This is how my father and I constructed the trickle filter for my 5ft tank.


We got a bucket and filled it with our bio material. This is apparently off cuts of bio balls, but I'm not really sure. There are HEAPS of these little plastic things stacked tightly into the bucket, to provide as much surface area as possible.


The bottom of this bucket has big holes drilled in it. The holes are at the lowest point in the bucket.


This is my drip plate. A ice cream container cut down in size with holes drilled in the bottom. It's probably about 1 inch deep.


My mechanical filtration sits on top of the drip plate. It's foam from the aquarium store.


Then the lid fastens on top. The lid, obviously, has a hole in the top at the middle.


As odd as it looks, this is to prevent the bucket and so the biomedia sitting in the water. We found that the plastic lid bowed over time to allow the bucket to sit in the water.


This is what sits in the cabinent under my tank. It's a plastic tub which I think is about 40L... Not quite sure. The hose coming in at an angle (to the big hole) is a siphon from the tank and, the hose on the left coming straight out of the tub is from the pump.


This is the pump that sits inside the tub, in the sump. (Excuse the mess!)
Note: This was before I had filled the tub up. The water level does not go beneath the height of the pump regularly.


There is a little groove around the large circle for the power cord to the pump.

We wanted the sump to be completely closed off from the cabinent to prevent moisture.


This is how it sits with the bucket in place.
The valve for the return was originally inside the tub, as otherwise it'd leak. However, we were able to get metal fasteners to prevent leaking and so the valve now sits outside the sump.


We put carpet all around it to try to muffle the noise from the pump and also prevent it rattling against the sides.


This is where water comes from the tank. It's a diagonal strip of glass that sections off a corner of the tank. The water overflows into here. The foam is on the siphon head so that fish don't get sucked in. Please excuse my snails and plant debris!


This is the return to the tank - a spray bar. (It only has air bubbles coming out when if first starts to work, not regularly.)
I'm thinking of modifying the return after a recent siphoning incident...


So there you go. Hope that's helpful! Questions I'm happy to answer.

very cool setup leema, i still think a check valve after the gate valve on the return line would solve your back siphoning problem.;)

Very cool!!

Great job Leema! That filter rocks. I agree with Cich1 about the check valve. It's the best thing to prevent any back flow.

Nice work :)

Thanks guys. I will be getting the check valve - thanks for the idea. :) It's only done it once, so hopefully it can hold 'til I get the valve in. :)