I've used similar DIY filters with great success. I've always pumped water in, though. It never occurred to me to pump the water out instead. Good design.
DIY drop in bucket filters. Cheap and easy
- Thread starter necrocanis
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I'm just limited on space. You could get more bio materials in the bucket if you were to use it your way. Could could actually engineer it the same way I have it with the pump on the outside. Since the filter would prefilter the water before it hit the pump you would just have to plumb a tube to the intake for the pump and the pump would push the water out still giveint you about 1/4 extra cubic foot of space for material on the inside.
Yes this goes inside the tank or pond. As stated this is better for pond scenarios, but will work in any body of water deeper than the bucket itself. Of course no one wants buckets in their aquariums so it would be a temporary solution for that instance until you could get your main filtration up and running.
I don't recommend trying to make a bucket into a canister style filter outside the tank in your home as I'm certain the lid and the bucket itself isn't meant to be pressurized. You would need to heavily modify a bucket for that and may be better off using different materials. This is for someone looking for something, fast, cheap, and effective that doesn't mind having a ghetto bucket in their tank lol.I see, I've seen a few german koi keepers who made external pond filters made using raimtroughs(Is that the word?Just the things to collect rainwater from roofs) They do support the water, but are obviously thicker than a bucket 
Also it's more complicated to build them because of plumbing. I might give it a go next summer.
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Also it's more complicated to build them because of plumbing. I might give it a go next summer.
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I see, I've seen a few german koi keepers who made external pond filters made using raimtroughs(Is that the word?Just the things to collect rainwater from roofs) They do support the water, but are obviously thicker than a bucket
Also it's more complicated to build them because of plumbing. I might give it a go next summer.
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Sent from my MK16i using Tapatalk App
I've seen some threads on that before. I have actually made some 30 and 50 gal plastic barrel filters before. They were external. The way I did it was to have two fluval fx5s as prefilters stuffed with pillow batting. The outlet tubes went up to the top of the barrel and through the side to the inside of it. I made a custom spray bar that allowed the water to be sprayed over all the pot scrubbies filling it making it an external wet dry filter. There was a large 3" pvc pipe that ran out the bottom to the pond. Almost like a giant hob wet dry filter lol. it was complicated because the pond had to be raised high enough to work the fx5s lower than the water level and then the barrel had to be higher than the pond to allow it to drain into the pond. Worked great though. Had about 40 gals worth of post scrubbies in it and they never clogged and I never had any issues with params no matter how much I fed all the 2'+ catfish in it lol.
That barrel filter draining into the pond like that kept it more super aireated than any tank I've ever had lol.
Here is a vid of me demonstrating how to submerge the filter for testing and use. Hope this answers some questions.
[video=youtube;72Ny5lhYBuw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Ny5lhYBuw[/video]
Hope this answers some questions. [video=youtube;72Ny5lhYBuw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Ny5lhYBuw[/video]
Cool filter. What size pond would something like this work for? And where can you find a 500gph pump for $20?
very nice i ran these when i had 300 gal tubs a few years ago, kept them crystal clear always. I had the same setup but placed my pump on the outside of the bucket and drew water in from the top of the bucket. They worked exellent for surface skimming. When they ran you could actually see the water creating a swirl above the bucket drawing in particles. If theres more than one on your pond i'd run one each way.....One for particle removal on the floor of the tank and the other running backwards to draw in surface particles. Also for the return i used some regular 3/4" hose and a old canister return to shoot the water above the water surface creating oxyogen and a constant whirlpool to shoot everything right back around into the top of the bucket. My water level was around 2-4" above the bucket, any higher and it wouldnt create the vortex on top....Ill try and dig up a pic its been a while, i remember the old bucket threads its in there
i ran these when i had 300 gal tubs a few years ago, kept them crystal clear always. I had the same setup but placed my pump on the outside of the bucket and drew water in from the top of the bucket. They worked exellent for surface skimming. When they ran you could actually see the water creating a swirl above the bucket drawing in particles. If theres more than one on your pond i'd run one each way.....One for particle removal on the floor of the tank and the other running backwards to draw in surface particles. Also for the return i used some regular 3/4" hose and a old canister return to shoot the water above the water surface creating oxyogen and a constant whirlpool to shoot everything right back around into the top of the bucket. My water level was around 2-4" above the bucket, any higher and it wouldnt create the vortex on top....Ill try and dig up a pic its been a while, i remember the old bucket threads its in there 