9. 3mm glass bits are used to hold the mesh in place around the uplift section. I glue it in so the mesh is at an angle to make it easy to get the air stones in and out.

10. The sponge prefilter and grating before the uplift section are installed, as well as some coral pieces to help buffer the tank and hold back the other media.

11. 25L of Aquaclay F13-20 media in either side

12. Another of the pre filter sponges is cut in half length ways and put in over the aquaclay. The length of the filter was desinged to accomodate this size sponge.

13. The tank is half full and the airstones are bubbling away. Each of the outer airlifts have 1 plastic airstone in them, the two inner ones have 2 plastic airstones.

14. The filter running full steam. You can see the water coming up at the front of the filter, although if the divider was higher it would be easier to see the water flow. Each side probably manages 2000-3000lph pretty comfortably.

15. The final product - both sides running well.

The beauty about this design is able to easily be customised for different uses. Also, the sponge is very easy to remove for cleaning - and no pipes to worry about fitting media around. The following pic is of a smaller filter using a simple triangle airlift (one of the prototypes). The 3 plastic airstones are spaced with a bit of egg crate to reduce cavatation. This method still produces a very good turnover, just with less pressure/direction. Still, it is a much easier way for fry tanks or small-mid size tanks.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please feel free to let me know

Cheers
Pacco

and just a final shot with fish