Hello. I was reading an article at our local aquarium society's website that showed how to build flower pot filters. Basically, you run a line from your airpump to a funnel inside of a flower pot. You put a piece of filter media at the bottom of the "pot", then put the funnel on top of that. Fill the rest of the pot with pea-sized gravel. When the air goes out the top of the funnel, it draws water with it, which draws more water through the gravel. Lots o' biological filtration.

Well, I was playing around. I took a 3 gallon waste paper bucket that was about 10 inches tall and 6 inches square which I bought at the dollar store. I found a tall funnel in the automotive department at nnnnnn. I cut this down so that I could fit a Aquaclear 301 which I had sitting around directly into it. The powerhead sits right at the waterline of my pond. I then put my filter media at the bottom, put the funnel on top of that, and filled the can with pea gravel. I know that it's drawing through the gravel because all the dust from the gravel shot out when I plugged in the powerhead. Guess I should have rinsed it off .

The pond is new, so there are no fish in their yet. So far, the filter seems to be very effective. I'm hoping it proves to be as effective as I hope it is. I'll post pics once I figure out how to do so.

Tim

Well here's my picture finally. Occasionally, the powerhead just cuts out, but I think there's a vacuum problem, so I'm going to feed a rigid air tube down there to relieve the pressure. Anyway, here's the pic.

Tim

Is it possible the cutting out part might be related to where
the water line is? I know with powerheads, the impeller
has to be below the water line to work. Just a thought.

Anyways, looks good! Let us know how it keeps up. What
brand of powerhead and how many gph can it do?

i think pm is right about the filter being too far out of the water. ive got several of the 301's and they arent designed for or work well, in the position that youve got it in. it really needs to be submerged to the point that the return is at least half in and half out of the water.

also, to make the powerhead more effective, maybe you could run a ugf extention tube from the bottom of the powerhead down deep into the gravel. that way, you can be sure that your pulling the water all the way through the gravel. but, the aerator sounds to be doing just that.

and last but not least, make sure you keep the water level as constant as you can so that the bucket doesnt run dry.

and the 301 can do 270 gallons per hour on the highest setting.

altogether a very nice filter design. kudos to you!

paul

I took your folks' advice and cut the length of the inner funnel down. I also took a section out so that the flow still went straight out. The entire powerhead is now just below water and running much more effectively. I will watch the next couple of days to see if it continues to stall out. Otherwise, I think you guys solved my problems!! Thanks .

Tim