Western Cichlid Forum

Recently I have been messing around with modified “side drop” filters – mainly because I have found they are a pain with bristlenose and fry, and also to try and cut down costs in building them. After a few early prototypes on smaller tanks Chuck was kind enough to let me run loose on his 5×3x2 and see if a few modifications worked better. The following is a brief step by step of how I put them together.

* Disclaimer: Cutting glass and working with glass can be very dangerous – don’t do it if you aren’t capable and confident
* Only use aquarium safe silicone.

1. Here is the filter paritions, the water will flow up through the first chamber (instead of through a 3mm gap) then down through the larger chamber and through the cut off corner to the airlifts. I made a simple frame with poly to hold the partitions the required distance apart. (*The second partition should have been closer to the top of the main sheet, as this produces a very nice waterfall effect that allows you gauge water flow better.) The first should have about 100mm gap from the bottom and the second one should be about 30-40mm from the the top. The size of the sheet and and distance between/width of the filter will depend on the media you want to use. I this case the width of the filter and the distance between the two partitions is about 150mm to suit the 450×150x150 blocks of sponge.

2. This shows the poly holding the sheets the required distance apart. Please note that I swap back and forward between the filters for either side of the tank – which is why the glass is on the opposite sids.

3. This picture is of the main sheet of glass in the uplift section. I have siliconed a 3mm plastic mesh onto this with a piece of 3mm glass.

4. I silicon 30mm straps of glass in as sirlifts on the opposite side to the mesh. One goes all the way to the top (for the edge of the uplift section) and the internal ones have a gap at the bottom to allow water flow. The top of the internal straps are also cut at a 45 degree angle before being siliconed on so I can stick a piece on later for flow control.

5. After the silicone on the uplift and filter sections have dried a bit (overnight is best but a few hours will suffice if careful) the main filter section is siliconed into the tank.

6. Then the uplift section is glued in, covering the cut of corner.

7. Two 30mm straps are glued in, the first at a 45 degree angle and the second horizontally. These not only control and direct the flow but also cut out most spray from the air bubbles.

8. A view of the tank with both filters glued in (from above).