Green Water gone in 30 minutes!

[7Enigma]

So I've had this mild/moderate GW problem since I recently did a huge renovation thanks to plants from GlitcH. I pretty much threw out 1/2 of my plants (mainly stargrass), uprooted and moved my huge anubias (which had grown 6" long white roots deep into my PFS substrate), removed 2 pots, planted a bunch of plants (including glosso which required me to basically turn over 1/2 the substrate trying to get and keep the plantlets buried), and finally scraped the glass walls clean of algae. Because of all that, even though my ferts and PWC's are in line, I just couldn't kick the stuff. I refuse to do blackouts since I got spoiled with my last diatom filter, and I will probably never do one again....

So yesterday I received my diatom replacement after breaking my last one during cleaning (dropped it on the concrete). So I decided after looking at the 2 models by Vortex to upgrade (extra $20), and get the XL model. Took longer to install than the prevous non-XL model, and I thought it would be much worse to use (instead of a screw on top there are 5 hand screws that hold the top down). Turns out I like it better...

Let me just tell you, spend the extra money. The construction is fantastically better, the tubing is thicker, and its capacity is much larger. Best thing? The motor is essentially the same as the non-XL model so even if you have a small tank it won't destroy everything. I used it on my primary 20gallon tank, then after all the pictures I did my 10gallon snail farm that had TONS of snail poop. If you've never seen a bunch of snails, they make this small poop that looks like tiny worms. It's a serious PITA to clean up because it easily gets into the substrate and just looks disgusting. The GW was gone in about 25 min on the main tank, I then spent another hour shooting the output around the tank and getting up detritus and corralling it into the input. Never ONCE did the hose kink during all of this moving around. With the old non-XL model I was constantly un-kinking the hose.

Without further a-do, here are the shots! I apologize in advance for not using a tripod for the shots...

Before the diatom:

During the diatom (near the end, but you can see the input and output lines in the water):

After the diatom filter:

The diatom filter itself after the first run to rid the tank of a mild case of GW and detritus:

I'm telling you guys, it is one of the coolest toys around for our tanks and can give that polished look that picture contests display! Got mine from PetSmart for ~$95 after taxes. The non-XL model is $70 before tax, but again after owning both I can tell you the XL is the way to go. If anyone has any questions or wants other pictures of the equipment/method, feel free to ask.

 

[Woody83]

Crystal clear, congrats.

Now my newbie question. What is this device? What does it hook up to?

 

[joannde]

WOW - is that gorgeous ! Its tanks like this that give me inspiration to keep on trying.
Its off topic, but what is your substrate ? is that Eco with PFS on top ?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yes, diatom filters are worth their weight in gold. Great pics.......

And I use the XL model myself, it's the best I've used, and like you said, the hoses never kink.

 

[fynnie]

Beautiful resuslt, but being the newbie I have absolutely no idea what a diatom filter does. Can you explain how they work any one?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

They are a mechanical filter that removes all particles down to 1 micron in size. Basically, just about everything. Another thing it removes, because it is larger than 1 micron, is parasites like ick and several others.

 

[fynnie]

Oh Ok, Would it be run full time like a HOB? Or is it more of a maintenance filter? You know once a week and boom you're good to go?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Most are only made to be run a few minutes to a couple hours. I have the XL and usually let it run 3-4 hours. It will do the majority of the work in the first 15-20 minutes, and the rest is insurance. If you let it too long, it will heat up and possibly overheat. It's not a filter to run permanently, it's a maintenance filter. But there are a couple diatoms out there that are made to run all the time. But the XL isn't. But the XL is one of the best, IMO.

 

[7Enigma]

Crystal clear, congrats.

Now my newbie question. What is this device? What does it hook up to?

Other's explained this earlier in the post so I won't rehash, but you basically just plug it in and its a closed circuit. Water gets sucked from the intake into the diatom (which is kept below tank level to keep a syphon going), gets filtered in the diatom housing, and then spit back into the tank. Basically its just a big HOB that filters small stuff that other filters miss.

OW - is that gorgeous ! Its tanks like this that give me inspiration to keep on trying.
Its off topic, but what is your substrate ? is that Eco with PFS on top ?

It's all PFS. I've found after taking many pictures that the best shots come from the room being dark, the tank lights on, and using no flash for the photo. You then get that really nice framing of the shot without all the fake lighting and loss of shadows that a flash will cause. One of the other things this causes is for you to only see things that are lit up by the tank lights. Because PFS is rather porous it allows a small amount of light to penetrate the surface of the sand, but thats about it. You end up with the top 1/2" or so looking like sand, and the rest a much darker shade. Only thing difficult about these shots is the need to use a tripod for a steady shot. Since there is no flash I use a 1/15th second shutter speed on my digital camera. That sounds pretty fast, but even in the pictures I was posting I had my arm resting on a chair and a vacuum cleaner to try to steady the shot. There's about 5 other pictures I didn't post that are all blurry.

Obviously during the day you can tell its all PFS, but at night it gives you that nice 2-tone color.

Thanks for all the complements everyone!

 

[lilcutie1038]

about the diatom filter, does anyone ever have a problem of dirty water going back into their tank when you first restart it after its been sitting. i've tried plugging off the outtake hose for a long time and the water never comes out clean. i always have to let dirty water back in the tank n let it suck it back up later. does this mean i need to backflush and recharge? am i doing something wrong?

 

[7Enigma]

about the diatom filter, does anyone ever have a problem of dirty water going back into their tank when you first restart it after its been sitting. i've tried plugging off the outtake hose for a long time and the water never comes out clean. i always have to let dirty water back in the tank n let it suck it back up later. does this mean i need to backflush and recharge? am i doing something wrong?

I've found that the pinching off the output hose doesn't really bind up all the crud and powder like they say. What I would recommend is to get a small bucket and fill it with water. Something like a gallon or 2. Then start up the diatom with the tubes in the bucket while pinching off the output for a minute or two. After that let it go and it will cloud and foul up the bucket for a couple minutes but should clear up really quickly. Then transfer the tubes to the tank.

That way you shouldn't have any problems with reintroducing junk into the tank.

 

[lilcutie1038]

Thanks, i had been pretty much resorting to that but i wasnt sure if it was supposed to happen since they tell you it should be clear just by pinching off the hose for a few minutes

 

[Lonewolfblue]

about the diatom filter, does anyone ever have a problem of dirty water going back into their tank when you first restart it after its been sitting. i've tried plugging off the outtake hose for a long time and the water never comes out clean. i always have to let dirty water back in the tank n let it suck it back up later. does this mean i need to backflush and recharge? am i doing something wrong?

I've found that the pinching off the output hose doesn't really bind up all the crud and powder like they say. What I would recommend is to get a small bucket and fill it with water. Something like a gallon or 2. Then start up the diatom with the tubes in the bucket while pinching off the output for a minute or two. After that let it go and it will cloud and foul up the bucket for a couple minutes but should clear up really quickly. Then transfer the tubes to the tank.

That way you shouldn't have any problems with reintroducing junk into the tank.

That's how I do it. I use a 1/2G Koolaid container, submerge it in the tank, and place the tubes in the container. Then I close off the tube and turn the diatom filter on, with the top of the container above the waters surface. Let it run a couple minutes, then open the tube, run it til the water clears, then re-submerge the container in the tank and remove the tubes underwater. Don't remove the tubes out of the water as the diatom filter will lose siphon, and you'll have to redo the siphon. The tubes should always remain under the water's surface.