James
Feb 24th 2008, 10:21 AM
Many years ago, I used a diatom filter to help with cleaning my tanks. When we decided to have aquariums again, I did a lot of reading before picking out filters mainly for the Oscar tank we would have. I truly am no fan of HOB filters, not that they don’t work, I just dislike the looks of them, so the Oscar tank was supplied with 2 Fluval 305 canisters, one of which flows through an UV light. Upon recommendations from people at Oscarfish.com both filters are loaded with only polyester fiber in the bottom tray and bio media for the rest. Although I am going to upgrade one of these to a 405 as Ted and Alice grow, the two filters keep the tank crystal clear. Now one canister is removed and cleaned, with the polyester fiber replaced every two weeks, and thanks to the two pig’s eating habit, the fiber and foam in them is full of (for use of a nicer word) junk.
So one canister is cleaned, the water changed, gravel is stirred up(not that the Oscar’s don’t do this themselves) filters switched back on. As normal when this is done, the filters dump out the slim built up inside the hose. Now with the moving of the gravel, the junk from the filter hoses ect. It takes about half an hour for the filters to clean the water of everything back to crystal clear.
Now I do water changes every week, (and yes Melody I test the water for everything at least each week LOL) two weeks ago was the water change and one canister cleaned. After I switched back on the filters, they of course dumped the hose slim into the tank, but started clearing the tank. It then hit my little brain, I was not removing the junk from the tank, it was still there, just not seen in the canisters. This of course was being broken down into Ammonia, Nitrite, and finally into Nitrate.
I decided that I wanted to remove all this from the tank, not just clean it with the canister filters. Hence back to the old ways, a Vortex XL Diatom Filter was sent for. Now I am not sure how many here have used Diatom filters, in my opinion, they are not for continue use, but for help mainly in cleaning. The filter is Diatom media, it is better known as diatomaceous earth. To start this type of filter, you first dump in the material and load the filter with water. The next step is in coating the filter bag with the media, this is done two ways, either with a bypass valve which allows the output side to dump back into the filter, or by placing both hoses into a container of aquarium water tell it flows clear. This week, I started the Diatom Filter first thing, then shut down my Fluval’s and started with the water change. I did the 50% water out, pulled the one Fluval out and cleaned it and then as I started refilling, started both Fluval’s for just a minute or two to let the hose slim pump out. Then shut down both of them again, letting the Diatom Filter clean the water. I ran the filter for about half an hour, the water in the tank by then was crystal clear and since the XL filter uses a clear jar, there was no question about all the junk that was taken out. I also hooked a gravel vac to the intake side and did a little more cleaning. How can two Oscar’s make so much junk! What I do know is there was a great deal of junk in the Diatom media when I washed it out, cleaning the filter bag. Now I know my Fluval’s still will need cleaning, but my guess is not quite so often.
Now a warning to anyone who might be considering this type of filter. Diatomaceous earth, what the filter media is made of, is made up of minute planktonic unicellular or colonial algae with silicified skeltons. These little particles are razor sharp and handling this material should be done with great care. One should take great care to not breathe in the fine dust when charging the filter. And just like the use of FD Blood Worms which I feed also with no problems, handling this material can cause problems for some people if you are not careful. Remember it is about 85% silica which can cause lung damage. Handled properly, as with most things, create no problems.
I consider that the prevention of diseases to be much easier than curing it, so the Diatom Filter will be used each week during water change, if nothing else for my peace of mind. I will be using this filter for cleaning all my tanks. In my opinion its worth the extra effort.
So one canister is cleaned, the water changed, gravel is stirred up(not that the Oscar’s don’t do this themselves) filters switched back on. As normal when this is done, the filters dump out the slim built up inside the hose. Now with the moving of the gravel, the junk from the filter hoses ect. It takes about half an hour for the filters to clean the water of everything back to crystal clear.
Now I do water changes every week, (and yes Melody I test the water for everything at least each week LOL) two weeks ago was the water change and one canister cleaned. After I switched back on the filters, they of course dumped the hose slim into the tank, but started clearing the tank. It then hit my little brain, I was not removing the junk from the tank, it was still there, just not seen in the canisters. This of course was being broken down into Ammonia, Nitrite, and finally into Nitrate.
I decided that I wanted to remove all this from the tank, not just clean it with the canister filters. Hence back to the old ways, a Vortex XL Diatom Filter was sent for. Now I am not sure how many here have used Diatom filters, in my opinion, they are not for continue use, but for help mainly in cleaning. The filter is Diatom media, it is better known as diatomaceous earth. To start this type of filter, you first dump in the material and load the filter with water. The next step is in coating the filter bag with the media, this is done two ways, either with a bypass valve which allows the output side to dump back into the filter, or by placing both hoses into a container of aquarium water tell it flows clear. This week, I started the Diatom Filter first thing, then shut down my Fluval’s and started with the water change. I did the 50% water out, pulled the one Fluval out and cleaned it and then as I started refilling, started both Fluval’s for just a minute or two to let the hose slim pump out. Then shut down both of them again, letting the Diatom Filter clean the water. I ran the filter for about half an hour, the water in the tank by then was crystal clear and since the XL filter uses a clear jar, there was no question about all the junk that was taken out. I also hooked a gravel vac to the intake side and did a little more cleaning. How can two Oscar’s make so much junk! What I do know is there was a great deal of junk in the Diatom media when I washed it out, cleaning the filter bag. Now I know my Fluval’s still will need cleaning, but my guess is not quite so often.
Now a warning to anyone who might be considering this type of filter. Diatomaceous earth, what the filter media is made of, is made up of minute planktonic unicellular or colonial algae with silicified skeltons. These little particles are razor sharp and handling this material should be done with great care. One should take great care to not breathe in the fine dust when charging the filter. And just like the use of FD Blood Worms which I feed also with no problems, handling this material can cause problems for some people if you are not careful. Remember it is about 85% silica which can cause lung damage. Handled properly, as with most things, create no problems.
I consider that the prevention of diseases to be much easier than curing it, so the Diatom Filter will be used each week during water change, if nothing else for my peace of mind. I will be using this filter for cleaning all my tanks. In my opinion its worth the extra effort.