This is my first instructable...................i made this inorder to avoid buying expensive hang on filter or top filter with low capacity and decided to make it with my own abilities.........................

This DIY filter works excellent....................................the water happens to b so clear......................... its better than the branded filters..............................
And trust me this filter costed me Rs 400/- while the same type of filter with half the capability wud hav costed me more than 1k................

Step 1: The Materials Required

The materials needed for this project shall be as follows:

1 - A subersible pump
2 - PVC pipes of the diameter as that of ur pump's outlet nozzle
3 - PVC pipe's elbow coupling
4 - an empty plastic box
5 - waterproof sealant or silicon
6 - hacksaw blade, cutter
7 - filter media - activated carbon, cermic rings, sponge.

Step 2: Step 1 - Cutting of Materials

After you hav collected all of ur material you can start making your project:

Select the filter box of appropriate volume according to the incoming flow rate as u dont want the incoming water to overflow.
mine is 4 inches in lenght, 3inches in breath and 3 inches in height...........

Cut the circular hole on 1 side of your filter box to the same diameter of your pipe. you can use heated iron nail to initially put a hole and then use the cutter to cut all the way round to match the diameter of ur pvc pipe. The inlet should be as high as possible.

you can refer to the figure given below for the outlet. I cut a rectangle for the output.
You and increase the area of your outlet according to the rate of supplied water as u dont want is to start overflowing outside the box.....

You hav to make an inbetwen partition as shown in the diagram so that water gets filtered on one side and the filtered water gets collected on the other.......The partition shoud be open from down as to allow the water to flow...........................

Put your submersible pump into a corner of ur tank..............put the transparent plastic box on the top of your tank and measure the total height.

then cut the pvc pipe accordingly. use an elbow coupling to direct the water through ur pipe into the filter box.

Step 3: Step 2 - Sticking Everything

You can use any waterproof sealant for sticking all the materials................................silicon glue is recommended as it is the most safest..............

Start by first glueing the partition of the filter box...........................dont forget to leave the downside open for the water flow.......................

Then glue the elbow coupling of the pipe to the inlet of the filter box.......................

Fit the pipe to the pump...................if the diameter to the pipe is larger than the that of outlet of the pump, you can use any soft bendable pipe in between to fit both the elements................

after the silicon has dried off, fit the pipes and the filter box together, install it in the tank and start the pump to see if all is working well.......................

Step 4: Filter Media

Pack a little activated carbon and ceramic rings into the net type of mesh type packing materials separately..............

Then in the inlet side of the filter box first cover the bottom layer with sponge, the put the activated carbon layer above it, then ceramic layer above it then again sponge.......................

And your aquarium top filter is ready to use.............................yay!!!!!!