How to Build a DIY Hang on Back Fish Tank Filter | HOB Aquarium Filter:
A Hang on Back filter, shortly named as HOB filter hangs on the back of the aquarium. It is smaller in size than a canister filter, & it is classified as an external filter. It can clean small tanks efficiently but the major con of this filter is that it has both inlet & outlet pipes close to each other so water coming out of the outlet pipe is sucked again by the inlet pipe so it refilters the clean water instead of filtering dirty water. Another con of HOB filters is that if you use this filter, then you have to remove the aquarium lid so your fish can jump out.
How to Build a DIY Hang on Back Filter:
Video below shows How to Build a Hang on Back Fish Tank Filter for your Aquarium:
Inlet Pipe:
An intake pipe is used for drawing
water from the aquarium to the HOB filter. Every component of the Hang on Back
filter including pump, & mechanical & bio media are located inside the
filter container. Another name of Hang on Back filter is backpack filter because
it usually hangs on the back of the aquarium.
Mechanical Media:
Then, HOB filter cleans dirty
water using a mechanical filter media & water then flows through the bio
media. Mechanical filter media can only remove fish waste & other detritus
but bio media cleans the toxins present in the water.
Biological Media:
Useful bacteria that grow on the
biological media break down toxic ammonia into less toxic forms such as
nitrites & nitrates. Nitrifying bacteria that grow on the surface of bio
balls & ceramic rings remove ammonia & nitrites. Denitrifying bacteria
that is present inside the pores of the ceramic rings where oxygen can’t enter,
wipes out nitrates from the water. Ammonia is highly toxic & nitrites are
less dangerous than ammonia, while nitrates are less dangerous than nitrites.
Presence of lots of nitrates is still dangerous for the fish. Not every bio
media is able to deal with nitrates but I have used ceramic rings in my DIY
Hang on Back filter that can wipe out nitrates from the water. Ceramic rings
hold both nitrifying & denitrifying bacteria. Also, I have used plastic bio
balls that only hold nitrifying bacteria. Plastic bio balls offer a large
surface for growing useful bacteria. Inside plastic bio balls, you can find a
sponge. Sponge filters are very useful for biological filtration because
sponges carry heaps of good bacteria.
Outlet Pipe:
Clean water flows back to the
fish tank using an outlet pipe. You can setup a waterfall or a pipe at some
height for producing some disturbance at the water surface so that aquarium water
can expel carbon dioxide & absorb oxygen.
How to Make a DIY Hang on Back Filter Powered by an Air Pump:
In video below you can Watch: Making a DIY Hang on Back Filter that operates with an Air Pump:
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