 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / November 2005Tank cleaning possibilities
Hi GF fans, I am considering the inevitable needs of tank cleaning, and want to bounce an idea off of you. I have an undergravel system, with about and inch +/- of stone. What I propose to do is buy a D.E. filter, which traps all particles down to 1 micron. Put the fish into a holding bowl with some of the tank water, and an air stone. Remove the air stone and top piece from the undergravel riser tube, and connect the input from the D.E. filter directly to the riser. Use the exhaust jet from the D.E. filter as an agitator to move the stone/sludge around and just let it flow into the bottom intake screen of the undergravel system. This would just produce a loop of water that traps all the debris in the D.E. filter for disposal. I also plan to do a 25% change out at the same time. My main concerns are . . . - Will this introduce too many organics into the water by disolving the waste products to smaller that 1 micron? - Is the Dietimacous Earth (forgive spelling) safe for GF tank chemistry? - Would a less efficient canister filter and powerhead be better suited for this? - Should I use manual agitation, and just let the water circulate through the whole tank? - Would it be better to just use the D.E. Filter as a power vacuum, and leave the bottom basically undisturbed? - What brand/size of D.E. filter would be adequate? - Has anyone ever done this, and what were your results?  SignatureWith all due respect Kevin Bottom and mid posted. - -- You can find my public key at https://keyserver1.pgp.com > Hi GF fans, > I am considering the inevitable needs of tank cleaning, and want to bounce [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > - Will this introduce too many organics into the water by disolving the > waste products to smaller that 1 micron? Your method will not "dissolve" the pollutants to smaller than 1 micron - the diatomaceous earth filter simply will not allow particles larger than 1 micron out through the exhaust of the filter, the larger particles are trapped in the filter to be dumped out/removed later by you. > - Is the Dietimacous Earth (forgive spelling) safe for GF tank chemistry? It should work great - but don't use swimming pool diatomaceous earth, only use diatomaceous earth you are sure is safe for aquariums. > - Would a less efficient canister filter and powerhead be better suited for > this? > - Should I use manual agitation, and just let the water circulate through > the whole tank? Wouldn't work as good, some pollution/particles would remain in significant quantities, but that sure would be much better than nothing. > - Would it be better to just use the D.E. Filter as a power vacuum, and > leave the bottom basically undisturbed? As long as you maintain your maintenance schedule and never significantly neglect it, your d.e. filter connected to riser stems idea is superior. > - What brand/size of D.E. filter would be adequate? I like the idea of the magnum 350 as it won't hurt fry but you might never have to deal with fry, and it sometimes comes with a gravel cleaner which you could use in place of the riser stem connection but to be honest I think you riser stem to d.e. filter seems even better (significantly). To be honest I own and rarely if ever have to use a vortex xl d.e. filter and it is almost as good as the magnum because the magnum is easy to open from the looks of it. The vortex is difficult to open and close for scooping out fry both because of the bottleneck of it's jar and the d.e. bag often comes off when opening, and it is hard to get a perfect seal with the vortex as diatomaceous earth often "grits" the rubber "o" ring that seals the jar to the main body of the vortex. > - Has anyone ever done this, and what were your results? I've never done what you are proposing but I have done similar things that supports your future success with it. By the way - the vortex has an accessory that works as a gravel vacuum as well. Overall I recommend the magnum 350 but still appreciate the vortex xl that I own, it may come in handy some day. I don't use undergravel filters myself but have them in second place as practical biological filters, the first being biowheels. > -- > With all due respect > Kevin Good luck and later! P.s. now that I think about it I realize that an actual gravel vac like the magnum 350 deluxe kit (cheap for a d.e. filter kit) might work better, so if you want to cover all bases get the magnum 350 d.e. canister filter with the gravel vac accessory. That way you should be covered/insured no matter what happens. One last thing - the magnum 350 is technically not a diatomaceous earth filter but it still can filter down to 1 micron with it's micron cartridge. It might clog faster than a vortex xl d.e. filter though. Good luck and later! Bottom posted. - -- You can find my public key at https://keyserver1.pgp.com > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > It might clog faster than a vortex xl d.e. filter though. Good luck and > later! Also - you can by a gravel vac gravity siphon powered gravel cleaner for around $10.00 these days, and they work good but they siphon water out at the same time you are gravel vacing so it probably isn't as efficient in smaller tanks and maybe even in frequent operation compared to a magnum 350 or a vortex xl. I always use one of those gravity powered gravel vacs for frequent water change/vac but might get into a magnum 350 setup sometime soon. Good luck and later! > It should work great - but don't use swimming pool diatomaceous earth, > only > use diatomaceous earth you are sure is safe for aquariums. ======================== The diatomaceous earth used in pools and sold at Home Depot is SAFE for aquarium fish. There's nothing harmful in it and it's a fraction of the price of that sold for aquarium use. SignatureMy Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy ~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o> I'll have to check into the Magnum line. The Vortex is just the first one I've checked out. I do know that DE filters are great from my childhood experience of caring for the family swimming pool. I was told that DE is DE no matter how it's packaged. Is the stuff for pools less refined or treated with other chemicals? SignatureWith all due respect Kevin > I'll have to check into the Magnum line. The Vortex is just the first one > I've checked out. I do know that DE filters are great from my childhood [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > treated > with other chemicals? I just bought a Vortex XL. Seems to do a nice job, but the quality seems a bit iffy. Mine gave off a horrible smell the first time I used it. It seems to be the oil they used on the motor, rather than the windings. I've cleaned up some of the excess oil and the smell seems to have died down a bit. BTW, I sent the company an email about the problem, but they never bothered to reply. This is a major turn off for any product in my book. Thanks for the input Bill. This is exactly why I like to bounce things off of this group before I make the plunge with my money and fish wellbeing. SignatureWith all due respect Kevin > I'll have to check into the Magnum line. The Vortex is just the first one > I've checked out. I do know that DE filters are great from my childhood [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > treated > with other chemicals? ============================ I've been using the one for human pools and my fish are fine! I bought it at Home Depot for a fraction of the price I paid for the last bag in a pet shop. In fact, I don't even see it in the fish stores in those sacks anymore. I'm wondering if they still carry the 10 lb bags. SignatureKoi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995... My Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy ~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o> Bottom posted. - -- You can find my public key at https://keyserver1.pgp.com > I'll have to check into the Magnum line. The Vortex is just the first one > I've checked out. I do know that DE filters are great from my childhood [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > With all due respect > Kevin That was just a blanket answer from me - if you can fine PURE diatomaceous earth sold by a swimming pool supplier then you are good to go and will probably save money. My answer was about some chemicals sometimes added to diatomaceous earth for other purposes (i.e. I imagine some swimming pool suppliers might mix chlorine with the diatomaceous earth for example). All I am saying is that you need PURE diatomaceous earth if you want to be absolutely sure it is safe. My vortex xl also puts out an oily smell like the other posters did, but it didn't seem strong to me (the smell) and the filter works almost perfectly (i.e. the only imperfection in my experience with the vortex xl is that the unit is hard to disassemble after every use if you intend to save/rescue baby fry to make sure none die from being stuck in it). Stay away from the system 1 pressure filter - it isn't nearly as flexible as a vortex and in fact can overheat from what I have read (after a few hours of continuous use), hoses are good - especially under certain circumstances such as shallow tanks. Again hoses are good as they are more flexible. To top it off I see the system 1 sold for more than a vortex without any of the important benefits the vortex xl has. Good luck and later! > Hi GF fans, > I am considering the inevitable needs of tank cleaning, and want to [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > for > this? I believe this is the tried and true method, but your idea s/b safe and effective. Although I'm not sure what your UGF is buying you if you're using stones rather than gravel. ie. the large grain size isn't adding much to your Biofilter. If the UGF isn't your only source of filtration, I would be tempted to just remove it. They tend to be bad news with GF. > - Should I use manual agitation, and just let the water circulate through > the whole tank? > - Would it be better to just use the D.E. Filter as a power vacuum, and > leave the bottom basically undisturbed? > - What brand/size of D.E. filter would be adequate? > - Has anyone ever done this, and what were your results? |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.