Diy de filter

[Fierro Nights]

Has anyone made a de filter w/out spending over a hundred bucks? i have an 800 gph pump and wanted to use it for a filter.

anyone find a way to do this? ive used alot of DE when cleaning pool filters, they work great at making a pool look literally polished crystal clear.

i was thinking of a using a fine micron filter ( similar to a magnum ) and placing DE in the filter, however im not sure if that filter will even hold the DE, it may just disperse the DE in my tank which iv seen how it can render pools un-swimmable for a long while.

[cmor1701d]

My question is why would you want to use one in a sw aquarium?
They clog quickly and remove way too much from the water column.

[Fierro Nights]

i want to use it to clean water quickly.

[ccCapt]

What's the de material made from? I would be leery of stuff leeching into the sw.

nevermind...I found this from Wikipedia.
The typical chemical composition of diatomaceous earth is 86% silica, 5% sodium, 3% magnesium and 2% iron.

[cmor1701d]

That's it. I used it in FW years ago. A couple of hours in the Magnum and the water would be crystal clear. Need to be very careful handling it though (dust mask is mandatory). I have not heard of using it in SW though. I would think that it would remove too much from the water column.

[Fierro Nights]

nah, i dont think water can be too clean, i never used a mask, but then again i always used it outdoors but the stuff has gotten in my eyes before which feels very dry and rough.

so the magnum, did you simply place in in the filter to coat it or did you place anything else in there?

[ccCapt]

I would be extremely leery of the silica being soluable in sw since it is so fine.

[CaptainAhab]

You could opt to run a diatom filter once in awhile to polish it up instead also

[Fierro Nights]

thats exactly what i plan to use it as, during water changes, i try to keep my sand bleach white so i clean my sand alot and when i stur up the water alot of small particles float around.

also, i put a small chunk of that food that lasts for a week, is a slow disolving tap, i was hoping that would help out my corals filter feed will this work or just dirty my water? my shrimp and crab pick at it once in a while.

[Fierro Nights]

and the silica should not disolve, i was at a new pool location where they have installed a salt water pool witha DE filter, algae untreated can take over a pool in less then two days, DE makes the water milky in color if it ever gets in the pool, ive only seen this happen when i spill some directly into the pool but not comming from the filter unless it rips, other then that, de in pool filters dont get replaced very offen, but dont leach or disolve in the water.

[cmor1701d]

There was a filter cartdridge for the DE. This was like 10 years ago and it was a magnum 350 if I recall correctly. If you are only using if for a half hour so, only when doing a pwc I can see a benefit. It sounds like you have used DE before. It can be very tricky and I strongly suggest the use of a dust mask when working with it. I read that some pest control companies use for cockroach control. The DE is so fine that it gets into their joints where it then wears it away. Slow sandblasting, so to speak. Not the type of stuff you want to get in your lungs.

I would not use one of those chunk food items in a tank. IMO they just make a mess as they dissolve.

[Fierro Nights]

doesnt seem to make too much of a mess, i just wanted to feed my corals, w/out having my hand in the tank a half hour morning and night trying to spot feed every polyp and every xenia polyp.

how does marine snow work out? have you used this?

and that dragonet you have as your avitor, do you have one? i wanted one but i dont have live food to feed it, i heard they are difficult to have.

[Innovator]

We use DE filters at our facility on a regular basis, more regularly than I care too to be quite honest. They are completely safe and do not leach anything into the water nor do I think they disrupt the nutrient levels by any means, but then again I heavily feed and with x2/month water changes...I would not run this type of filter 24/7 and instead opt to act as a polisher for specific functions: water clarity after water changes, overfeeding, medications, chemicals, excessive coral mucus, fish deaths. On a personal note, I find them to be a pain in my arse unless there is an emergency.

[cmor1701d]

Originally Posted by Innovator

On a personal note, I find them to be a pain in my arse unless there is an emergency.

That's probably what I remember most about using one. Of course that was more than 10 years ago.

The mandarin in my avatar has been in my 125 for about 2½ years. My sump is crawling with pods as is my pod pile in the tank. I only see the mandarin 2 -3 times a week. It works it's way through the rocks and only occasionaly comes out front. It also seems to be quite camera shy.

Not sure how a fish food block is going to feed corals. My da*m xenia gets all it needs from my feeding the tank, as do almost every other coral I have. Other than a sun coral, there are not that many that need to be spot fed that are normally on the market for our tanks.
What do you have that requires spot feeding twice a day?

[Fierro Nights]

no i was feeding my polyps shrimp, they have grown in size since then they are fatter and longer.

well since the block dissolves i was hoping the corals would absorb some of it.

[Innovator]

You were/are using a feeding block? What kind of block are you using? Corals will not just absorb nutrients from any source and those uncharacteristic food items may be discarded before absorption. In general, corals are a mixture of autotrophic and hetertrophic and should be fed appropriate food; otherwsie, you may just be fouling your water. Tell us what corals you have and we can advise further

[Fierro Nights]

i have pulsing xenia, cabbage leather and yellow polyps. all have been fragged successfully except the xenia, im waiting for it to stick to the shell, i have it inside a stainless steel dish filled w/ sand, i pressed a shell into it upside down, placed the xenia clipping in it then push a mesh over it, then removed air bubbles.

it keeps turning upside down.

as far as the food, i can not find the package, it was orange w/ 4 shell conch shell shaped tables for feeding fish over the weekend, i put in a chip off of one of the shells. i got it from walmart when i first got a 1 gallon tank for my first fresh water fish.

[roka64]

Stainless steel doesn't mean it won't rust....

[cmor1701d]

That block is meant for FW fish. I doubt the corals will get anything from it. Xenia, leathers and most polyps get what they need from the water column and light (leathers). Yellow polyps, unless it is a sun coral, also does not any special food.

[Fierro Nights]

my polyps seem to be alot larger since ive been placing brine shrimp in their mouths, there alot fatter and the flower part is huge now.