DIY filter

[Coach Kev]

Good evening all,

I just purchased a 125 gallon aquarium and stand. I will eventually be housing an oscar, 2 gold severums and either some sort of pleco or maybe two catfish.

I came across a DIY filter a guy made from a bucket with a screw on top and and full of lava rock...he claims to have used it for a year so far. Is this possible? I am a maintenance/handyman by trade so I love DIY fun, and this would be WAY cheaper than an FX6...
Being my first post I can't post a link.

I have a tank thread in another section for comments on fish..

Thanks in advance!!

Coach Kev

 

[Coach Kev]

Anyones?

 

[esoxlucius]

Depending on the bio load of the tank in question it would be quite possible to have a bucket full of lava rock as your biological filtration. That is the great thing about this hobby. You can spend a fortune on fancy kit if you want and on the other hand, if you're on a budget, you can go down the DIY route and make something that does just as good a job for little financial outlay.

There's masses of tutorials on line for DIY filtration. If DIY's your thing then it shouldn't take you long to come up with a good system for your 125.

 

[kno4te]

Yea. It should work out for ur 125g.

 

[Lepisosteus]

Run a sump

 

[duanes]

Most of my filters over the years have been DIY, either out of old scratched tanks people were tossing, or 50 gallon barrels.
My main concern is ease, and ability to do maintenance, because unless a filter is regularly cleaned it produces excess waste by-products like nitrate.
Below is a 50 gallon barrel as a sump, during a water change.

As you can see there are filter socks for mechanical, the pump and heaters are either in, or part of the sump.
I also have permanent PVC running from the laundry tubs for water changes, and a overflow line with a thermometer to monitor new water temp (Milwaukee water was too cold not to be mixed with hot in winter).

What I do find, especially of you have large fish, the larger the filter the better.

 

[Coach Kev]

I will have that someday as well...when I do my 400 gallon I want.

Jebao dct-6000 is the pump I am gonna use, I plan on using 1" pipe and 2 showerheads on opposite side to move water towards filter. 1" should be big enough right?

 

[tlindsey]

I will have that someday as well...when I do my 400 gallon I want.

Jebao dct-6000 is the pump I am gonna use, I plan on using 1" pipe and 2 showerheads on opposite side to move water towards filter. 1" should be big enough right?

Yes 1 inch will be fine.

 

[Oughtsix]

Commercial canister filters aren't that great because they don't oxygenate the water and are laborious to clean so they don't get cleaned very often. Diy canisters are just worse... been there done that.

Use the same 5g bucket and make a sump out of it and you will be much better off! Put a pump in the bottom of the bucket. Fill it with bio balls. Craft a drip plate for the top of the bio balls. Then put a filter pad on top of the drip plate.
...many times better filter than a DIY canister!

 

[Coach Kev]

Would a 1" pipe be big enough for the suction pipe if I tried that?