Tropical Fish Forums

[Sad Heart]

The plan is to get a 1" plastic container.
Place material, like a couple of pencils(weight and length), on the bottom. And place a small terra cotta pot on top of the 'pencils' wide side down.
Place heater vent filter material in the terra cotta pot with an air hose.
Finally place gravel in container and tank so that it is even.

The water is to be drawn into the container, through the gravel, then through the filter material at the top of the pot. OK?

Questions:
I should have the biological and mechanical filtration covered. Correct?

If I want to add activated carbon(chemical), where would be the best place to put it?
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[Osprey]

I'm having a tough time visualizing this...
Could you maybe draw a quick schematic in paint and post it?
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[Sad Heart]

The plastic container(BOX) goes into the aquarium.
The DOWELS go into the BOX to keep the POT from cutting off the air hose.
The filter MEDIUM goes into the POT.
The AIR HOSE goes under the POT.
The POT goes into the BOX on top of the DOWELS.
Then gravel(ROCK) is put into the aquarium and the BOX.

The air flowing out of the POT should draw water through the ROCK and filter MEDIUM.

I'm not trying to be rude, just explain things the best I can!
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[Sad Heart]

Sorry. It's been a long time since I posted photos!
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[Osprey]

Fairly sound design... the airlift system should work out, although you may want to work out a way of fastening the filter floss to the pot itself, so it doesn't slip out while you're putting the pot into the box. Carbon would go in the top, most likely... you don't want your carbon to become clogged with particulates right away.
The other potential problem I see is that it would be a pain to replace the filter media (carbon should be replaced once a month), because the rocks would fall back into the hole the pot left behind. Or were you planning on removing the whole box to replace the filter...?
The big advantage here is that you'd have a filter that fits right into the decor of the aquarium!
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[Sad Heart]

I thought about changing the media....I may be able to find a plastic ring for the pot, then when I pull the pot, the rock stays.

With the carbon, I was eating ice cream with the family and they have those plastic dome covers with a hole in the top (about 1.5 inch/ 3.8 cm diameter hole.) You take two of them and sandwich them together with the carbon in the hole. You could almost get away with not stitching the cloth together. THEN, the size I have fits snug in the center of the pot about half way up.
What cloth do people use for carbon filters?

Side note: I was also thinking of covering the pot with a removable carpet of grass or wort or something!
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[diademhill]

It would work but it would be easier to use the traditional plant pot filters That I've used in breeding tanks for "cough" years.
Take a plant pot, a plastic funnel, airstone, airline.

Put the funnel in the pot, pointy end up, airstone at the bottom with airline out of the funnel. (If the pot is tall you can extend the funnel pipe with plastic tubing of you can make a funnel with the neck of a plastic bottle)
Put a bit of gravel or wadding at the bottom of the pot as you don't want the flunnel to seal down as you need to draw water down through the media around the funnel.
I use filter floss or aragrog (pond media), carbon sometimes, and top off with gravel.
Java moss grows on the outside of the pots.

To clean these you can take the pot out without the media falling into the tank.

I did have some flatter, wide ones that grew brilliant clumps of vallis.

[Sad Heart]

Can you post a photo or diagram, diademhill? I'm not getting everything here.

I was having problems with my design. air was leaking out where the line was coming in. The bubbles are comming out in big .5 inch / 1-2 cm spheres. It was a real pain removing it from the gravel!

I buried the air hose in the gravel, added batting to the pot, sunk the pot in the gravel about 2 cm and got rid of the rest. But the bubbles are still the same.

I would appreciate any help.
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[diademhill]

It works on the same principle as here, look at the how it works diagram. The funnel replaces the bottom shelf and the airline goes down the spout intesd of being a seperate tube.
You do need gravel as part of the media or as a topping to weight the media down.

[Sad Heart]

Is terra cotta porous enough to filter water? I'm asking on a micro-scopic scale.
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