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I got tired of cleaning my old filter system after putting an 14" Oscar in the 100 gallon stock tank. The Oscar ate all the previous residents by now and the filter clean out changed from every 4 to 6 weeks to about once a week. The neighbor down the street was throwing out an old spa/pool filter with pump at the curb. So I parted the filter housing from the pump and took the filter housing home. I seasoned the filter housing in a trash can and the cartridge filter in a 29 gallon tank with algae and feeder fish. A couple of weeks later the trash can water was a nice green color and the feeder fish were still alive with the cartridge filter. So for about $11.00 dollars in PVC fittings that I did not have on hand and a mag 5 pump that was acquired from another neighbor that decided that the pond and the dog did not mix well in the back yard. I put together the new filter system.
1. The intake is 1"
2. the filter housing is 1.5 " on the inlet and outlet
3. the input to the mag 5 pump is 0.75"
4. the output of the mag 5 pump is 0.5"
5. the mag 5 pump is installed after the filter.
6. The cartridge filter is unicel c-7650, 50 sq-ft area
7. I used 100% silicone grease on the vinyl hose connections to prevent leaks.
I used the same filter that was in the filter housing. I put a stainless screen over the outlet port in the center of the bottom filter housing. The purpose of this screen was to keep the charcoal and zeolite crystals from entering the mag 5 pump. I poured in 1/2 bottle of charcoal and 1/2 bottle of zeolite crystals into the center of the cartridge filter before putting the top on. There is also a cleanout installed on the outlet side of the filter housing. The 1" intake pipe has three rows of slots cut into the pipe with a saw for about 12" in total legth of the pipe with a unglued cap on the bottom. These slots act a a strainer to keep large debris out and to reduce the suction of the intake. I used the old power head to prime the new filter system through the 0.5" outlet to purge the air out of the 1" intake pipe and filter housing.
Now I will probably clean the filter once a year!
sunrise
1. The intake is 1"
2. the filter housing is 1.5 " on the inlet and outlet
3. the input to the mag 5 pump is 0.75"
4. the output of the mag 5 pump is 0.5"
5. the mag 5 pump is installed after the filter.
6. The cartridge filter is unicel c-7650, 50 sq-ft area
7. I used 100% silicone grease on the vinyl hose connections to prevent leaks.
I used the same filter that was in the filter housing. I put a stainless screen over the outlet port in the center of the bottom filter housing. The purpose of this screen was to keep the charcoal and zeolite crystals from entering the mag 5 pump. I poured in 1/2 bottle of charcoal and 1/2 bottle of zeolite crystals into the center of the cartridge filter before putting the top on. There is also a cleanout installed on the outlet side of the filter housing. The 1" intake pipe has three rows of slots cut into the pipe with a saw for about 12" in total legth of the pipe with a unglued cap on the bottom. These slots act a a strainer to keep large debris out and to reduce the suction of the intake. I used the old power head to prime the new filter system through the 0.5" outlet to purge the air out of the 1" intake pipe and filter housing.
Now I will probably clean the filter once a year!
sunrise