I have a DIATOM!! Help!!

[Jasonator]

I had a Diatom filter 23ish yrs ago... wow, I'm old and it was incredible.

Only thing is, I forget how to do it properly.

I have the unit, powder and some carbon.

What goes where, etc??

Please refresh my dusty memory

**maybe I need a brain diatom**

[davej]

Here is the method I use right from the Vortex website
Contents


(A) After you have assembled your Diatom® Filter you may charge it in the following manner. With both the intake and exhaust hose in the aquarium and having the Diatom® Filter at least half full of water turn the Diatom® Filter upside down, start the motor for a few seconds or until you can see that the intake hose has filled with water. Return the Diatom® Filter to the upright position and turn the motor off. This will force the unit to start a siphon. Hoses must run upward toward aquarium.
Figure 15(B) Submerge a plastic container such as the one in Fig. 15, into the aquarium and put the intake and exhaust tubes into the container.


Figure 16(C) Lift the container with the two tubes inside high enough to allow you to hook the container's handle over the lip of the aquarium. (Fig. 16) Care should be taken not to allow the intake tube to suck air during this operation.

(D) As youFigure 17 can see at this point you are running the filter only on the water in the small container. You may add the Diatom powder directly into the container while the filter continues to run. (Fig.17) A minimum charge for the D-1 Diatom® Filter is about one cup (three ounces) and for the XL Diatom® Filter use about three cups (nine ounces).

(E) When all of the Diatom powder has been absorbed into the Diatom® Filter and the water in the small container is running clear you may unhook the handle from the aquarium and carefully lower the container out from under the pickup tubes.
(F) This method has proven to be the most popular with store owners and others who would rather back flush the filter clean rather than to take the unit apart.

[Captured Moments]

Ohhh... that may be what I have in one of my planted tank as well. I have like this brown dusty messy coating on the leaves. What does Diatoms look like?

[davej]

The filter is a diatom filter that that uses diatomaceous earth, to filter your water

Each grain of the Diatom powder, if viewed through a powerful microscope, looks very much like one half of a coconut shell with very tiny holes in it. Most of the holes in these tiny particles are less than one micron (one millionth of a meter) in size. When the filter is running properly with a full charge of powder, water is being forced through a layer of many thousands of these Diatom skeletons. This is why the unit is so effective in filtering out microscopic parasites and algae.

[Jasonator]

OK!! Gotter goin!! and WOW

WOOHOO!!

They say these things are good, but they were wrong. They are amazing!!

Not only did I have an ich breakout, I had a very bad green water problem - due to the tank being in the front room bay-window. I'm sure too many water changes resulted in stress and ich. boooo.

Well, put the diatom filter on, less than 2 hours later, and wow, I haven't seen the tank this clear in weeks!!

The only thing left in there is the extra (I may have used too much) Diatom powder itself, which I am just waving around, stirring up so the filter can take care of it.

Thanks, Dave. Me and the filter learned how to get along after that