Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've never used a diatom filter before. How do you set it up? where do you put the fine powder? And how often should it be changed out?
Diatom filter
- Thread starter Lonewolfblue
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
toddnbecka
Aquarium Advice Addict
What model is it? I used to have a Vortex diatom filter, the diatom powder went in the canister, on the outside of the filter bag. Worked like any canister filter, intake/outflow hoses, etc. Not sure how often it needs changing, it filters incredibly small particles, as well as anything larger. Not necessary to run all the time, mainly for polishing cloudy water. They will filter out Ich.
tropicfishman
Aquarium Advice Addict
from what I know its setup like this, you have a bottle that hangs in the tank and fills with water, you put your intake and output hoses bothi n this bottle and turn the machine on for am inutes so it can prime itself, then once its primed you put the hoses in the actual tank itself abd let it do its job. the powder needs to be replaced after every use according to the manufactors specs. now you can go a couple times without changing but it can clog up and the water quality won't be as good. its not as bad as it sounds considering the filter would really only need to be ran but once or twice a month
OP
OP
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
I was looking at the vortex....
Main purpose is getting rid of green water. I don't have it bad, but would like to remove it with the filter while I get my parameters straightened out. Then maybe run it once a month for polishing.
Main purpose is getting rid of green water. I don't have it bad, but would like to remove it with the filter while I get my parameters straightened out. Then maybe run it once a month for polishing.
kaz
Aquarium Advice Addict
this is exaclty my problem I do not have perfect clear water, it is a bit towards green, this type of filter will do the job? or a UV from what I heard.
OP
OP
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
A diatom filter should clear the water, but unless you fix what's causing the problem, even with a UV filter, it will just come back. I'm currently working on trying to fix my algae problem, and will just use it to clear up the water as needed, instead of doing PWC's every other day. A UV filter will kill off the algae, but will still have a buildup of dead algae in the water. But with a diatom filter, you take the algae out of the water.
kaz
Aquarium Advice Addict
interesting? would it be recommended to have a diatom and a uv for parasites?
OP
OP
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think UV is a waste of money, as diatom filters also remove parasites like ick, etc. As long as it's free-floating.
newfound77951
Aquarium Advice Addict
There was another thread recently about diatom filters, and someone had put in a link to a fantastic photo essay they did about setting one up. The thread is currently at the bottom of the General Discussion forum...check it out if you haven't found it already!
TwoHobbies
Aquarium Advice Freak
The thread was started by Darb21, and its very good.
QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
How to setup and run a Vortex diatom filter...check out my webshots album:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=66071&highlight=
You can either mix the diatom powder with water in the filter's bottle, or you can run the filter with the intake and output tubes in a bucket (small enough to be lowered and raised out of your aquarium) and add the powder to the water in the bucket. Personally, I prefer the use of the bucket because it makes it easy for me to go from tank to tank without having to turn the filter off.
I usually ditch the powder after each use as I backflush the filter in my bathtub. You can re-use the powder if you give the filter a good shake, allow the powder to settle, and decant off the water. If you're just polishing water, reusing the powder might save some money; otherwise, I'd be concerned about odors.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=66071&highlight=
You can either mix the diatom powder with water in the filter's bottle, or you can run the filter with the intake and output tubes in a bucket (small enough to be lowered and raised out of your aquarium) and add the powder to the water in the bucket. Personally, I prefer the use of the bucket because it makes it easy for me to go from tank to tank without having to turn the filter off.
I usually ditch the powder after each use as I backflush the filter in my bathtub. You can re-use the powder if you give the filter a good shake, allow the powder to settle, and decant off the water. If you're just polishing water, reusing the powder might save some money; otherwise, I'd be concerned about odors.
kaz
Aquarium Advice Addict
what about this filter any good? it says it is made to run full time
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22061&category_id=1713&pcid1=2885
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22061&category_id=1713&pcid1=2885
Thats what I ended up with, the Vortex D-1. My recent thread on it which has been mentioned here can be found at this link:Lonewolfblue said:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=77630
Only thing I will say negative is that the documentation is terrible. Heh, the box even says "All New 13 Page Color Insructions!" but of course there were none to be found in the box. I used a combo of the online manual (which isnt that good either, but gets the general idea across) and QTOFFER's Webshots photo essay (he posted link above, thks again man!) to get mine working. Not complicated and once running it worked great.
Correct. The Diatom Filter will clear the water, but you've also got to correct the cause. What worked for me(I *THINK*) is that I began turning off my lighting system from 1 - 3 PM (nobody is home anyway, plants still get enough light). Since then I haven't had even a hint of greenwater.Lonewolfblue said:
Getting ready to run the Diatom Filter again, maybe tonight. Water is turning "ice tea" color again because of new driftwood. The diatom filter will take the tannins out of the water in no time.
Can you guys tell that I am a big proponent of the Diatom Filters?
newfound77951
Aquarium Advice Addict
Well, I am slowly getting the hang of running my diatom filter...first time I think I flushed out most of the powder so it clogged up quick. Second time I got the powder in but had trouble getting air bubbles out so the flow rate was lousy. Third time (running as I type) flow rate is much better, went much faster. I still don't see any improvement yet but I have washed a lot of green gunk down the drain so hopefully soon....I might have had the GREENEST tank anyone has ever seen...I forgot to bring my camera home tonight for proof, but the fact that I am on my third load of filter powder should tell you something! I'll keep you updated.
Any tricks for getting the filter to clear the air bubbles faster? I have a Vortex D1...I have to keep turning it upside down and back, turning it on and off to clear all the air.
WOW.....just checked the filter....looks like I'm getting about 10 minutes of good flow rate before it clogs. If that. That is impressively green water....off to backwash again!
Any tricks for getting the filter to clear the air bubbles faster? I have a Vortex D1...I have to keep turning it upside down and back, turning it on and off to clear all the air.
WOW.....just checked the filter....looks like I'm getting about 10 minutes of good flow rate before it clogs. If that. That is impressively green water....off to backwash again!
OP
OP
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
Has anyone tried the Vortex Freedom?
Hi Newfound-newfound77951 said:
I'd guess that either 1 of 2 things is happening here... You arent getting ALL of the air out of it at the priming stage, or much more likely (from your report) that its just getting mega cloged really quick which is creating a bigger vacum and allowing more air to be built up. Keep backwashing it and see how clear you can make it. I assume you have more than just the initial charge of powder? I'd guess that as the tank gets clearer you wont have the air buildup issue as much if at all...
newfound77951
Aquarium Advice Addict
Thanks Darb21....I figured out how to get the air out, it just took some trial and error and now I have a pretty quick system. I'd better have it down by now as I changed the DE 10 TIMES tonight! It's on the last one for the night now, I've been at this for 6 hours. I was lucky to have a 5 pound bag of DE hanging around at work. My 1 freebie charge that came with the filter didn't even make a dent.
It looks pretty bad in there; I haven't seen some of these plants in a month, tomorrow I'm going to try and clean up the carnage and get things looking better. Although some of the plants have grown like crazy! Why I didn't get a diatom filter WEEKS ago I have no idea. I think anyone with a planted tank who is messing with light and nutrients should have fast access to one of these so that things don't get out of control!
It looks pretty bad in there; I haven't seen some of these plants in a month, tomorrow I'm going to try and clean up the carnage and get things looking better. Although some of the plants have grown like crazy! Why I didn't get a diatom filter WEEKS ago I have no idea. I think anyone with a planted tank who is messing with light and nutrients should have fast access to one of these so that things don't get out of control!
OMG thats hilarious! Hahaha... Man I wish you would have gotten a picture of it. Sounds like you could have cut it with a knife!!!! Hahhaha. Anyway, glad to hear its working and that you're as satisfied with yours as I am with mine. I've got the day off tomorrow, so I'm going to see if I can find a way to retrofit a gravel vac to the intake without too much trouble. I think the diameters of the hoses are off, so that may be an issue, but Home Depot or somewhere should have an adapter or something. I didn't get around to running mine again tonight so thats on the agenda for tomorrow as well. Will update, hopefully with pics tomorrow.newfound77951 said:
newfound
The diatom powder you had laying around work was for swimming pools I hope. If it is food grade diatom powder (or for insect control) it is not recommended for filtering. Aquarium and pool diatom powder goes through a heating process to fuse some the diatom skeletons together to make it an appropriate size for filtering. Also your air problems on a d1 vortex filter could come from improper assembly. Where the filter bag shoves into the motor assembly there is a hole that must be proberly lined up to facilitate in bleeding off of trapped air.
The diatom powder you had laying around work was for swimming pools I hope. If it is food grade diatom powder (or for insect control) it is not recommended for filtering. Aquarium and pool diatom powder goes through a heating process to fuse some the diatom skeletons together to make it an appropriate size for filtering. Also your air problems on a d1 vortex filter could come from improper assembly. Where the filter bag shoves into the motor assembly there is a hole that must be proberly lined up to facilitate in bleeding off of trapped air.
newfound77951
Aquarium Advice Addict
No worries, it was filter-safe DE...I did line the holes up correctly (I think!), it's just a matter of getting the knack of the "art" of filter priming!
