diy internal filter

i'd like to share a filtration idea which has been working very well for me for several years now,on a smaller scale.and ive found that these are good enough to be the primary filter on most tanks.
ive made this one bigger coz the size of tank which it goes in is a lot bigger, the basic design is quite simple

the prob is not with the design,it should work well in theory
but even if your tank is quite big,where do you hide that 10 inch thick ugly pvc pipe?? in ponds its ok,but in an indoor tank?



uhh?

so the main thing is to get a proper camouflage on the pipe so that it looks quite acceptable,
thats what this whole thread is all about.

i decided to use cement for getting started,cement is toxic... this that..blah blah,i know all about those things,but having kept fish in cemented tanks for 20 years,it isnt a big issue,just some things need to be done before u get fish into a tank that has cement products in it,
so cement it is.
1st prob-cement doesnt stick to the smooth pvc.
so i got some chicken wire and wound it around the pipe tightly.
so now the cement will stick to the pipe.
but what good will it do,a cement pipe = pvc pipe.cement pipe looks even worse.
so i thought id make the whole structure look like a tree with butress roots and make that the centrepiece of the tank.
butress roots,easier said than done..got some thermocol,and cut it to shape, then wound some more of the chicken wire on it.
so the "pipe tree" will have three butress roots.
now the only thing left to do is the cement work,thats frankly the toughest part,
ill leave you with a pic at the beginning of making the root ,will continue later...

yeah,here we go.
the root was finished quite satisfactoruly then it was time to get the whole thing covered by the cement mix,
then get some creativity in to make it look like a tree,like adding a shallow hollow to the upper trunk(made with a thermocol ring covered likewise with a wire and then cement material
.the bottom part was left open till then

plan was to seal this bottom later and make it watertight

then came another thought,in my plan,water was to simply flow in thru the top,but i had made the whole thing quite tall at 3 ft,now my tank wasnt supposed to be so deep,so instead of cutting off the top part,i sawed off a portion from the backside at about 2.5 ft height to let the water in

and then the tree began to take shape the way i wanted it to....
internal work was still left to be done plus the colouring,still..

haha it isnt as heavy as it looks though,i can lift it without any great concern about by back..
dont bother about the mess,its a small upstairs room and hardly anybody goes there,except me.
the finishing was still left to be done,including the colouring and work on the internal part.will get some pics soon

here is what it looked like after the colouring work
its very big though...big enough for the centerpiece of a big tank...
the inside will be filled with different media in layers,including 100 nylon scrubbies and the top layer will have
two pieces of foam cut in circle for the mech filtration.

WOW, I would never think of something like that. I really like it. You could make some $$$$$$$$$ of off that idea. How many hours in all???

thanks.much appreciated.
crabby,i have no idea of the time taken,got it done in fits and starts whenever i got some spare time.but was well worth it.the filtration is effective and i think the tree looks nice in the new big tank.will have pics up sometime soon

what a killer filter

That is a GREAT idea hris! Wish I could have worked something like that into my 3d background

That is such a cool idea. I don't know where you such imagination. I agree, you could make money off of this idea. Even patent it.

Hris That's awesome! that would be a sweet idea to make to hide standpipes in a drilled tank

thanks guys ! the best thing is that the filter works great.and looks good too.