diatom filters? anyone have expeience?

[dorian965]

i was wondering if these things are of any use in a saltwater tank. i have a algae problem and thought it may help to control the spread of it. the ad says it can remove ich from the water so i figured shurly it can remove algae spores. dorian

 

[AquaReefer]

I have used 1 to clear up my cloudy water, as for algae im not sure, but it could. What kind of aglae is it. Have you check your phosphates? If so what are they at.

 

[dorian965]

yea, im fighting nitrate and phosphate now. just looking into other options also.

cool rabits , by the way. any pics?

 

[Konrade]

Yes, they are made for short term use too clean up algae blooms and are only used for short periods of time.

 

[seaham358]

What kind of algae? I have a diatom filter and it is only used for free floating algaes. They are great for cleaning water and the ich will get caught in the filter but it will only remove free swimming ich not ich on fish or in the LR of Sand.
It will not help with nitrate and phosphate removal.
What type of water are you using? If you don't have free floating algae or cloudy water from free floating particles then a diatom is not needed.
the XL diatom is made for long term use but would be a PIA to clean monthly. I used one when my tank crashed and it cleaned the water up in no time saving my tank, so I have one on hand for piece of mind.

 

[Konrade]

I am not sure, I just read that they were used for algae blooms some where.

 

[dorian965]

i have hair algae but its tough to remove the rock to scrub it clean so i thought i could use the distom filter and scrub the rock where it sits.

im using ro water from wal mart but it has some phos. present and im waiting on christmas for an ro/di unit :moneys a little tight with the kids and christmas comming:

my nitrates just dont want to come down. ive been doing 25-30% water changes per week for 2 months and they are sloooooooooowly coming down.i did a good 50 % last week and ill be doing another 30 tommorow.im running phosgard and that seems to be working a little.

 

[seaham358]

Save your money on the diatom filter and get the ro/di unit. When scrubbing the LR just syphon off the loose HA. Did you test the walmart water for nitrates?

 

[dorian965]

yes. no nitrates but slite pho4. sorry i didnt get back sooner

 

[seaham358]

If you have phosphate then thats part of the algae problem. Time to look into a ro/di unit if the walmart water has po4. If you have any detectable po4 then thats enough to grow algae. You got to figure thats whats left over that the algae can't consume.

 

[dorian965]

thanks. ro/di should be here for christmas! i think that should take care of the rest of my problems.it would be nice just sit back and enloy the tank for a few days without having my hands in it.