Modified Side Drop Filter – Pt 2
by Chuckmeister on Apr.29, 2007, under DIY Ideas
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
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March 7th, 2009 on 4:53 am
hi, I was looking around on the net to see how to design a self contained tank. I wanted to Custom build it myself. I realise yours is not what I have intended as yours is air operated and I wanted to use a power head with a weer, so that the powerhead pushed the water out on the bottom of the tank and the water level would never get higher than the weers height. Can you explain more in detail how yours works in theory and practice. The pictures tell a thousand words but not the ones I am after.
Bristlenose2008
March 17th, 2009 on 1:10 pm
hey
like your work very much, just wondering is this method (with airstone to move water) very effective, or better use pump?
i never try the airstone method