Diatom Filter in Action (pics)

Hello everyone,

So I have been meaning to post this here ... pics from "before" and "after" running the diatom filter on my greenwater tank.

I have a "standard" 20 gallon (U.S.) tank with some guppies (1 female adult, seven or so fry) and mollies (three adults, two 'teens' and about five fry), plus some plants.

I have had a fairly serious greenwater problem going back to about October of last year (it's now the end of April). Having tried various things, such as militant water changes (25-50% twice a week) and blacking out the tank from the sun w/ newspaper. Nothing helped; in fact, the water changes seemed to encourage the greenwater growth, and it would be back to murky green within hours.

So, in utter desperation, I decided to purchase a Vortex Freedom filter (D-1), which is a diatom filter (it uses diatomacheous (sp?) powder as the actual filter medium).

Here are a few pics of the tank "before" the diatom filtering:

w/ flash (note the sticker ):





w/o flash:





Front view:





And After!

fishnutham said:

i have a vortex also only use it for ocassionly cleaning find it a pain..
How long did you run it for and how do you load the powder i found my instuctions to be poor.

Click to expand...

Hmm ... the instructions that came with my Vortex were very detailed and great with the exception of how to break down and clean the unit.

For loading/charging the filter:

1) before you put it all together and screw the electric motor assembly down onto the big plastic filter chamber, fill it at least 1/2 way with water.

2) put it all together.

3) get a large container that you can submerge in the tank you wish to clean (this is crucial). I personally use a large flower vase that's been well-rinsed out (it's essentially a huge glass cylinder)

4) once you have the container submerged and filled with tank water (make sure no little fish get in there!) hold the Vortex unit upside down and turn it on (you'll find out quickly if you have a good seal on the plastic chamber ) -- the "in" tube will fill up with water. Once it's filled up, turn the unit off and place the Vortex in an upright position below the waterline of the tank -- this will start a siphon which will fill the plastic filter chamber all the way up.

5) once the chamber is full, you can turn the unit back on. once the air gets worked out of the "out" tube and plastic chamber, you can add the filter powder into the water in the submerged container (i.e. do NOT add it into the aquarium itself). It takes about 5 minutes or so for the filter to suck up all the powder in the container and coat the bag in the chamber.

6) when the water in the submerged container runs 100% clear, you take the container out from under the "in" tube -- this keeps the tube underwater and therefore allows you to avoid breaking the siphon.

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Personally, mine takes about 10 - 15 minutes to get the water crystal clear. I try to move the "out" tube around a bit in order to stir up any crap that may be lying around in the gravel.

Hope this helps! I'll try to remember to photograph the process next time and will post a progression of pics next time I do it.

DarthLungFish said:

Wow, Me too. But how did the water get that way?? I have a U.V. and I never had that much green water in any of my tanks?!? I'm glad the filter worked for you!!

Click to expand...

I've heard that U.V. filters actually help to kill the greenwater protists ... is this what you use it for?

Or do you mean you have a U.V. supplemental lighting rig?