Mike here from the team at DIY aquaponics comm check out our website for a huge list of do-it-yourself projects aquarium science videos and free downloadable content subscribe to our channel and like our Facebook page to stay updated today we're going to show you how to make your own hang on back filter for the aquarium hov filters are undoubtedly the most commonly used filter it happened to be a favorite here at DIY aqua pro it's for these reasons we came up with a design of our own let's get into the build for this project you'll need a certain style of Tupperware container we're using one that's meant for cereal or other types of dry goods that's ten inches tall ten inches wide and five inches deep you'll also need to construct a wooden clamp to hang over the edge of your aquarium we use some pieces of half-inch plywood held together by four one inch wood screws the most critical dimension of this piece is the width of the clamp that will hang over the lip of your aquarium for the majority of tanks a one inch gap will work perfectly you'll also need a power head to run your filter we're using one that's rated close to 200 gallons per hour you need some one half-inch PVC pipe so you can construct an intake for the filter we've showed you how to make this piece in a previous video so we won't go into detail you need a 1/2 inch cap and a 90 degree street elbow to make this piece complete you'll also need a short piece of tubing that can fit over the intake of your power head we'll be using this piece to connect the power head to the intake of our filter the piece we're using is 5/8 by 7/8 inch vinyl tubing you need a short two inch piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe a 1/2 inch 45-degree elbow to female adapters one male adapter 3 3/4 inch o rings some 100% silicone to one and a half inch screws with lock nuts and a 1/2 inch bulkhead we were able to find this piece ironically in the electrical fittings section of our local hardware store last you'll need some biological media and piece of filter padding to wrap over your intake we're choosing to use ceramic rings and bio balls but you can use any type of bio media you prefer start by marking a line about three and a half inches from the top of the container this is where we'll position our clamp later in the video then trace out two holes on either side of this line about two inches from the top of the container this is where we'll fit in our bulkhead and male adapter then we drill out each circle with a three-quarter inch drill bit next take your bulkhead and thread it through one of the holes make sure the hose fitting side is on the inside of the container we then place a rubber o-ring around the threads and screw on a female adapter it's at this point you may wish to assemble your intake we wrap a piece of filter padding around the intake holes and secure it in place with two pieces of fishing line we'll simply plug in this intake when we're done making all the other fittings we then place a rubber o-ring around the threads on the male adapter and screw it into the remaining hole place another ring around the outside and screw on the last female adapter next we drill out two small pilot holes where we'll eventually place our metal screws line this piece up with the mark we drew previously and using the same drill bit drill through the container then we put in the two screws and attach it to the container use the small lock nuts to hold this piece in place to prevent leaks and the metal from reacting with the water in our filter we're going to cover both of these screws completely with silicone 24 hours later after the silicone is dried completely we're now ready to attach our power head plug one end of the tubing into the intake of your power head and place it in the bottom of the filter then connect it to the bulkhead now we're ready to add our media we start by putting bioballs in the bottom and we top it off with ceramic rings make sure the media level is below the level of the output so we don't clog up our filter we then take the 2-inch piece of PVC pipe we cut earlier and plug one end into the 45-degree elbow and the other end into the output of the filter the last step involves plugging in the intake to the filter and now our hang on back filter is complete so let's put it in a tank and see how it works we start by placing the Hib filter over the back of our aquarium make sure the inside of the clamp doesn't touch the water to prime the filter fill it with aquarium water until it begins to pour out the output plug in your power head and water will be pulled through the input we created this initial step provides mechanical filtration with the entire hang on back portion serving as our biological step note that the 1/2 inch output we created is matched perfectly with our 200 gallons per hour power head if you're using a stronger pump you may require a 3/4 inch or even a one-inch output to prevent an overflow we're going to make a few different versions of this filter to accommodate stronger pumps so stay tuned ready for the next project or how about some aquarium science head - DIY aquaponics perience thanks for watching