I Can Make an Aqua Cube Pet Watering System

Ok my cats are spoiled. They have a 9 foot scratching post, a giant litter box they can stretch out in and two good looking owners. What more could they want. Yes a filtered watering dish.  (I know the joke; they lick their butts, do they have a poop filtering machine, ha ha).
We got an aqua cube, the 40 oz  version from walmart for about $20.00 (USD) last year. It works ok, doesnt hold much water and the filters are expensive at about $1.50 a piece. I don't know how long the filters last because i just took it out instead of buying it. It has to be broken down and cleaned every month. (probably last longer if i put a filter in it.)
Anyways as I wrote this instructable the pump crapped out on me because it got gummed up with debris.

You will need:
A big watering dish. Don't get one of those tiny watering dishes for a little sissy lap animal, you want something for a big tiger.  An American Tiger!. (3 bucks)
An aquarium filter. I have an aqua tech power filter i found with a fish tank on trash day. (they are $10 at walmart)
Water.  Not that wimpy water that comes in a bottle but good ol TAP water. (free with my rent)

Step 1: Layout

The first picture is the aqua cube broken down for cleaning. You can easily see how it works.  It uses a 2watt submersible fountain pump that forces water up into a upper tank that then flows down a trough.

My version utilizes an aquarium filter with a pet dish underneath.

In reality you need the biggest pet dish you can find.

This filter is designed for 5-10 gal aquarium. 

Step 2: Assembly

Just set the filter on top of the water dish and your set.

The filter has all the  parts that the aqua cube has, the trough, the plastic lid and filter.  I don't know how long this will last with one filter but it should be a long time.  Fish waste is more dirty than normal pet drinking water. So this filter is an overkill.

So for $13. I built an alternative for the aqua cube.



 I will show you how to clean out the aqua cube pump to remove the gunk out in a later instructable. :-)