How to make a do-it-yourself filter for an aquarium?

To keep the aquarium clean, you can’t do without a filter. Of course, numerous variations are sold in specialized stores, but homemade designs are no less effective.

To make a high-quality filter for an aquarium, it is necessary to understand the basic requirements for it: not only to purify the particles of dirt, but also to enrich the water with oxygen. Often pharmaceutical preparations are immediately added to the device, which will have a beneficial effect on the life of the inhabitants of the aquarium. It is customary to subdivide all filters into several categories, therefore the list of used materials is determined depending on the chosen design. Let's get acquainted with them in more detail.

• Bottom filter as the name suggests, it is located right at the bottom of the fish dwelling. It has a large number of holes from which air enters, as a result of which the water is cleaned of turbidity. The bottom filter must be installed before the fish are populated and the tank is filled with water.
• Internal filter fixed inside the aquarium. It is a combination of a filler placed, for example, in a plastic bottle, as well as a compressor. This variety is rather quickly polluted and ceases to cope with work, therefore, requires regular inspection.
• Outdoor filters in many ways similar to the internal ones, but are located outside the aquarium.

Start with the fact that there is another classification of filters, depending on which filler is used and what kind of impurities the water is cleaned.

• Mechanical cleaners eliminate turbidity and floating particles that rise from the bottom due to the compressor and the movement of the inhabitants of the aquarium. Such dirt, decomposing, gradually forms a haze, so there is no way to do without a filter.
• Chemical filters contribute to the purification of water from organic substances, that is, nitrates or phosphates. Like mechanical devices, they require regular cleaning.
• Absorption-chemical filters cope with the waste of aquatic life. They are washed necessarily under running water.

The filler can be a variety of materials that are easily purchased in pet stores.

• This is primarily about foam or sintepon details, such as a sponge. It is cheap, can take any form and at the same time operate both a biological and a mechanical filter. However, the pores are an ideal "breeding ground" of bacteria, which can not be called an advantage of this material. Regularly, the sponge will have to be washed from mucus and silt, and also quite often changed.

• Filter wool also considered inexpensive material. Its advantages include reusable use, ease of cleaning, and reliability. It is better to use cotton at the final stage of mechanical cleaning.

• Ceramic rings allow you to evenly distribute water flows, thereby ensuring the movement of oxygen.

• Bio balls are made of plastic. In motion, they evenly wash the filter materials and represent a good basis for the dispersal of the necessary bacteria.

• Sintered glass sold in the form of small balls, whose diameter is about 14 millimeters. During the baking process, they appear pores in which beneficial bacteria appear.

• Ceramic tubes allow bacteria to be populated in small pores.

• Zeolite - This is a very cheap material that perfectly absorbs all ammonia from water. Thanks to this sorbent, it will be possible to quickly eliminate nitrates in the water.

• Carbon filler quite often used for filtering an aquarium, but only if certain conditions are met. Activated carbon with granules of small diameter and a sufficient number of pores necessary to absorb dirt and turbidity is suitable. The use of carbon filler is recommended only in a newly launched aquarium.

• A good solution is to use peat. - the most natural, efficient and budget. This material not only reduces the number of fungi, but also reduces alkalinity.

To assemble a filter for your aquarium with your own hands, you need to decide on the method of filtration, as well as purchase components that are sold in ordinary hardware stores and pet stores.

Homemade aquarium internal filter can be made in various variations. For example, to create it, you will need a plastic container with a lid, for example, used to store cereals, an ordinary sponge or thick porous material, a sealed water pump with a fitting that can be mounted on the lid of the container, biological filtration material and several suction cups with adhesive resin. Biological filtration can be carried out using ceramic rings or granules or regular cotton wool. It is worth sticking to the following algorithm of actions:

1. holes are cut along the entire perimeter of the container on the ribs; their main goal will be the absorption of water;
2. further, a sponge is placed at the bottom, which will be engaged in rough cleaning of the liquid; directly on it is a material that promotes fine purification of water - ordinary cotton wool or materials for biological filtration;
3. a hole is created in the container lid corresponding to the diameter of the sediment fitting; the latter is hermetically inserted into the hole and is additionally fixed with resin or silicone;
4. a pump is attached to the fitting, the task of which is to create compression inside the container;
5. finally, several suction cups are glued at the top of the side of the container;
6. the finished filter is either placed on the bottom of the aquarium or fixed on the inside of the tank; If you supplement the pump outlet with a plastic nozzle with a tube, you can also ensure aeration of the contents of the aquarium.

The external filter for the aquarium is as simple as the internal filter, but it will take a little longer. It is recommended to use a high plastic canister or a piece of a garden pipe of wide diameter as the main container. So, manufacturing an external filter will be performed as follows:

1. first, a hole is cut at the bottom of the canister, and a fitting with a one-way valve is inserted into the resulting hole; the part can be made of plastic or metal;
2. further, several holes are cut in the lid, in which the electric pump and the water outlet valve will be placed;
3. the pump is fixed on the inside of the cover so that the fitting quietly enters the prepared hole;
4. further, it is necessary to combine all the filter material in small cassettes, whose diameter will be slightly smaller than the diameter of the canister; they are conveniently assembled from plastic flower pots, the expanded upper part of which is cut off;
5. a hole for water is cut in the bottom, and the cartridge itself is filled with filtering materials;
6. the first cartridge can be filled with a sponge, and then placed in a canister so that it is slightly higher than the adapter equipped with an exhaust valve;
7. the second cartridge is filled with fiber, cotton or synthetic winterizer or other biological filtration material; inside the canister, it is fixed in such a way as to be below the pump;
8. in addition, the case should be sealed with resin or silicone; adapters are fixed with tubes or hoses, their length is determined by the depth of the aquarium and the distance at which the filter is located;
9. the external filter will work due to the pump; the latter will create a pressure that facilitates the absorption of liquid into the canister, and the water, having passed the filtration stages, will return to the aquarium.

Starting to work with an external filter, you should first conduct a test mode for the whole day to make sure that the canister used is absolutely tight. The pump should be selected depending on the volume of the aquarium itself.

The bottom filter works by using the right soil. Water passes through a sand or similar filter, thereby undergoing rough cleaning. For the manufacture of the device requires a pump, conventional tubes and tubes with holes, as well as a compressor. The manufacturing process is as follows:

1. parts with holes are laid under the ground, and on top of them is a plastic mesh with small holes; its task will be to prevent soil from entering the holes of the tubes;
2. the pump or compressor locks close to the surface.

Regardless of the design chosen, the filter must be cleaned regularly. If you neglect this procedure, then at first it will cease to cope with the task, and then it will generally begin to pollute the water. The frequency of cleaning is determined by necessity, namely:

• the smaller the device itself and the greater the amount of work, the more often the procedure should occur;
• the need for washing, as a rule, is signaled by a deterioration in the quality of water purification.

See how to make an external filter for your aquarium with your own hands.