How to filter a small outdoor tub

[Max G]

We have had a small tub(around 10 to 15 g) in the back corner of our garden for a few years and this year I'm hoping to  add some white clouds to it. The problem is that I'm not sure how to filter it. We have no outdoor plug sockets and running a cable from the house isn't really an option. I have african water lettuce and some oxygenating pond stem plant, not sure what kind. Side note: I live in England, UK so Co Op products aren't available. 

Anybody know how I could do this? 

Any help is appreciated

[Fish Folk]

3 hours ago, Max G said:

We have had a small tub(around 10 to 15 g) in the back corner of our garden for a few years and this year I'm hoping to  add some white clouds to it. The problem is that I'm not sure how to filter it. We have no outdoor plug sockets and running a cable from the house isn't really an option. I have african water lettuce and some oxygenating pond stem plant, not sure what kind. Side note: I live in England, UK so Co Op products aren't available. 

Anybody know how I could do this? 

Any help is appreciated

If you can run a long, discrete airline from house to mini pond, you could use a sponge filter. 

[Max G]

I'm not sure that that would work. 

Has anybody used solar powered air pumps? 

[ARMYVET]

I am currently staging plants in a 15 gallon plastic tote while im am installing the outdoor pond and I have a sponge filter with the usb air pump from aquarium Co-Op and it is working awesomely.  I watched a video where Dean is using the USB air pump on his outdoor ponds. 

[Max G]

I would love to use the USB airpump however I live in the UK so sadly I can't order it... 

Plants look really nice! Is that unubias flowering? 

[ARMYVET]

Oh sorry about the pump....but a sponge filter is what I will be using in my 150 gallon pond....2 actually.  

 

Im not sure...this is my first time with Anubias...lol  But they do look incredible.

[Isaac M]

@TheDukeAnumber1 has rigged up a solar panel to an air pump for his outdoor pond before. Maybe he can provide some insight? 

There are people that run aquariums without any sort of filtration that requires electricity. They simply let nature do the work. However, I like the safety that having at least an airstone offers. 

The only other option I can think of as of right now is to use some sort of rechargeable battery pack that you can keep switching out to power an air pump. 

[Max G]

Yes I think a air pump would be safer off so that there is air exchange as there is already a build up of scum at the surface

[DaveO]

2 hours ago, Max G said:

I would love to use the USB airpump however I live in the UK so sadly I can't order it... 

Plants look really nice! Is that unubias flowering? 

I have seen the USB air pump on Amazon. They ship to the UK. 

[skipper]

Commenting to see other comments... I’m interested in this too. At ~7:30 mark Bob talks about his solar panel briefly. Would love if someone has specific product recommendations. (Edit: recommendations for a solar set up to go with nano air pump)
 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by skipper

[Max G]

3 hours ago, DaveO said:

I have seen the USB air pump on Amazon. They ship to the UK. 

Never knew that I could get those on amazon :-), however I don't think that they are the Co Op ones. I'll probably get one anyways and run it with a power bank. 

[skipper]

Does anyone know how to calculate the amount of time from the mAh of a power bank? I found a watt-hours to milliamp hours conversion on The Google. Output for the nano pump on the outlet plug says 5 volts, per description on the co-op product page for the nano pump watts is 1/3 (assuming that’s per hour?)... according to the conversion calculator that’s 66.6 mAh. So for a 20000 mAh power bank it can run the nano pump for 300 hours? This is not my area of expertise and I have no idea if any of this is correct. But 12 days of pump operation for 1 bank sounds very convenient if it is correct.

[Streetwise]

I ran my tubs outdoors without filters last summer. When I moved them indoors, I added Fluval Plant 3.0 Nanos and medium Co-Op sponge filters. With enough plants, I would feel okay about running them outdoors without filters for this summer.

[TheDukeAnumber1]

Ebay is another place to look for the usb air pumps, hopefully you can get lucky and find one locally.

Mentioned above I took an old 6 volt solar panel from a solar light and spliced the wires from the solar panel directly into the USB air pump wires. It has been running well for a couple weeks now. I have run just a single airstone in my 100gal ponds before but Cory kept saying his is best pond is one with no power at all. So I'm not worried at all about no filter and no air running when there isn't sun. I mostly just want the air running during those hot direct sun days to keep the oxygen high in the worst heat.

[Alexa]

I use this solar air pump with a sponge filter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087QBKVV9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_97Q1CCJQTMABEBHGRRNS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[CT_]

 

 

4 hours ago, skipper said:

Does anyone know how to calculate the amount of time from the mAh of a power bank? I found a watt-hours to milliamp hours conversion on The Google. Output for the nano pump on the outlet plug says 5 volts, per description on the co-op product page for the nano pump watts is 1/3 (assuming that’s per hour?)... according to the conversion calculator that’s 66.6 mAh. So for a 20000 mAh power bank it can run the nano pump for 300 hours? This is not my area of expertise and I have no idea if any of this is correct. But 12 days of pump operation for 1 bank sounds very convenient if it is correct.

That's close to right.  Assuming the rating on the power bank isn't an outright lie, it's probably the battery capacity and not the capacity at the output voltage.  A lipo is ~3.7v and gets boosted to 5v at about 85-95% efficiency so I'd scale that estimate by 3.7/5 * .9=2/3.  so maybe 200h. 

 

An honest power bank  probably has 90-100% rated capacity.  The dishonest ones can overstate 10x or more.

 

One last thing I think the pump is 1/3 watt but it's got a 51ohm resistor in parallel which uses another half watt.  You can see my post about it here

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by CT_

[kammaroon]

I've bought USB nano air pump clones from ebay.co.uk. Make sure the air pumps are delivered from local source, otherwise, you may have to wait for weeks.

I've set up a couple of 65L/17US gallons tubs using plants as filtration. It's my first time tubbing and I plan to start introducing fish slowly. Hopefully, all will go well.

[skipper]

@CT_ every time I come here I learn something new. Absolutely love it. I have zero electronics background and found this really interesting and easy to digest. Thanks for the clear explanation! If I do go this route I’m happy with the reassurance that the pump can run on a bank for a week. Add charging the bank to the “water change Wednesday” party I have 😂.

I’m planning on a very small (40-50 gallon) tub so would not feel comfortable with no air. And this is assuming my landlord will let me plop a tub in the garden under the ruse of aquaponics 😂

[DShelton]

You can get a similar air pump from amazon.co.uk, and it looks just like the COOP pump except it is a different color. If it is the same electricals inside, then it uses .33W. You could easily power that with a USB battery (like a battery pack to recharge your phone) and keep a spare battery pack to switch for the used one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Aquarium-Compressor-Efficiency-Oxygenation/dp/B092473PSC/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=usb+air+pump&qid=1622422134&sr=8-10

 

I did some math a math in another thread for someone that was going to use one the COOPs USB pumps to run a sponge filter in an office building that was having a power outage over the weekend. Even a small USB battery should be able to run that pump for considerable amount of time. The thread is here: