirty water drops through 1” of well-aged filter floss, 1" of new filter floss, an 18” diameter x1” thick coarse floor buffer pad, 2 inches of coarse aquarium gravel, 2” of ceramic rings, and 3” of barbecue lava at the bottom. Everything was pre-aged in my various aquariums except for an entire pillow full of new filter floss.
A 2” ABS drain pipe comes up from the bottom, through the middle of everything, & is capped with a 2 inch elbow. It exits to the right through a bulkhead fitting and a 1.5” ABS pipe that overflows filtered water back to the 30 gallon tank. Two Eheim Heaters and two pond pumps are in the 30 gallon tank. One pump returns to the 55 and one returns to the 125 indoors.
My 30 gallon, when it was serving as a sump, really only had about 13 gallons of water in it. Now I can fill it up nearly to the top. That probably adds 15 gallons of water to the system as I have moved all the filter media out of it and into the Brute. The 32 gallon Brute contains all the media +25 gallons of water. So essentially I have added 40 gallons of water to my system. I have tripled the amount of filter media.
What I have not done is added any heaters, yet I have exposed the entire surface of that Brute filter can to the outdoor atmosphere. Hopefully, my insulation job works OK & I’m going to have to keep a close eye on system temperatures to make sure that my 400 W of heat can keep up with everything. I suspect it’s going to be borderline if temperatures drop into the freezing.
More photos when the water clears and the sun comes out tomorrow.
