Monster Diatomaceous Earth (DE) filter!

[Oughtsix]

After 4 days I am too pleased with this DE filter. The water is crystal clear with in an hour of stirring up the sand and as much muck as possible. I have had to clean the sponge pre-filter because it looked disgusting after all the muck raking not because of any flow restrictions. The pressure gauge on the filter shows no sign of any restriction. Any algae growth has seemingly stopped in its tracks when the filter is running (even with the tank in a south facing window that gets full sunlight)

I look forwards to finishing my stand one of these days and integrating this DE filter with the yet to be built 29g sump. My current 1 inch overflow pipe is no where near being up to the flow of the 1/4hp pump I am currently using hence the need for the sponge prefilter intake.

I do have a small drip that I need to track down and address... I don't believe it will be too much of an issue. I will continue to update this thread as the filter gets some real life use.

 

[Oughtsix]

I took the Hayward apart last weekend and rebuilt the filter. I only had the drain seal finger tight which was a lot of the leak problem. I put plumbers silicone grease on the main gasket and tightened the main retaining ring down all the way. The leak went from about a gallon a day to less than a half cup a day. I am a little disappointed with my cheap harbor freight hose clamps as they strip easily when only trying to apply just a little pressure. I am going to order some quality T bolt type hose clamps to use on the Pond tubing. I might put a little silicone sealer on the hose barbs before I put the hose on as a bit of extra protection.

 

[KaiserSousay]

disappointed with my cheap harbor freight hose clamps as they strip easily when only trying to apply just a little pressure

Really?
Quite a bit of the stuff from HF is low quality, for sure.
But, the clamp really shouldn`t need to be wrenched.
If the hose barb to hose connection is solid, the clamp is there to just hold it in place.
Yeah, I tourqe on a fitting that drips too..

 

[Oughtsix]

In closer inspection of the HF hose clamps last night they really are junk. There is a lot of open space in the slits along the strap the screw tightens against. I picked up a contractor pack of 3/4" - 1 1/4" hose clamps from Lowes last night and they fixed my major hose leak... easily! The Lowes clamps have much more metal and much less open space and are a much harder metal. The metal on the HF clamps is very soft. It is a little amazing that HF is able to botch up hose clamps. I do own several harbor freight items I like and value... hose clamps are just part of their Junk list.

Of course I ordered the premium "breeze" brand USA made underground / marine rated hose clamps off of e-bay yesterday before I decided to stop off at Lowes.... under the assumption the Big box clamps would be of the same low quality as the HF clamps. Oh well... only $15 wasted!!!!

The pump I am using is a pretty powerful industrial magnetic drive pressure pump.... capable of some serious pressure. The same pump that made the Ocean Clear canister cry uncontrollably!

So far the pressure gauge on the DE filter isn't measuring any significant pressure drop across all those DE grids. I think my 1" pond hose is causing more back pressure than the DE grids are. (The leak was on the hose connection to the output of the pump)

I love the "Non Kink" part of the pond tubing and not having to look at the algae buildup on the inside of the clear tubing. I also like how flexible the pond tubing is compared to the nylon thread reinforced clear tubing. But I am having a bit of a learning curve getting good joints with the pond tubing. I have been heating the tubing in boiling water before slipping it on the hose barbs so the tubing will form around the barbs. I use a little drop of cooking oil to lube the barbs before forcing the tubing on. I think (hope) quality hose clamps will be the answer!

A touch of silicone plumbers grease smeared on the O ring and threads of the Union fitting right off of the pump seems to have helped it seal also. The silicone grease on the threads allows them to be tightened a bit more and hasn't seem to lead to any loosening of the union yet. I use the white plumbers TFE paste for all my threaded PVC fittings... it has proven itself much better than the teflon tape for many, many years now on my plumbing ventures. It is messy but has worked very well for me for quite a while.

 

[stingraybob]

I had the same issues with my Ocean Clears, but after some guidance from members here, I got my little leak solved. Went to the pool store and got a tube of oring silicone, put some in the groove, put the oring back on and smoothed out what squeezed out of the groove on the oring...problem solved...my pump is pushing 975 gph into the first canister, goes to another canister, then to the tank....been running for about a month now with absolutely 0 leaks from the canisters and the water is crystal clear

 

[Oughtsix]

After almost 2 months (of crystal clear water) I noticed the flow had noticeably decreased. I turned off the pump. Cranked the handle on the Hayward DE filter up and down a half dozen times. Plugged the pump back in. The flow returned to where it was when it was new. I love this filter!!!!! There was a very small ploom of DE from the return line when I turn the pump back on... but it cleared very quickly.

I am still getting about a cup of water dripping every day which I just empty back into the tank.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Honestly I would love to see what happens when you combo a DE filter with a comprehensive prefilter canister like the ocean clear. Great thread please keep it updated.

 

[Oughtsix]

The small leak has fixed itself over time but I still keep the filter in a small round tupperware container just in case.

I have yet to change the DE media. I shut off the pump, pump the handle on the filter and turn the pump back on once a month. I have never had ANY pressure register on the pressure gauge. But flow does seem to slow noticeably at about the two month mark of not pumping the handle on the filter. Water is still crystal clear. The complete lack of filter maintence is almost as good of a reason to use this filter as the crystal clear water is!... well maybe it is a tie. I can't see any reason that I would want to use more of a pre-filter than the sponge I am using now... maybe filter material in a sump. I just don't enjoy changing and cleaning filter cartridges like I used to!

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

What is the fitting size for that hayward? It doesn't say on amazon. I'm curious and would like to do research.

 

[Oughtsix]

I will have to measure when I get home to confirm... but I think it is 1.5". It could be 1.25" but I am pretty sure it is 1.5". The reduction fitting to bring it down to the 1" PVC I used was a stocked item at Lowes.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I would not do the valves with the couplings again. Too much hassle and expense.

The Black spiral tubing was from Home Depot in their pond department. They carried 1" and 3/4" during pond season. It has worked out pretty well for me with the barbed PVC poly pipe fittings... and a hose clamp. I like that is does not kink! I would never go back to clear or reenforced clear vinyl tubing. You probably have your preferred plumbing techniques already though.