Dust, What's Up With That

[talenzmeier]

Greetings Fellow Aquarists,

My plant tank is doing quite well. However, I have an equipment question. I've got a Magnum 350 that I've been using to polish the water. It certainly works well, but the micron filter gets full quite quickly and my water flow drops to a trickle. Now most of the "debris" seems to be in the form of "dust" that settles on my plants. I stick my hand in there and stir the pot and the debris is now stirring about in the water. Is there something out there that can keep my water polished without it costing an arm and a leg? My regular bio-filter is a Fluval 304 and I've got a decent powerhead running as well.

Thanks.

 

[snapcrackler]

Do you keep a spare micron cart or two around? When mine get full I just throw them in a bleach solution overnite, rinse and dry and it is good to go again. In the meantime just throw one of the clean dry ones back in the mag and you're up and filtering again in a few minutes.

Also you could try starting each run with a charge of diatom powder with your micron cartridge.

Also I have found that the mag350 charcoal basket with filter sleeve really keps the water sparkling. It holds a lot of fricken charcoal.

ummmmmmm.. also maybe try a big wad of floss rubberbanded to your pickup tube to hlp prefilter the big chunks so your micron doesnt get plugged as fast. It works for me.

HTH

 

[talenzmeier]

Diatom Powder?

A charge of diatom powder? Please elaborate. Also, when you say floss, what are you referring to? I can't imagine you're thinking of someting akin to dental floss?

 

[snapcrackler]

You can use diatomaceous earth powder to do a very fine water polish with your mag micron filter. Diatoms are little fossils of miniscule organisms and the white powder looks like .... flour.

Anyway you just put a cup or so of the stuff in a bucket and run your intake/exhaust of the mag in the bucket until all of the diatom dust is sucked up against the filter. Then shut off and quickly put intake and exhaust back in the tank before the dust slags off of the filter.

You have never seen ultra clear water until you have seen diatom polished water.

As far as floss I am talking about bulk filter media, like this (in fact this is exactly what I use, it is cheap and works very nicely) I bought mine on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2365336645&category=20758

it's a mega roll!!!! man I will be using this roll for years... 8O LOL

 

[talenzmeier]

More Diatom Questions

When you say add the diatom powder, which I bought this evening, do you mean to have it sucked up through the intake dry? Is the micron filter dry too? Although, I would imagine it would have to be at least damp in order for the powder to adhere to anything.

 

[betowess]

Check out the old sticky on a green water cure. I think CC did it and it goes into quite a bit of detail on using a magnum 350 with the diotom powder. You should be able to find it, or ask some of the advisors where to look. It was up as a sticky for at least a couple of months in this forum. HTH

 

[snapcrackler]

Here it is

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=13431&highlight=green+water+cure

Thanks betowess... that is a nice thread with pics.

I mix the stuff in a container and suck up, but dumping in the cannister as shown in the article would work great too. 8)

 

[talenzmeier]

Diamtom Powder Everywhere

Ok, so I follow the directions. I fill my Magnum canister with the powder and dissolve it in the water. I have my bucket in the tank and ready to go. I turn the canister filter on and out comes the white cloud. It's as though a fog has settled in. Although as I type I can see the fog starting to lift. Is this typical or did I screw the pooch somehow? Thanks.

 

[snapcrackler]

Hehe.. that's the dust that made it past and blew into the tank. Keep running it and it will go crystal clear.

That's why I do it in a bucket first until the bucket water is crystal clear.

Dont feel bad I have been diatoming since the days of the early Vortex Diatom filters, and have had more than my share of white dust cloud explosions.

You will get the hang of it... just remember that the diatom dust clinging to the filter media provides the filtration.

Diatom fossils are just little teeny filters in themselves.

HTH

Erik