Whole house water filter

[nfored]

I see Culligan has H150 hole house filter and Culligan P1 Ace Sediment cartridge, 1 micron filtering at 10GPM. I could buy the filter and 2 cartridges for $30.00, way cheaper than Diatom Filters. What do you think worth while will I get crystal clear water, or should I just spend the extra 70 dollars and go with Diatom?

Both filter down to 1 micron, however my though with the whole house filter is that, it's not designed to have water flow 24/7. I mean even if with a whole house filter you dont have your water running 24/7, I'd say unless your bathing or washing cloths water runs for less than 5 minutes at a time.

 

[Dr Joe]

You don't run a diatom filter 24/7 either.

Depending on the bio-load the whole house filter will clog.

The whole house filter with a dechlorinating cart will let you use less de-chlor for water changes and make W/C's easier.

I've done both and if you motive it crystal clear water go with the diatom filter.

Dr Joe

.

 

[Jgray152]

I think if you run some good small particle filtration in your main filter and have the whole house filter after your main, you should be fine. I don't know how long it will last. It may be better to do a 3 stage micron filtration setup with whole house filters. Start at 15 or 10 micron, than 5 micron, than 1 micron.

I myself am thinking of doing this very thing.

 

[Oreo]

These micron filters will clog REALLY fast, and they're designed to flow 10gpm at 60psi with water that starts off at < .5 NTU (NTU is units of turbidity, a measure of optical clarity.) For comparison, your best aquarium water is not better then 2.0NTU.

With that said, I use whole-house-filters on my aquarium with filter cartridges of my own design. It's simple really- just upholsterers foam commonly available at Jo-Ann's fabrics on a PVC cartridge frame. The foam only needs to be maybe 1" thick for efficient filtration. Filter surface area is the name of the game for maximizing time between cleanings. For that reason I use the "heavy duty" whole house filters because they allow a larger diameter cylindrical cartridge.

The real trick is figuring out how to make your own cartridge- that is both easy to clean & durable over the long haul. It took me a number of tries to figure it out.Ask me nicely & maybe I'll post a picture of my design. But I'll warn you that you need to get WAY creative with the PVC, slicing & dicing fittings & such.

To get the best small particle filtration though you should look at using sand. Munincipal water supplies have been using sand since the Roman empire. Modern filter plants can get water down to .03NTU with sand filters & coagulation agents. Sand filters are REALLY easy to clean also- by just reversing the flow of the water & letting the dirt rinse to a drain. I figure a decent DIY sand filter would look something like an 18" long piece of 8" PVC pipe (minimum) capped at top & bottom, & tapped at top & bottom for inlet & outlet. From bottom up, start with 2" of coarse blue filter sponge, followed by 1" apholsterers foam, followed by 1-2" of pool filter sand. The pool filter sand I think will be coarse enough not to pass through the foam, yet fine enough to achieve excellent small particle filtration. YMMV

 

[koop171]

I would just go with the diatom. I myself am looking into them right now. From what I read you only really need to run them for a couple of hours a week. and the powder is not the expensive and If I read right can be used for a decent amount of time

 

[Dr Joe]

These micron filters will clog REALLY fast, and they're designed to flow 10gpm at 60psi with water that starts off at < .5 NTU (NTU is units of turbidity, a measure of optical clarity.) For comparison, your best aquarium water is not better then 2.0NTU.

With that said, I use whole-house-filters on my aquarium with filter cartridges of my own design. It's simple really- just upholsterers foam commonly available at Jo-Ann's fabrics on a PVC cartridge frame. The foam only needs to be maybe 1" thick for efficient filtration. Filter surface area is the name of the game for maximizing time between cleanings. For that reason I use the "heavy duty" whole house filters because they allow a larger diameter cylindrical cartridge.

The real trick is figuring out how to make your own cartridge- that is both easy to clean & durable over the long haul. It took me a number of tries to figure it out.Ask me nicely & maybe I'll post a picture of my design. But I'll warn you that you need to get WAY creative with the PVC, slicing & dicing fittings & such.

To get the best small particle filtration though you should look at using sand. Munincipal water supplies have been using sand since the Roman empire. Modern filter plants can get water down to .03NTU with sand filters & coagulation agents. Sand filters are REALLY easy to clean also- by just reversing the flow of the water & letting the dirt rinse to a drain. I figure a decent DIY sand filter would look something like an 18" long piece of 8" PVC pipe (minimum) capped at top & bottom, & tapped at top & bottom for inlet & outlet. From bottom up, start with 2" of coarse blue filter sponge, followed by 1" apholsterers foam, followed by 1-2" of pool filter sand. The pool filter sand I think will be coarse enough not to pass through the foam, yet fine enough to achieve excellent small particle filtration. YMMV

So your saying you developed a sponge filter

 

[Oreo]

Well, yes. The whole-house-filter housing is an ideal container for said sponge filter with a few filtration benefits inherent in the design. (Specifically, settling & filtration getting finer the longer the filter is used.) Getting a sponge filter to fit in that housing is the trick I solved. If a product is commercially available for that already I'd sure like to know. It would have saved me some headaches.

I've had excellent results with my fancy sponge filter. I can't imagine why anyone would need finer filtration for aquarium water. Granted, I use a UV light for green-water algae & parasites. I'll take a sample of my aquarium water to work with me tonight & measure it's turbidity. I sure can't visually tell the optical difference though between it & fresh tap water.

 

[oscarluvr]

our tap water here if you put it in a glass, leave it sit for a few minutes, it will turn gray, and have sediment in the bottom of the glass. if you are brave enough to drink it you have to sneak up on it. i have six filters in line and a water softener, and an ro system. put all that in your garage....

 

[Oreo]

Holy crap man! I hope that's well water & not municipal water.

Sounds like you've got the right idea though- several filters in sequence from coarse to fine. I bet your water tastes really good though when you're done filtering it. Municipal water usually tastes like crap even after the chlorine is removed.

How much do you spend a month on replacement filters?

 

[Jamieb]

I have a diatom filter now 20 years and It is the best I have seen in all those years. I run 4-6 hours once a month and change my Rena xp3 every two weeks and water is crystal clear. Fish are Happy too!