Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am trying to figure out a way to hook up a powerhead to a filteration system but can't quite figure out how to do so. Can anyone help me improvise on how to make a filter system (sponge, bio-balls, and carbon) that is easy to maintain? The flow of the water would need to go from the pump to the filter box to a waterfall, so no leakage could exist in the flow. The pump itself will be behind a background that waste could not get to, so going through a filter first isn't 100% necessary.

The only idea I have been able to come up with so far is to make a water-tight acrylic (plexi-glass) box with 3 compartments, but the problem with that is getting into it later on to change out the sponge or carbon. Is it possible to make it water-tight but still have access to change the insides out?

Here is a link to a site that uses a home-made filter box if it helps you get an understanding of what I am picturing.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/46g_construct.htm

Any help/advice would be great.
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Thanks and Gig Em,
Cliff
0.3 Sipiwlini Tinc's

Cliff,

Changing and cleaning the different media should be very easy if you leave the top open on the filter box. There's no reason to seal the entire thing up as long as you make sure the filter box drains out at a rate faster than the power filter fills it. I used this type of setup for wet/dry filters in fish aquariums quite often, and it's a cheap and effective way to keep the water conditioned. However, it's definitely overkill for a frog tank unless you are making a paludarium with a water feature large enough for fish.

You'll get enough surface area exposure for biological filtration with a recirculating pump and waterfall feature, and if you have some bog plants in the water feature, they'll do a good job of sucking out the nitrates. I change 50% of the water in my terrarium about once each month. It seems to work well for me, and my Cryptocorynes are growing like weeds. Usually, they are good indicators of poor water quality--die off if it gets bad.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

The aquarium will be a Paludarium. It is a 110 gallon that will be almost 5050 (landwater).

Here is a diagram that I put together to show the general flow through the tank. My worry is that the water will not flow into the waterfall fast enough causing the home-made filter to overflow. Should I maybe just use thicker tubing from the filter to waterfall? Also, will this concept even work? I am not even sure that gravity will work well enough to force the water from the filter into the waterfall. Take a look and see if maybe I am missing some big picture here.

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Thanks and Gig Em,
Cliff
0.3 Sipiwlini Tinc's

It looks to me like you have 3 considerations when you are making your wet/dry filter to make sure the filter won't overflow: 1) is the filter media so fine that detrious may back it up and cause the first chamber to overflow (as long as the individual chambers are lower than the top of the entire filter box, this shouldn't be a problem, (2) is the drainage hole large enough to evacuate the water as fast as the filter puts it into the box, and (3) are there any obstructions in front of the drainage tube that will slow the flow?

I think you could easily address all of these questions by using a drainage hole that is connected to a 3/4" shutoff valve (pvc--pretty reasonably priced), and using 3/4" tubing. That's probably overkill (by a lot), but the valve would allow you to regulate the flow, and they're fairly easy to install. As far as the filter media problem . . . that's something you'll have to decide by trial and error. If you use a sponge like the sample site suggests, you'll probably be okay as long as you clean it regularly. We often just used a 5 gallon reservoir filled with pea gravel--but that media is probably too heavy for your application. I really don't think you'll have problems with this setup, but you MAY have to fiddle with it to find the right balance.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense