How To Build DIY Aquarium Filter To Clean Fish Poop:

Larger fish in larger aquariums makes too much poop which pollutes water. Not many tank filters are available for addressing this problem. Even though many aquarium filters can help clean the tank but some of them are designed to clean fish poop. In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make a DIY fish poop filter at home using an air tight plastic container. You can drive this filter using an air stone & it requires an air pump for operation. The impeller installed in tank filter makes a cyclone effect & draws fish poop which is trapped in the filter base.


In this video I will show you how to make turbo suction filter for cleaning water:


How to build DIY Fish Waste Filter


After collection of fish poop in the filter base, the biological filter changes this poop into less dangerous form which is acceptable for the fish, but in mass amount, it is dangerous & could prove fatal. I have setup DIY fish poop filter in a 200 Liter goldfish aquarium & it is driven by Aqua One precision 9500 air pump. DIY fish waste filter will need weekly maintenance & you can clean the poop collected by the filter & wash the filter before reusing it. If you want high efficiency & wants your hands to get dirty, then my advice is to build a fish poop tank at home as it can enhance the efficiency of your existing fish tank filter.


DIY Aquarium Filter To Clean Fish Poop
DIY Aquarium Filter To Clean Fish Poop


DIY fish poop filter is driven by air, & it is made up of air tight clear plastic container. DIY fish waste filter has the capability of biological filtration. It can effectively remove fish waste while other filters have difficulty to clean fish waste of bigger fish in bigger tanks. Homemade fish waste filter has turbo suction mechanism that creates cyclone effect to draw fish poop towards itself.


Steps required to make DIY Fish Waste Filter for cleaning water:



For making DIY turbo suction filter, you will need an air tight container which has a 114 mm diameter & a height of 117 mm. You can find this container on Ebay & Amazon. It is an air tight & aquarium safe container.



Then you will need to mark the inlet & outlet for the flow of water to enter & leave the filter. Turbo suction filter will draw water from the base with its cyclone effect produced by the impeller connected to the top of filter.



You will need an electric drill & hole saw. You will need to drill an outlet hole for installation of impeller. Drill a narrow inlet for stronger suction. You will need higher grit sandpaper to smooth edging.



I am testing the spinning of the fan. I have connected one side of the air tube to air pump & other side is used to spin the fan. For this tutorial I am using Aqua One Precision 9500 air pump.



DIY turbo suction filter works when air passing through impeller creates cyclone effect & it strongly draws fish waste towards itself. This way fish waste is trapped inside the filter & only clean water flows through the top of filter.



Air Bubbler is a plastic air stone. Air stone would be fine too. It is time to drill hole for air tube in the container lid. You can connect the air stone to spin the fan which runs the filter. This way not only fish waste will be trapped but air bubbles will be created too.



It is a good idea to keep testing. It is time to test DIY fish waste filter in water & see whether air bubbles can spin the impeller. After testing I found that everything is working fine. Make sure you keep testing your fish waste filter after every step.



DIY filter tray is used for mechanical & biological filtration media. Filter tray is used for trapping fish waste. Drill 4 holes in the filter tray to attach 4 legs of it. A hard plastic tube can be used as legs. 



Time for dirty work. Glue every component using aquarium safe silicone glue. Add glue gently to every component for perfect attachment. Wait till it seals. Silicone can seal the leakage in the filter.



You can use thin layer of filter foam for trapping fish poop. Use a strainer add on for trapping fish waste in the filter base. Use a scissor to fix the foam tightly which stops fish poop from escaping the filter when it enters through the base.




Time to rinse the filter. Wash everything before adding it to aquarium. Tap water has chlorine which is dangerous for the fish. So I would suggest washing the filter with your tank water to avoid adding chlorine to the aquarium.



Pass air tube through airline suction cups for a neat attachment. This way it is possible to avoid mess. Gently attach the suction cups to the glass of aquarium to align the tube.



I am using ceramic rings as bio media. Aquapro booster balls are added to slow release of good bacteria. I would suggest adding bio media of your old filter because it will already have beneficial bacteria.




Filter is working fine in my gold fish aquarium. DIY fish waste filter draws poop & traps it in the filter base. You can see it running gently in aquarium. Make sure you follow all steps correctly for making fish waste filter at home. Watch video at the top of this tutorial which shows every step. Also don't forget to leave comment at the end of this article if you want any help. Also leave your feedback & subscribe to Fishaholic Youtube channel for more amazing tutorials.

1 Comments

  1. where can I buy the impeller assembly to turbo boost this filter, and the suction cup filter base to hold the filter off the bottom of your tank?

    ReplyDelete

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