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My DIY overhead filter

Gyarados

Members
Hey guys, just finished building an overhead trickle filter and figured I'd share for feedback. Anyone else here running overhead filters?

Here's a crappy Iphone video
https://vid.me/pTe3

Plumbing: 1" Bulkhead on the intake and a 2" on the drain. The pvc in the filter has 70-80 holes which ended up spreading the water better than I had hoped for.

Pump: Rio 1400, hadn't planned on putting this filter so high above the tank so there will be a pump upgrade in the near future.

Media: 500ish bioballs, 3" sheet of poret foam (in the mail) and Quilt batting at the top. The bioballs sit on a supported sheet of light diffuser just above the the drain.
 

Gyarados

Members
Thanks! I keep hearing that term thrown around here, I guess Dump filter just implies that its over the tank?
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Not sure that it is a technical term, but what Matt always called them. In certain circumstances, there isn't much of a better way to filter a tank, I suppose. I haven't set up any because most of my tanks are in living spaces and the dump filters tend to be a bit noisy and unsightly. In a fish room, assuming you don't have space restrictions, they work great.
 

Gyarados

Members
They certainly aren't pretty, noise wise this one ended up being no louder than the AC110 running on the same tank. It's a very different noise though...
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
I'm a big fan of overhead (or dump) filters and have them on all of my bigger tanks.

Basically all of the benefits of a sump (or trickle filter) without dorking with overflows or needing to drill the tank. More efficient too.

Matt
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
You can use the outflow of a canister filter to power a dump filter as well... the last remaining canister in my fishroom is an FX5 running a dump on my 180g.

I basically replaced the outflow nozzle on the FX5 with a 3/4" piece of PVC feeding water to the Dump filter (i.e. a 18g rubbermaid with bio stuff in it and holes in the bottom to allow water to "dump" back into the tank).

Matt
 

Gyarados

Members
Is you loose power will it flood your tank? Looks good. Is quiet also

Because of the huge 2" drain I don't there's ever more than a gallon or 2 of water in the tub. If the power went out it would just drain empty. I don't know a whole lot about siphons (why I avoided a sump) but I don't think one is possible in this filter, at least not the kind that would cause a flood.
 

Gyarados

Members
You can use the outflow of a canister filter to power a dump filter as well... the last remaining canister in my fishroom is an FX5 running a dump on my 180g.

I basically replaced the outflow nozzle on the FX5 with a 3/4" piece of PVC feeding water to the Dump filter (i.e. a 18g rubbermaid with bio stuff in it and holes in the bottom to allow water to "dump" back into the tank).

Matt

I have an FX6 running on the same tank, if I ever run across a dirt cheap FX5 I will definitely give that a try!

Matt what have you found to be the best/cheapest polishing media for your dump filters? I got a huge bag of quilt batting as a starter but its very thin and needs to be at least doubled up.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Why not just use the FX6 to run the dump?

I use pillow batting as the top layer in the dump filter (above a folded-over piece of Poret filter) for mechanical filtration.

I also clean the sponges in the FX5 pretty frequently

Matt
 

Gyarados

Members
I like the extra turnover and option to upgrade pumps down the road. I don't think the fx6 could push very much water to that height.
 
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