Diatom Filter

[Lonewolfblue]

Question....

How often does the filter need to be cleaned out and recharged? I cleaned it out once and recharged it just to do it after the first couple uses, but it still had excellent flow. I also noticed that when I start it up on the 2nd and 3rd time, I get kind of a bad smell. It's kind of like rotten eggs. Is this normal?I always start it up in a bucket of water with the hose crimped for 2 minutes, as per instructions, then release the crimper and let it sit til the water in the bucket is clear. Then I remove the hoses from the bucket while in the tank so I don't get air in the intake.

 

[QTOFFER]

Since I only run mine once a month, I toss the diatom powder each time. If I ran it more frequently, I would let the powder settle, decant off as much water as possible, and dump it onto some paper towels to dry thoroughly. If you store the damp powder in the filter, it will definitely develop a stench. This would not affect the filter or be bad for the fish, but it would sure offend my nose!

 

[current516]

I get that smell too. I assume it's just the algae and crud from previous cleanings.

Not sure. But I just clean mine when it's real dirty, starts to cake, slows down flow, etc.

 

[tropicfishman]

since diatom fitlers clog very easily, its a good idea to replace the bag and media after no more than 2 uses, change it everytime after really dirty cleanings that way youdon't damage anything expensive or blow a bunch of crud back into the tank

 

[newfound77951]

I backwash all the DE and accumulated crud out every time I use mine, and if I'm not planning on using it again in the next day or two I take the bag out of the canister so that it can dry and consequently not smell.

My tank is currently very clear, so I haven't used the diatom filter in a couple of weeks, but when I was it would get pretty green pretty quickly, and I didn't want all that stuff to rot in there, which is why as soon as I was done using the filter I take it right to the sink, put the "out" hose into the faucet and use the water to backwash everything out. Shake it around a few times (upside down, too) and it'll be nice and clean in less than 5 minutes, and all the mess goes neatly down the drain.

This is basically the same procedure that you'd use to clean a DE pool filter....which is where I got the idea.