My DIY canister filter...

[WickedJester]

Subscribed!

 

[Conner]

I always enjoy the DIY on this site. Good Idea by Conner, good followup by IrnGynt.
If you don't have time to build a housing, a whole house filter is a economical substitute. I have two of them as my only mechanical filtration and love them. Shop around , I bought mine for less than $20 each online.
http://www.waterfilters.net/culligan/wholehouse/replacement_filters/Wholehouse-10-Inch-Filters.htm

Thanks. I did consider the whole house filter canisters, but this project provides about 2-3 times the media volume of those canisters, and the ones I could find (in person at the store) cost more than building this pvc canister did. Either way you would need a pump. I am considering buying several of those mechanical filters and finding a way to place them inline in my sump.

This looks like a great diy cannister design. I like it.

Thanks!

Connor your a god among men when it comes to the engineering of DIY CANISTER filters.

Thanks! Not sure if I qualify for godhood or not, but thanks .

Update: I did get the first coat of black paint on the canister. I want to give it at least 2 good coats before I put it back together. Here are some quick pics after the first coat:

 

[Potts050]

interesting thread!

 

[egwu123]

Nice painting. But why not plastic paint? That could last longer.

Also, I think you could use smaller containers to house the media inside. I am thinking of those plastic, cylinder strainers used in swimming pool filters. But then, I'm not sure about the diameter of those.

 

[Scubarod]

Looks good painted. question about pressure gauge. why? wouldnt you be able to tell at the out nozzle whether you are losing pressure...via clogged media and stuff.??? or Im i missing somethng

 

[Conner]

Looks good painted. question about pressure gauge. why? wouldnt you be able to tell at the out nozzle whether you are losing pressure...via clogged media and stuff.??? or Im i missing somethng

I don't have a pressure gauge on mine. I think you're talking about the other person who posted their setup. Mine will not have a pressure gauge on it (although I suppose I could add one easily).

Initially this will just be used for cleaning the biomedia in my sump, as a lot of mulm has built up, and I believe its affecting my pH. Once that is cleaned out, I will probably use it a polishing filter on all of my tanks, running it once a week for a day or so at a time for each tank. Or I may set it up as a permanent filter on one of my tanks, although none of them need another filter yet.

 

[Conner]

Nice painting. But why not plastic paint? That could last longer.

Also, I think you could use smaller containers to house the media inside. I am thinking of those plastic, cylinder strainers used in swimming pool filters. But then, I'm not sure about the diameter of those.

I used the Rustoleum because I have 3 cans of it sitting around. They were to be for another project that I ended up not doing. I'd rather use them up then go out and buy more paint, when it doesn't really matter what I use. This is some pretty heavy duty paint as well. It will stand up fine.

As for internal strainers, the probably will be finding something that fits inside this canister, without allowing water to bypass the media. If I just stuff it with loose media, its more likely to do a better job of filtering.

 

[Conner]

The canister's finally done! I let the second coat of paint dry overnight, and today I fashioned a stand for it, filled it with media, and got everything hooked up inline on the stand.

Here's the media list:
50 micron pads
Filter Floss bonded pads
Loose filter floss

I put them in several layers, with a 50 micron pad coming first and last, with the two kinds of filter floss layered in between. We'll see how this combination of media works. If it starts channeling too much, or isn't filter well enough for my purposes, I may consider using a whole house filter cartridge jury-rigged to fit inside this canister, and then stuff a bunch of 50 micron pad and filter floss around it for extra filtration.

Pics:
(first pic is the view from the top, after all the media was placed. There is a space about 5" deep in the head of the filter for lots of solids to accumulate)

 

[john73738]

Great work,

I wonder how it would work on it's side

Will let you know, building one this weekend.

Bear

 

[WickedJester]

What do you think about using some bigger pipe and stuffing some more bio media in one? Couldnt you use that or a couple instead of cannister filters?

I dont have the cash lying around to buy a bunch of fx5 and im tired of listening to my hob filters run. I think I might build a couple of these.