Aquarium filter

Claim 1

In association with an open-topped aquarium tank containing a volume of water having a water level varying with the value of the volume, an aquarium filtration assembly for the continuous removal of the tank water from below the top surface of the tank water and the filtration and aeration thereof before the return thereof to the tank and comprising, a filter housing including interconnected opposite front and rear walls and opposite end walls and a bottom wall defining an open-topped container, hanger means for removably hanging the filter housing from the open top of the tank and in coplanar relationship with one of the aquarium tank walls by means of a U-shaped hanger clip having a first leg extendable into the tank interior and a second leg extendable into the filter housing interior and bolting threadedly engageable with the first leg for bringing the wall of the tank and confronting wall of the housing into a tightenable clamped position relative to each other, the filter housing being compartmented vertically into an uppermost relatively small pre-filter compartment and a lowermost relatively small drainage compartment and an intermediate relatively large filter compartment therebetween, a removable open-topped splash box having an apertured bottom wall and being nestably receivable within and spaced from the bottom wall of the prefilter compartment, a siphon having a relatively long arm extendable into the tank and below the water level thereof and a relatively short arm extendable into the splash box in the prefilter compartment for the siphoning of tank water into the splash box, a layer of floss disposed within the splash box for the preliminary filtration of the water charged thereinto prior to the flow thereof through the openings in the bottom wall of the splash box and into the prefilter compartment, an apertured horizontally disposed upper wall separating the prefilter and filter compartments, a charge of biological material loosely suspended within the filter compartment by the filter housing walls, a horizontally disposed lower wall separating the filter and drainage compartments, a return line communicating with the bottom of the filter compartment and extending through the lower wall for running through the drainage compartment and exteriorly thereof for extension to the tank, with the prefiltered water draining from the prefilter compartment through the apertures in the upper wall and into the filter compartment for filtration through the biological material therein and entry into the return line, a motor connected to the return line for forcing the filtered water in its return to the tank.