Preventing Old Tank Syndrome

A diatom filter built by Vortex has been around for at least forty years, maybe longer because I used them many times on my fresh water tanks and I have not had freshwater since then. Your pool filter is the same thing only bigger.
You can not keep them on a tank continousely because they filter out anything larger then a millionth of an inch and that includes bacteria and paracites, they clog from all that filtering and must be emptied. If I stir up my tank, I would have to empty it and fill it with new powder at least once. The powder is discarded with the dirt.
A diatom filter is not needed, any canister filter will work. You can even stir up the water and siphon it into coffee filters if you like as I have also done that many times. There is no need to spend money on this but you can if you like.
See the little green thing that I am using for a funnel on top of my baby brine shrimp feeder? That is the thing I use on my diatom. Florists use them to put flowers in and I just drill through the thin part. I stick that over the return line of my diatom filter to make a powerwasher. They are about 2 cents each and if you walk through a cemetary you may find some. Just don't tell the dead guy.

Feedingstation002.jpg
 
"They are about 2 cents each and if you walk through a cemetary you may find some. Just don't tell the dead guy." LMAO!

thx paul i knew what you were talking about just more or less wanted to know what you attached it too. i figured i could just use a filter sock or something on the drain line when i do this, but im usually on the look out to find new ways to throw money away on new gadgets! lol. so by saying that you dont need to use the powder and just have a pleated filter makes sense, so your basically left with something like a prefilter that you can plumb inline with your pump like if seen before.
 
Paul B said:
I have read on a few forums that some tanks are having a problem with Old Tank Syndrome.
Old Tank Syndrome has no real scientific cause and...
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Paul, there is SO much I'd like to reply to your thinking here. But I'll leave that to the pundits. ;)

Instead I'd rather use my post to just express a heart felt "Thank you!" for sharing your insights. Regardless of any thinking to the contrary, it's hard to argue with success. I'll definitely be paying close attention to your wisdom shared here.

Thank you so much (from the north side of the Sound). :)
 
I think I am becoming more confused.

So, you use a diatom filter, but no powder, just something with small enough holes to catch detritus?

Basically, I could use a powerhead instead, with a hose, and a coffee filter firmly attached to the end to catch everything instead? and have that same hose return the water without the detritus back into the tank? I got thrown off when you by this green flower thing and it being used on a diatom filter.

Sorry to make you dumb it down for the dufus lol.

It may be easier for me just to screw with a canister filter. What is a good economic one for this purpose of solely cleaning detritus out for a 75g tank with 29g sump? I figure since it will only run once in a while, I probably don't need one rated for 100 gallons, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Paul B said:
Ok, but be warned, some of it may be senility :fun5:
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LOL!

That's OK. Being no spring chicken, I'm a full-on CRS sufferer myself (that's - Can't Remember Sh*t).

So I've got a lot of respect for the thinking of the "long in the tooth". ;)
 
nbgen12 said:
I think I am becoming more confused.

So, you use a diatom filter, but no powder, just something with small enough holes to catch detritus?

Basically, I could use a powerhead instead, with a hose, and a coffee filter firmly attached to the end to catch everything instead? and have that same hose return the water without the detritus back into the tank? I got thrown off when you by this green flower thing and it being used on a diatom filter.

Sorry to make you dumb it down for the dufus lol.

It may be easier for me just to screw with a canister filter. What is a good economic one for this purpose of solely cleaning detritus out for a 75g tank with 29g sump? I figure since it will only run once in a while, I probably don't need one rated for 100 gallons, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for paul but I usually don't use the powder, it is a bit messy. I use the diatom filter because it was very cheap (used), it moves water through it very fast, and it comes with everything built in. A 500gph powerhead and a filter sock would work just as well I suppose, it just wouldn't be convenient.
 
I can see the logic in the convenience of use part.

So is that green thing all that you use to catch the crud? Sorry I'm just having a hard time grasping that something at a flower shop can be used for this purpose lol.

If not, is it the diatom bags you use to catch the crud? I just don't have any idea from the prior posts what it is you guys are using/replacing when filtering out the nasties. Probably because I've never seen or heard of a diatom filter before.

Basically I'm just trying to sort out what exact pieces are needed aside from the diatom filter itself, for this purpose of sucking out the detritus and crud from time to time.
 
wow, that would be pretty awesome. Hopefully he will chime in. With the best course of action for a person with no knowledge of these things so I know exactly what I need to get with this thing.
 
I have been using a mag 5 attached to a in line water filter housing and a return hose to the sump to clear up after the "storm". Put a standard 5 micron pre filter in the housing and there is no amount of cloudy water that cant be cleared up in under an hour. The filters clog up after 5-6 hours of use but remove a TON of detritus With a few quick modifications,I use it to mix new salt water for water changes. It clears up 25 gallons freshly made salt water in about 15 min and will pump it from the sump to the drain and then from the bin to the sump with just a a few changes.

Aside from the pump, which I had, the set up cost about 12 bucks.
 
I think I am becoming more confused
Click to expand...
Good, then we are thinking

So, you use a diatom filter, but no powder, just something with small enough holes to catch detritus?
Click to expand...

No, I didn't say that. Just use a canister filter and forget all that other stuff about coffee filters. That is just if you don't have a canister filter. Then you could stir the tank up with a stick or an old Beatle album and siphon out the detritus and filter it through a coffee filter, but just use a canister filter and don't worry about anything else I say, It is me, not you, I can get confusing

So is that green thing all that you use to catch the crud? Sorry I'm just having a hard time grasping that something at a flower shop can be used for this purpose lol.
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The green thing is just a nozzle to make the water come out faster. like the post below your's says. You also don't need that, it just makes the water flow stronger to blast the rocks.

With the best course of action for a person with no knowledge of these things so I know exactly what I need to get with this thing.
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Take a canister filter, any canister filter, blow into the rocks and the sand, suck out the stuff with that same filter then go out to dinner and do it again, do it a few times, not the dinner part but the sucking out with the filter part. Go to dinner if you like, that is optional.

Power Boat Jim and I run out boats in our tanks to clear it up, and the fish don't seem to mind the gas smell afterward. They think it smells like Glade Air freshener. :spin2:
 
Paul B said:
Power Boat Jim and I run out boats in our tanks to clear it up, and the fish don't seem to mind the gas smell afterward. They think it smells like Glade Air freshener. :spin2:
Click to expand...

Paul, if I could find a way to put a cartridge filters in the exhaust manifolds I would do it. I think 800 hp worth of filtering capacity would be just about right.The smell of unburnt hydrocarbon would just be an added bonus.:thumbsup:
 
Yes and this time of the year the "Store and Start" we add to the gas just makes it all worth while.
 
Doing that this weekend
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I'm not done yet. We are going out to dinner on the boat tonight and hopefully we will be going for 3 or 4 more weeks, but all of a sudden it will get windy and that will be the end of it.
 
You can also go to walmart etc. and buy:

a one gallon twist top wide mouth container
a bag of non flame treated pillow stuffing

cut a hole in the top (size of your hose) and one in the bottom, stuff it with the stuffing

attach a nose to a powerhead and feed the water to top and let it sit on top of your aquarium on egg crate.

Blast the rocks with another, and repeat usually during a commercial break for an evening.
 
That would work and I have used that and also that foam stuff. You can use burlap, coffee filters, sand, paper towels, a hairy dog etc.
 
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