The Puffer Forum

sweet the AC 110 is sooooo much cheaper lol

I'm looking into a DIY wet/dry filter Food for thought?

Idk for sure what all goes into it for now, but seems like the way to go.

J-P had a thread of a DIY trickle filter. You can look them up on the enternet. Most are just some sort of cheap plastic drawers that hold the filter media and you place the whole drawer stack in a big plastic bin where your return pump and everything is. The water goes from the tank to the top of the drawers then drains through each level ending in the rubbermaid. They are rather neet but most take up alot of room.

I use a Rena XP4 on one 125 and love it, no problems at all in 2 yrs, and a TON of space for bio-media.

On my other 125, that my Fahaka is in, I use the sump that came with it. A HOB overflow when adjusted properly nas no chance of overflowing the tank or sump. My sump is a 30 gal aquarium divided into 3 parts. First is a tall divided area for the heater, then it waterfalls down into a 1/2 depth area filled with bioballs and the like, then into the pump area. Haven't had a problem with this setup either.

That said, I do like the Aquaclears, I read the info on other filters about how they have this new high-tech method of recirculating the water through the filter many times before it gets back to the tank. Heh. AQs been doing that for 20+ years. Keep em clean tho so you dont get the floating media problem mentioned earlier. It helps to keep a sponge on top too if ya can, it kinda locks everything down in place.

Are we talking about the AC HOB units here?

I am not sure if everyone else is LOL

Found that petsmart has the AC 110 on sale for 75 bucks

Yah the AC hob.

dang I was hoping there was another kind that wasn't available in Canada.. I use them but am not fond of them.

why not?

they are bulky and you have to prime them in the case of a flow level issue or power outage. My HOB's are all AC filters but I am just not happy with them.

I am thinking of moving to all canisters when the funds allow

Also .. the take a lot of room when seated on the tanks.. sometimes I have to cut / adjust the canopy to accommodate them.

I have a canister also. I dont really want a HOB as they are usually loud and would make me have to pee a lot LOL
But I cant afford a canister that will work for me. The AC is under 100 bucks and any canister that moves the same amount of water seems to be over 250bucks.

A high water level will help reduce water noise. If that's not enough then cut a notch in a sponge and hook it under to output of the filter and the tank ledge. This will stop all water noise. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow if that's confusing. We have this on our betta tank.

I think I understand but a pic is always good

Ohyouknow wrote:I'm looking into a DIY wet/dry filter Food for thought?

Idk for sure what all goes into it for now, but seems like the way to go.

+1! lol

I like the trickle sump system. You never have to worry about a water level drop.