Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

Keep your aquarium clean and save money with a custom made filter. It's really simple!

Steps

1. 1 Collect the necessary materials to make the filter: a sponge or other thick, porous material (should not contain any additional ingredients, such as car wash sponges), an open top container (i.e. the bottom half of a plastic water bottle), a standard aquarium pump, or a submersible water pump, activated carbon and air tubes (must fit the pump nozzle).
2. 2 Make sure your pump or submersible pump fits in the container while leaving enough space to accommodate the charcoal and sponge.
3. 3 Pour activated carbon into the chemical filtration container.
4. 4 Wrap the pump or pump inlet with fine mesh material. Women's nylon tights are suitable.
5. 5 Place the wrapped pump in a container, pressing it firmly into the activated carbon.
6. 6 Connect a tubing to the pump outlet. It will be enough to use a tube 8 cm long.
7. 7 Cut the sponge to fit the container. Make a hole in it for the tube to exit.
8. 8 Dip the sponge into the container, remembering to slide the tube out through it.
9. 9 Secure the filter in the assembled state with strings or elastic bands.
10. 10 Place the filter in an inconspicuous place in the aquarium and turn it on.
11. 11 Place fish in the aquarium.
12. 12 Enjoy.

Tips

• Make sure your pump fits the size of your aquarium, for example a pump that pumps 110 liters of water per hour is suitable for a freshwater aquarium of 40 liters, and for a saltwater aquarium of the same volume, a pump that pumps 300 liters per hour is necessary.
• You can dig in your filter with gravel to keep it firmly in place, or you can simply place it on the bottom of the aquarium.
• Initially, the filter will only filter out impurities from the aquarium. But over time, beneficial bacteria will settle in the sponge, which will allow the filter to produce additional biological filtration of the water.
• If you have a pump with an adjustable water flow, remember to set it to the correct level for your aquarium.

Warnings

• Be careful when working with electricity.
• Check the filter regularly. A broken filter will be a disaster for both fish and you.