Reel McKoi said the following on 12/27/2007 5:44 PM:

"Randy Webb" wrote in message
...
Reel McKoi said the following on 12/26/2007 7:59 PM:

The problem is the intake slots clog quickly with plant debris.

When I do water changes, I simply pick the rock up, pull the filter
out the bottom, rinse it off in a bucket, and put it back. So far, I
get very little debris on it and what I do get easily rinses off.

OK, mine are made so there is no filter on the bottom but Roy reminded
me about some I have stored. As I recall they have an intake strainer I
can pull a sponge over to prevent clogging. My other powerheads not
made the same.

One of mine is not made with an intake strainer. The other one I removed
the intake strainer from it.

Or bits of plant debris get pulled through the intake slots and clog
up the impeller.

That is why I put the filter in the rock.

What filter? These powerheads have no filter?!?!?! They have slots
where the water is sucked in and a outflow tube.

You have to make your own filter or use a different power head. The
power heads that I have in my plant tank, one doesn't have an intake
strainer (it isn't made to have one) and the other has an intake
strainer that I removed. I removed the strainer from it because the
strainer was too tall for where I wanted to use it.

Now, you have to figure out how to attach a filter to it. The solution I
came up with was to take a rock that I had (I saw some similar in
Petco). It has holes in the rock. I put a filter inside that hole. Then,
you sit the power head on top of the filter, so that the intake for the
power head is inside the filter. Any water that goes into the power head
has to go through that filter.

Then, you have to figure out how to secure the power head to the filter.
What I used are the ties that you can buy in Walmart. Cable ties. They
sell them in the Automotive section. They also sell them at Lowes and
Home Depot. They come in packs anywhere from a few to hundreds.

The purpose of the rock was to give it a stable base so that the filter
wouldn't get crushed onto the pumps. Put the pump on the filter, then
Cable Tie it all together. It is that simple. You are going to have to
be innovative or change power heads.

I couldn't attach it to the
power head because of the way they were made. So, I used the rock to
hold the filter and power-head so that the power-head can only pull
water through the filter. The filter keeps the power-head from
becoming clogged.

Are you talking about a sponge filter on it's intake screen? Not all of
these powerhead-like water pumps come with screens you can pull a sponge
over.

I can't even find that type of filter here. I hunted one and had to come
up with a solution of my own. None of it would have happened if my wife
hadn't decided that since she could feed dog food to the fish at the
dock that mine would eat it too and dumped a hand full of dog food into
the tank. I was stubborn enough to want to figure out how to clear it up
without having to change all the water.

The two "rocks" that I have (they aren't actually true rocks) look
like someone pulled a post out of the ground that was concreted in.
Then took the concrete and cut it into 4 inch sections so that they
have square holes in the middle. I cut filters to fit into that hole
and then have it pull through the filter. In the end, about all the
rocks do is give me a stable place to hold the filter and power head
where they are stable with one another.

You have the type of powerhead that comes with a strainer then. I'm
hoping I have one or two out in storage.

No. One is, one isn't. The one that is I removed it from the power head.

Right now, my digital camera battery is in the charger being recharged.
I have to do some work on the tank and will try to take some pictures
and post them online so you can see how I made it.

--
Randy
Chance Favors The Prepared Mind