View Full Version : DIY Water Polisher or Diatom Filter
tomm10
11-10-2003, 3:19 PM
So I'm intrigued by the benefits of a water polisher but not intrigued enough to lay down $70-100. Is there a way to make your own water polisher? I was thinking along the lines of changing out the filter catridge in my Penguin 125 for a couple hours/days to something much more restrictive.
I only have a 10 gallon tank so we're not talking about something heavy duty.
Anyone tried this?
reality
10-14-2005, 10:12 PM
I've been thinking about building one, did you ever make one?
blitzen25bm
10-15-2005, 1:50 AM
you can put thick foam in your filter.
i was going to build one out of a pool cartridge. since summers over walmart is clearing out all those round cartridges for their blow up pools. you can rig it so a water pump or powerhead will pull water through one and that will clean up a tank pretty fast. it is also easy to move from tank to tank.
chefkeith
10-15-2005, 10:38 AM
The only time I us my diatom filter is after moving/changing substrate or after planting/pruning. Filter floss is my full time media for polishing the water. I also use activated carbon if I want the water sparkling and crystal clear. The carbon will get the water staining tannins out of the water from the driftwood I use.
aquanewb
10-30-2005, 10:03 PM
Just buy a used diatom from ebay. I swear by mine.
BernieMc
11-01-2005, 1:32 PM
With a Diatom Filter, do you need to do regular water changes or does this in place of regular water changes?
melonie
11-04-2005, 5:04 PM
... by adding 1 micron filter pad material at the end of your filter loop. Rena sells pre-cut 1 micron filter pads to fit their canister filters, but I have simply stuffed this filter material into spent carbon cartridge frames for use with HOB filters.
NJ Devils Fan
11-05-2005, 12:20 AM
You can buy a foam pad for a chair like I did from a fabric store. Pull all of he blue off of the penguin cartridge and cut the foam so it fits. Either tie it or rubberband it into place. Works great at getting the tiny particles. Mine are black after a week or so. Very cheap too...
RUSH2112
11-05-2005, 6:24 AM
I am all for DIY. But, in this case I just don't think your going to get the same results as a vortex xl. This is not a commercial and I do not sell them. I just love the way it makes my water look and the added benefit of filtering out free floating parasites and bacteria.
melonie
11-05-2005, 8:24 AM
Obviously a properly pre-coated DE filter is capable of trapping particles in the sub-micron range. But a HOB filter equipped with 1 micron rated filter media runs a very close second ... without the mess and hassles required by the DE filter, and for a lot lower cost. I'm certainly not trying to talk anyone out of a DE filter, but merely pointing out that a cost-benefit ratio exists. IMHO, compared to a fairly typical 20 micron rating of standard filter media and cartridges, the apparent water clarity difference between a 20x improvement with 1 micron filter media versus a 50-100x improvement with DE is barely noticeable to the naked eye.
Again just a personal opinion, but the same $70-100 investment in a DE unit would also buy you a UV unit (which actually kills algae and some parasites) plus a ton of 1 micron filter media.
RUSH2112
11-06-2005, 5:38 AM
I must agree about U.V. sterilization. I run my vortex xl 8 hrs/week where a sterilizer would be 24/7/365. In retrospect I would probably invest in a u.v. unit. Good point!!!!
You can buy a foam pad for a chair like I did from a fabric store. Pull all of he blue off of the penguin cartridge and cut the foam so it fits. Either tie it or rubberband it into place. Works great at getting the tiny particles. Mine are black after a week or so. Very cheap too...Go back into the fabric store and get some of the white random weave man made stuff they use on the bottoms of chairs, couches & mattresses. It is identical to the fabric used on Vortex diatom filters and costs about 10˘ /ft². My fabric ripped on my Vortex and I replaced it with that fabric using aquarium safe silicon to hold it to the filter basket.
NJD, good to see ya again!
NJ Devils Fan
11-08-2005, 7:36 AM
Thanks Matak, its good to be back.
seajays
11-08-2005, 10:38 AM
I made a polisher from a home water filter, 1 micron cartridge, 700 gal mag drive in-line pump and used my Python for the pickup. Made it portable to move from tank to tank . It works great.
I made a polisher from a home water filter, 1 micron cartridge, 700 gal mag drive in-line pump and used my Python for the pickup. Made it portable to move from tank to tank . It works great.Sounds great. Got a pic? preferrably partially disassembled?
tomm10
11-08-2005, 3:40 PM
First, let me say, "Holy Cr@p!" This has got to be some sort of record for resurrecting a dead thread (if you can call one unanswered post a thread). Just a month shy of two years. Wow.
Now, back to the question, I never did make a water polisher. I have instead used a cannister filter with some multi stage filtering. I use some standard Marineland blue foam in one basket and filter floss in another. It does not really polish my water but I may have given up on that dream ;)
Seajays, I'll second NJD's request for pics.
Tom
First, let me say, "Holy Cr@p!" This has got to be some sort of record for resurrecting a dead thread (if you can call one unanswered post a thread). Just a month shy of two years. Wow.I'll say. I hope you get faster responses when your fish develops a bizarre purple lesion! :sick:
seajays
11-09-2005, 12:13 PM
Here is my DIY polisher.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a211/seajays2/IMG_0004.jpg
Here is my DIY polisher.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a211/seajays2/IMG_0004.jpg
Very nice! I think I might like to try something like that. Do you use that 24/7 or just occasionally?
First, let me say, "Holy Cr@p!" This has got to be some sort of record for resurrecting a dead thread (if you can call one unanswered post a thread). Just a month shy of two years. Wow.Sorry dude. That record was smashed
here. (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=466974#post466974)
NJ Devils Fan
11-10-2005, 8:19 AM
Yea, two months shy of 3 years...I don't get htese people. Why would you go to like page 74 and look for threads? Doesn't make sense to me...
They were probably searching for specific information, found the thread, and may not have noticed the age of the thread. When I first started reading this thread, I never noticed that the first post was 2 years old, lol!
tomm10
11-10-2005, 9:58 AM
They were probably searching for specific information, found the thread, and may not have noticed the age of the thread. When I first started reading this thread, I never noticed that the first post was 2 years old, lol!
Yeah, the only reason I noticed was my name was at the top and I didn't remember posting it :)
seajays
11-10-2005, 10:10 AM
Just occasional
NJ Devils Fan
11-10-2005, 1:22 PM
Yea, someone posted something that was two years old and I posted in the thread and I don't remember it at all. It was pretty funny...
StephenHall
03-18-2010, 10:50 PM
How about 4 years and 5 months, does that set some kind of record? I was searching Ask.com for water polishers and it gave me this forum. I just thought I'd check to see if any body has made or used a water polisher, and how well it works.
J double R
03-18-2010, 11:59 PM
How about 4 years and 5 months, does that set some kind of record? I was searching Ask.com for water polishers and it gave me this forum. I just thought I'd check to see if any body has made or used a water polisher, and how well it works.
I'm going to guess that yes, someone probably has by now.
Bio123
03-19-2010, 12:07 AM
I made one using vacuum filters and it works great.
StephenHall
03-19-2010, 1:31 AM
I made one using vacuum filters and it works great.
Do you have any pictures or information on how you built it that you'd care to share with me?
jones57742
03-19-2010, 5:05 AM
Folks:
I know that this thread is old but why was micron pad filtration not mentioned in the posts?
TR
I guess I didnt read the date...oops.