# My version of a diy canister filter



## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

This is actually my second atempt at this, my first version was done using copper elbows and 5 minute epoxy by lepage. It worked for about 3 months but eventually the 5 minute epoxy turned gummy and lost it's hold. This time I'm using jb-weld with pvc. I made the holes with a glass and tile drill bit, and then reamed it big with a dremel using a tile cutting bit. The glass drill bit isn't absolutely necessary but i have it handy. The whole thing could have been done with just the dremel. The powerhead is a maxijet 400.




















If the Jb-weld epoxy holds up for 5 or 6 months, I'll go ahead and scale this up a bit and build one out of a 4 litre jar and a larger maxijet.


Picture to show the flow 








This is being used in a 10 gallon shrmp tank. The flow is more than enough for me.


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## colinthebassist (Nov 30, 2007)

How the heck did you manage to drill a mason jar?


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## Birdman (Feb 19, 2008)

Here's a trick I use on my ponds all the time. A cheap replacement for bulk head fittings, get PVC electrical conduit male and female adapters. they will screw together tight because elec. conduit has straight cut threads, unlike PVC which has tapered pipe threads.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

How do you get the water to flow out of the spraybar?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> How do you get the water to flow out of the spraybar?


With the powerhead. :icon_roll


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

Drilling the jar isn't hard. I just held it in my hand and drilled it. I used a drill bit that looks like this. http://power-tools.hardwarestore.com/54-383-drill-bits-glass-and-tile/glass-and-tile-bit-652475.aspx

To make the hole bigger i just went around the hole with a dremel tile cutting bit.


The water is flowing in to the jar at the bottom and leaving the jar at the top then it goes into the powerhead which pumps the water back into the tank through the spraybar.

Bulk head fittings aren't gonna work well on a curved surface. You'd have to fill a huge gap with some kind of washer.


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## htn86 (Sep 30, 2007)

Very nice job, but too bad your filter is not big.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

I think he said it's a prototype, Mr. backhanded compliment!


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

Well it's not huge and it never will be. Hopfully i will make a bigger one though. I don't have jars larger than 4 liters so thats the maximum size I can make it. 4 liters isn't that small though, its 2 bottles of soda. I have an xp2 which is about 6 liters but if you compair the media holding capacity, I think a 4 liter jar holds more. The 2 media baskets of an xp2 looks to be less volume than a 4 liter jar.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

fshfanatic said:


> With the powerhead. :icon_roll


Well then how did you get the water to get sucked in to the canister/jar?


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

With the powerhead!


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

I kid, look at the first picture at the bottom of the jar, and you'll see the intake.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

So the powerhead at the top of the jar is powerful enough to suck up water from the other end?


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

No its not powerful enough to suck it up. Thats not exactly how it works. It's assisted by a syphoning action of the water into the jar. The powerhead pumps it from the jar back into the tank.


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## helgymatt (Dec 7, 2007)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> So the powerhead at the top of the jar is powerful enough to suck up water from the other end?


A powerhead is just a pump....meaning it PUMPS water! I think this is VERY basic.


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## aquanut415 (Jan 21, 2006)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Well then how did you get the water to get sucked in to the canister/jar?


gravity/suction. this canister works almost exactly like the one you have at home, except it was hand made.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Well then how did you get the water to get sucked in to the canister/jar?





Blue Ridge Reef said:


> With the powerhead!


Actually that is only partially right. Gravity actually feeds the jar, but only as fast as the powerhead can empty it by pushing it back into the tank.


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## fendergat (Jan 22, 2008)

He's using the Black Magic

nice job though for sure and i'll keep my eyes out for Glass jars....BTW you may want to check out the local pub or restraunt they usually have very large glass jars due to bulk sized pickles...hors' Devours and whatnot

just a thought


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## Madhun67 (Feb 19, 2008)

i`m thinking of trying this with square jars i saw at linens n things and such.Little more to pay for them,but easier i think to deal with the fittings on a flat surface.
Dave


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## Oreo (May 6, 2008)

I'm posting in this thread because you guys tinkering with this idea are following the same path I did. But I'm about 2 years of development & a lot of money (re-designs) down the road in front of you. The biggest discoveries I've made...

Use those "whole house filters" that are meant to work on your tap water. They're much more robust & easier to disassemble / clean when you need to. The trick to making it work is to get REAL creative with some PVC inside the filter housing so that you can use upholstery foam & regular bio-media instead of the filter cartridges the housing was designed to take. Finally, It's WELL worth it to spend the money on the larger diameter "heavy duty" filter body.

If you're not willing to go that far- do yourself a huge favor & just buy an off-the-shelf canister filter. I'm happy to discuss the details via PM with anyone who's serious about making an attempt.


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## josh1604 (Mar 31, 2008)

why do you have to use glass jars why cant you use plastic jars, from what i see there isn't going to be much pressure inside of the canister. it is much easier to find plactic jars


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

Sheesh, its all done with smoke and mirrors--its not real, folks--its just an *illusion!* :thumbsup:


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

josh1604 said:


> why do you have to use glass jars why cant you use plastic jars, from what i see there isn't going to be much pressure inside of the canister. it is much easier to find plactic jars


If you have a big tank and you place the filter well below the bottom of your tank, the preasure inside is huge. You'd be surprized. 

As of last week I took the filter down and put a hob back on the tank. The small little jar that I used for this experiment clogs up too fast and requires cleaning too often. It ran for a few months and held up just fine with no leaks. Perhaps if I move up to the larger jar I would get more service before cleaning but who knows when or if I'll get around to drilling it. 

As for buying all sorts of pvc and whole house fillters, I say just buy a proper filter instead.


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## honor (Apr 8, 2008)

im still impressed that you drilled a mason jar without it shattering.


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## YankyTexan (Mar 8, 2008)

Please help me out with this one ... assume the display tank is 24" tall and the bottom of the homemade canister sits 24" below the bottom of the aqaurium (in the stand a likely set up). Would the pressure exerted on the walls of the canister be equal to a vertical water column of 48"s? How many PSI is that?

I don't think it has anything to do with the volume of the tank rather it is the water depth.


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## Oreo (May 6, 2008)

RoyalFizbin said:


> As of last week I took the filter down and put a hob back on the tank. The small little jar that I used for this experiment clogs up too fast and requires cleaning too often. It ran for a few months and held up just fine with no leaks. Perhaps if I move up to the larger jar I would get more service before cleaning but who knows when or if I'll get around to drilling it.
> 
> As for buying all sorts of pvc and whole house fillters, I say just buy a proper filter instead.


You've come to exactly the conclusion that I did about the glass jar idea. I searched far & wide for a container that was reasonably easy to service / clean.

When you get tired of disassembling your canister filters every few weeks you may change your mind about my whole-house-filter idea. They require less cleaning, hold more media, are exceptionally easy to service, and are modular- for when you're ready to upgrade your tank size. But they do take more work to build / setup initially. No getting around that ugly detail. It's an ultra-premium filter alternative, not a budget alternative.

As for pressure, you guys need to think of it this way... the glass jar will easily hold the preassure, but by drilling it you compromise it's integrity. More importanly however is that the glass jar was not meant to accept any type of fittings. Thus, you see that big gob of epoxy he used to seal up the inlet & outlet. Those areas WILL fail eventually. For me, it wasn't worth the risk of a big mess & dead fish.

One simple way to improve on the glass jar design is to use two jars- one for mechanical filtration & one for biomedia. This way you almost never have to disturb the biomedia, & if you use PVC unions & valves you can completely remove the mechanical filter jar to the sink for cleaning. This is a concept I still use on my WHF setup.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

YankyTexan said:


> Please help me out with this one ... assume the display tank is 24" tall and the bottom of the homemade canister sits 24" below the bottom of the aqaurium (in the stand a likely set up). Would the pressure exerted on the walls of the canister be equal to a vertical water column of 48"s? How many PSI is that?


yes and 1.73 psi at the 48" mark. Pressure would fluctuate from the top to the bottom of the unit proportionatly as well. (less pressure at the top then bottom)

Conversion is Head (ft) x 62.4 pcf /(144 sqin/sqft) or 0.43 psi per foot of static head. Not the same as head loss, this is just static.



YankyTexan said:


> I don't think it has anything to do with the volume of the tank rather it is the water depth.


you are correct.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Did you guys ever think of using old canister filter housings??? Like, if someone has an old blown out motor one, just rip out the guts and add your own...

I really appload what your doing here, and if i can DIY something I am all over it, but honestly, how much $$$ can you spend before the scales start tipping here??


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## Oreo (May 6, 2008)

gmccreedy said:


> I really appload what your doing here, and if i can DIY something I am all over it, but honestly, how much $$$ can you spend before the scales start tipping here??


A WHOLE FRIGGIN LOT!!! 

If you know what you're doing ahead of time you can do a kick-ass filter for maybe $200 that will outdo any consumer grade canister. The problem is making all the mistakes that cost money to repair or redo, while you're figuring out how to do it right. Which is why I say... either go ALL the way & do it right the first time, or save yourself the headaches & a boat load of $$$$$$$$$$

I should add, that an acceptable design could be made from a section of 4" or 6" pvc pipe (& fittings) with a rubber fernco fitting at the top as a lid. This could be done MUCH cheaper. But again, you sacrifice on the ease of servicability.


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

> I should add, that an acceptable design could be made from a section of 4" or 6" pvc pipe (& fittings) with a rubber fernco fitting at the top as a lid. This could be done MUCH cheaper. But again, you sacrifice on the ease of servicability.


 You know that is something I haven't seen yet. I guess all that you would need is an inline pump.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

:fish:


Wingsdlc said:


> You know that is something I haven't seen yet. I guess all that you would need is an inline pump.


Sure you have...same thing as a PVC reactor with media in it.


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## Oreo (May 6, 2008)

With a good inline pump you can make a filter out of just about anything you can pipe water into. 

PVC has become a real staple of my creations though. You can do so much with it when you start cutting up fittings into smaller component pieces & gluing things together in ways they were never meant to fit... you can create just about anything. You can even shape it with a little heat if need be. PVC is good stuff.


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## 9am53 (Jan 23, 2008)

I am starting to design my first DIY canister for a 10 gallon shrimp tank, and from all of the smaller DIY cans I have found everyone goes with the standard design where the pump is on top of the lid, like this one, or the pump is just underneath the lid (like regular store-bought canisters). 

I want to design one that is really clean looking, like just a jar with a couple hoses and a wire sticking out, I dont want to see the pump...why do all of the store bought filters, and the diy cans seem to have the pump at the top? I am going to build a quick prototype of what I mean and post pics...and I like the mason jar bty, I think I will use one too! I will actually make a thread of my own so I am not jack-ass


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

Build yourself a wooden box, paint it black and put your filter inside. There's no cleanner looking than that.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

9am53 said:


> I am starting to design my first DIY canister for a 10 gallon shrimp tank, and from all of the smaller DIY cans I have found everyone goes with the standard design where the pump is on top of the lid, like this one, or the pump is just underneath the lid (like regular store-bought canisters).
> 
> I want to design one that is really clean looking, like just a jar with a couple hoses and a wire sticking out, I dont want to see the pump...why do all of the store bought filters, and the diy cans seem to have the pump at the top? I am going to build a quick prototype of what I mean and post pics...and I like the mason jar bty, I think I will use one too! I will actually make a thread of my own so I am not jack-ass


Check this thread out. This is the best DIY filter I have seen yet.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/62902-diy-canister-filter-nano-tank.html


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## 9am53 (Jan 23, 2008)

wow, amazing!


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