Habitat - Indoor :: New Homemade Canister Filter!

[grem89]

I have finally gotten my homemade Canister filter up and running. I made it using a tetra pond pump that is suitable for ponds up to 250 gallons. For the filter apparatus I purchased a home, in-line water filter modified to handle filter media (foam, zeolite, activated carbon, and a makeshift biological mesh). The pump can move up to 325 gph. I'm currently using it on a 20 gallon tank. It might sound like overkill but you can never have too clean of a tank plus I plan on upgrading to a larger tank as Mikey gets bigger (my turtle that is, he's just over 1 inch in length right now). It works great and really keeps the tank spotless. Total cost of the filter was about 90 dollars. I could have gone with the store bought approach but that would have cost an extra few bucks and wouldn't have been as fun. Plus i would trust my DIY projects over any store bought deal any day. The build only took a couple hours to get everything just right.
Here is the whole set-up of the filter:


Here is a full shot of the inline filter made for home usage. I plugged off one of the ports in the top using only one for the intake. and drilled and tapped a hole in the bottom of the reservoir for the return to the pump. The entire clear reservoir unscrews from the white cap at the top making for an easy clean up. I have the carbon and zeolite wrapped separately in mesh bags:




And here is my tank with the intake and a shot of little Mikey:

[BullDog]

Only the middle pic is showing up for me, but it looks good!

Me, I think I'd go for the store-bought without question. I'm entirely sure why (lol), but maybe I'm just paranoid it'd leak or something (not that a store bought filter has never leaked ).

[crackerlady2007]

Although I enjoy doing thing on my own, something like that I want to work and I don't have a lot of time to fiddle with it.

[mat012]

That looks good. But like Bulldog I can only see one pic. Would like to see more about it.

I also go the store bought route. It always seems that when I try to save money on DIYs I end up spending just as much as I would have if I had bought it. I am becoming more and more inclined just to buy. That said I love to see how innovative people are with their projects! And I am glad I did a DYI basking area. I love the fact that you can customize things to the setup. I am just still not convinced that the $$ is the reason to do DYI - I think it is the fun!

[grem89]

Here's another try. I put the pictures on photobucket. Google Photos is being weird.

The whole set up:


The Canister with filter media:


And a shot of the intake with Mikey at the top right


Sorry about the pictures. For the GPH that this is putting out, a comparable pump would be about 150 atleast. I spent about 90 dollars on all of the parts so I saved some cash. Plus it works, I haven't had to tinker with it at all. Plus no leaks.

[Sassamo]

If I could figure out how too make my own I would lol.
Is copper safe for turtles? I know copper is deadly too fish, I don't know about turtles.

[grem89]

i found this fact about copper and turtles just now after you mentioned that. I don't know if this has any truth to it or not

Turtles need a dash of copper in their diet, and a bit of copper helps keep algea under a little bit of control as well. Try dropping a piece of copper plumbing tube or fitting in the tank.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Turtles-3543 ... turtle.htm

I found on a couple websites that copper can inhibit the growth of algea in water. Did i get lucky and just happen to use copper fittings while killing the algea at the same time?

[Sassamo]

Thats really intresting, I was more worried about Copper oxide. Which is the result of corrosion. Copper oxide is the black stuff the builds up on copper. According too Wikipedia it doesn't sound too good:
Copper(II) oxide is an irritant. It also can cause damage to the endocrine and central nervous system. Contact to the eyes can cause irritation and damage to the corneas, and potentially can cause conjunctivitis. Contact to the skin can cause irritation and discoloration. Ingesting cupric oxide can lead to central nervous system depression, liver and kidney damage, gastro-intestinal damage, circulatory system failure or damage to the vascular system. Inhalation can lead to damage to the lungs and septum. Inhalation of fumes of cupric oxide can lead to a disease called Metal fume fever, which has symptoms similar to influenza. Prolonged exposure to cupric oxide can lead to dermatitis, and can cause a toxic build-up of copper in people with Wilson's disease. Handling copper(II) oxide should be done in well ventilated area, and care should be taken to avoid contact with the skin or eyes. After handling, one should wash thoroughly.[2]
I would keep a close eye on it and if it changes black I would replace it.

[grem89]

thats copper II oxide. That doesn't form from standard copper pipes. If you read more into it, it results from copper sulfides. The number following the name of a compound or material can greatly effect the behavior of the material. I'm only using copper pipes so i don't have to worry about copper II oxide. Plus we all drink from sinks and faucets that are connected through copper piping in your house (unless your house was made in the past few years and use flexible pvc tubing but 99% houses have copper water pipes). You fill your turtle tank up with water coming from copper pipes so i doubt it will be any problem for the turtle.

[ammonihah99]

What's the volume of the canister and how did you attach the pipe to the bottom?

[grem89]

the volume is roughly 150 cubic inches. I attched the pipe to the bottom by drilling and tapping a hole and screwing in a adapter for the clear tubing that runs to the water pump. I used tubing with the same diameter as garden hose as well as fittings used for garden hoses. This way i can attach a garden hose to empty and fill the tank from the sink using the pump.

[Fuzzy Hamster]

Is copper safe for turtles? I know copper is deadly too fish, I don't know about turtles.

The simple answer is that copper is absolutely deadly to fish, but leeched into the water in the small amounts that a copper 'T' would provide, it is beneficial to a turtle such as a RES.

On another related note, adding a small amount of aquarium salt to your tank (fish or turtle) is typically recommended for general health & parasite prevention, but can accelerate the deterioration of metals such as copper. The salt is also a more natural method (than adding copper) for limiting algae growth, but some amount of growth is actually a good indicator of a healthy tank with proper husbandry.

It can be very difficult to measure & regulate metals that leech into your tank water, which is one of the reasons that it is usually recommended that you do not add metals to your tank, and also possibly why manufacturers of filters always use plastics rather than metals for tubing, etc.

[grem89]

i'm not really worried about the copper leaching into the water so much. I only have that copper peice on the intake. The water passes through the carbon in the filter which removes the minerals and metals from the water. Plus i change atleast half the water every week so the copper build up should really be insignificant.

[untsmurf]

If your filter works well enough you shouldn't have to do partial water changes every week.

I build a lot of things for my tanks, but I won't mess with filtration. I'm not experienced enough or well versed enough in filtration to properly filter my tank with something home made. I know what I'm getting when I buy something from the store, and I know if I don't get what I'm promised, I can take it back and get a new one.

[grem89]

i feel like you guys are doubting my building capabilities . Its working great so far for me. There's not really too much that can go wrong with it. Its just a pump and a big canister. Mikey likes to swim around at the discharge pipe and fight the water coming out so he gets some excersize with it atleast. Just curious though, what filters are you guys running in your tank setups? Long term I want to buy the best filter i can once i get money (i'm working an internship so im saving up some money).