# Diatom Filter



## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

anyone have experience with these?

My wife is being given one by a friend at her company who has been doing this for 30 years and he suggested using one to clear up our water. We have alot of brown particles in our water and it appears to be due to the drift wood in our tank. The drift wood is only about 2 months old. My filter socks go from white to brown in about 4 to 5 days and if you look at the tank from the side it has a brown hue to it. The water parameters are all in line and i do 30 to 40 percent water changes every week. He is convinced that this will clear the water up pretty quickly and i should run it after my water changes for a couple of hours.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

They are for "polishing" the water and clog pretty quickly. It should do the job.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

It will do the job for small particles ... however if the water is stained (discolored) with tannins it probably won't touch that ... you'll need chemical filtration rather than mechanical.

I use a similar setup - an old Marineland Magnum 200 with a their Micron Filter cartridge and diatomaceous earth to clean small particles out of the water. It filters so well that after 2 or 3 days the flow thru the filter is probably reduced by 50% ... a week is about all I can get out of it before the output becomes almost non-existant.

I just finished making up a filter sleeve for the Micron Cartridge yesterday out of a piece of Poly-Fil sheet, but have yet to to try it to see if that will allow a longer run time before it has to be cleaned.


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

I don't think its tannins as you can see the brown particles on my return nozzles and on my plants. Over time you can see it sitting the in bottom of the sump as well.


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Have not heard of them being used for a little bit. But they are great at what they do. A very valuable piece of equipment to have.


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## smitty814 (Sep 27, 2012)

Diatom filters are nice. You can not run them constantly and need to be used as part of a maintenance routine.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Is your overflow for your sump internal or hob? I run the $3 poly fill from Walmart (fabric department) in my sump and I can tell a huge difference with it polishing the water and with it not in.

Three dollars is a lot more expensive than free but it may be worth a try running that in your overflow and it'll help polish your water prior to the sump. I'd also run it on the discharge side as well just to have that added polishing capability.


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

Somebody,

I borrowed a friends diatom filter and ran it almost all weekend long. It works great at getting alot of the very fine particles out of the water and you could see it in the jar. Unfortunately as clean as the water is, it is still a bit brown when you look at it. It is not the water from the tap but the water in the tank itself. I am sure its the poop as it is everywhere even after a thorough vacuuming. I swear an hour later the fish have pooped everywhere. The other issue is my driftwood; i am sure some tannin are in the water from that. I am going to add some carbon to the sump as i am not running any right now. I may try some Chemi Pure Blue if i can find any but we will see if the LFS has any otherwise i will order some.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Out of curiosity what type of driftwood is in your tank?
What are your params?


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

Not sure where the wood is from. I got one about 9 months ago when i started with my 55 then we got two more when we upgraded to a 180g from a different fish store. The water is fine, i am just being picky thats all. My fish are happy and eating just fine.

As for my parameters they are fine.

PH 7.6
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrites 0.0
Nitrates under 5ppm


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Driftwood will release tannins and humic acids into the water. This will give the water a yellow/brown tint. This will not be filtered out by a diatom filter. However if you use fresh activated carbon or an ion exchange resin like Kent Organic Adsorption Resin or Purigen from Seachem it will absorb the color from the water. Resins are more expensive initially but are more economical in the long run as they can be regenerated and used multiple times. Activated carbon is a single use and should be discarded after about 3-4 weeks and replaced.

Driftwood is also consumed by many fish (particularly loricariids (plecos)). The wood is indigestible and comes out as pleco poop. Pleco poop will fill up a tank with brown particles eventually. This you can filter out with a diatom filter.

I use an old Tetra Diatomagic filter on my tanks periodically for polishing out fine particles. Particularly after a tank cleaning and water change.

Andy


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

Narwhal72 said:


> Driftwood will release tannins and humic acids into the water. This will give the water a yellow/brown tint. This will not be filtered out by a diatom filter. However if you use fresh activated carbon or an ion exchange resin like Kent Organic Adsorption Resin or Purigen from Seachem it will absorb the color from the water. Resins are more expensive initially but are more economical in the long run as they can be regenerated and used multiple times. Activated carbon is a single use and should be discarded after about 3-4 weeks and replaced.
> 
> Driftwood is also consumed by many fish (particularly loricariids (plecos)). The wood is indigestible and comes out as pleco poop. Pleco poop will fill up a tank with brown particles eventually. This you can filter out with a diatom filter.
> 
> ...


Andy I have two plecos so that explains most of the color. Between their poop and the driftwood it's turning slight brown, it did this in the 55 but with the 180 I want to make it pop. I put activated carbon in my drip tray of my sump so we will let that run for a bit. I heard great reviews about chemi pure blue so depending how this works I may switch, I will say this my filter socks turn brown in like four days, over all th tank is beautiful.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Chemipure is a blend of activated carbon and non-regenerable ion exchange resin. While it is very good at pulling color from the water you need to think of it more as a sprinter than a marathon runner.

The driftwood is going to be leaching tannins for a long time (months if not years). If you combat it by using a sprinter you are going to need a lot of expensive sprinters over the long run until the water stays clear for an extended period.

If you go with a cheap carbon (even cheap carbons will still pull out a large amount of tannins) or an ion exchange resin that can be regenerated you will use less expensive sprinters (in the case of carbon) or fewer marathoners (in the case of the resin).

All depends on how deep your pockets are.

Andy


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

Andy you are right. I looked at the prices of Chemi Pure Blue and it would be expensive for a 180g tank over the long term.

I am using just off the shelf activated carbon from the LFS and will let it run for a bit. If it gets it clear great. If not i won't worry about ti as the fish are happy.


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

Narwhal72 said:


> Driftwood will release tannins and humic acids into the water. This will give the water a yellow/brown tint.


Sometimes for years. It actually looks good in an Amazon tank....and when you can't see the fish it's a reminder to change the water


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

The tint will go away in a couple months and probably won't be noticeable after a few weeks of water changes.


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## euphr (Aug 9, 2015)

It has gone down. I have done some large water changes the past month or so and i have noticed that the yellowing is going down. Plus i have used the diatom filter when doing water changes.


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