DIY water filter

[thefatman]

ok, here's my submission for a DIY water filter.

for the folks that use the RO/DI type filters, this is absolutly no comparison. but it's nice for a low cost solution to filtering tap water for water changes and/or top offs. i've been using this for about 3 years now and it works great for me. (but i've always been in freshwater, so this may not be GREAT for salt water, at anyrate though, it's still better than straight tap water)

tools needed - scissors

items needed - 1 gravel vac tube - 1 filter sponge - one box of activated charcoal with "ammo chips"


all i did was:

take a standard gravel vaccume tube, cut a circle out of a piece of filter sponge media to just larger than the diameter of the tube.

stuff the sponge all the way into the tube as far as it will go.

next fill the tube with the cahrcoal/ammo chips until there is only about 2"-3" left at the end of the tube.

cut another piece of filter media and stuff into the end. this will hold the charcoal in place and prevent it from spilling out.

now just conenct the tubes hose to your water source, and run water through the tube slowly, as if you were filling the tank. i usually run the water into five gallon buckets that i store for later use. the charcoal will remove whatever it removes from the water, impurities, etc.. and the ammo chips will help to remove chlorine and chloramine from the water.

and there ya go :-)

[Doug1]

Kewl, I am on well water not city so chlorine is not an issue. I have used the gravel cleaner hose with rolled up poly filter( the good one, not cheap quilting)
inserted in it the sucking water thru it with a powerhead, its a handy better than nothing when filling a new tank without RO/DI