Whisper HOB diatom filter on Drs foster & Smith

those are too much work to just polish the water once in a while. here is what i use. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3597&R=6995&N=2004+22768 the micron cartridge clears everything up really fast then you just rinse it and soak it in a bleach solution.

if you think it's defective it might be good to send it back and get another...... the oddest thing about my xl was the silly little rubber band hose clamps it says to use where the hoses attach to the filter. both of them won't fit! i haven't had problems with the hoses slipping off without them tho.

it is sort of an antique kind of thing too.... there must be ways to update it and i'm surprised they haven't.....

it works like a charm tho, and it's a little more versatile than a HOB/HOT type. what i do to prime mine is:
1) i set it up in front of the tank in question and set a stool with a bucket on it in front of the tank (3g bucket, 1/2 full).
2) fill the water in the jar to almost the top and you can either add the powder to the bottom of the jar or add it to the bucket later.
3) set the hoses in the bucket and flip the jar and turn it on, let it run for a few seconds until it starts to prime (and the powder is off the bottom).
4) turn it off and flip it right side up.
5) pick up the bucket a bit higher off the stool and let the air come out
6) set it down and turn it on

at this point you should be primed and running in the bucket........ (leave the black ends off the inlet and outlet tubes for now)

now add the powder to the bucket if you haven't already and let it run. you can use the outlet water to stir the bucket occasionally to keep the diatom powder from settling in the bottom. run it until the powder is in the filter and coating the bag.

next: with the filter still running, take the inlet and outlet hoses in each hand, put a finger over the end of each tube and lift them out and place them in the tank. remove fingers and let it run. replace the black defuser end on at least the inlet side. (or some nosey fish might get sucked in, not pretty. )

and you're done. you might get a slight blast of bubbles and/or powder when you remove your fingers from the tubes, but it's generally minimal if the bag is coated decently.

this sounds like a pain and it sort of is, but it works good.

the great thing about this filter? i leave the outlet tube defuser off and i take an extra piece of (1/2 inch?) tube that i have and i slide it into the outlet tube. then i use this to stir up the gravel in sections. the water pressure is pretty strong coming out and it will dig right into the gravel and put the junk up in the water where one of the filters will grab it. so do a section of gravel and remove the extension tube (or not) and let the filter run for a bit until the water clears. do another section....... etc....... and then after you do the gravel, just let it run to polish the water..... it works great!

this cleans even better than a gravel vac, it gets ALOT of junk out of the gravel.

actually i believe you can buy a gravel vac extension for the xl from bigals or somewhere. this would even eliminate the need to make a mess in the water.

to move it to a different tank. take the defusers off and plug the tube ends (filter running still) and transfer them back to the bucket. then shut the filter down. carry the bucket and filter around together and you won't need to reprime the filter, but after each move you should run it in the bucket to prevent any major powder blasts in the new tank. as the powder gets dirty it will be less apt to come off the bag when you move it tho, the dirt seems to sort of lock it on.

you can't do the deep cleaning with a HOT/HOB that i know of........ personally i'll put up with the hassle for the results, i've almost never needed to "just" polish the water.

good luck whatever you choose.

just a small side note......

www.diatomfilter.com is vortex's website

edit: if the top with the motor is wobbly, it probably isn't on all the way. try wetting the o-ring or something....

this little gizmo is also supposed to make life easier..... http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/p-29_recharge_valve.htm
and they have a couple of other neat goodies on their website i didn't notice before.

edit2: the gravel thing.... (i think) http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/gravel_washer_model_gw1.htm

Originally posted by Karlsbad


The HOB that I mentioned is a diatom filter as well.

Click to expand...

i know, i meant that the HOT/HOB type only deals with the water. with the xl you can do a little more with cleaning the tank.

edit: that's neat, they even make a "sponge filter" you can use instead of the bag and diatom......

http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/str4_star_filter.htm

maaaaaaaaan i gotta stay off these websites, it just makes me want to spend money!

edit2: and a UV light?
http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/germkill_uv1.htm

sort of looks like they are working their way to actually updating the filter.

I’ve had the Whisper for quite awhile now. It’s basically a water polisher. The turbulence from the outflow on the filter (points straight down) will kick up some debris from the substrate into the water column where it gets sucked up. It works very well cleaning up GW blooms, messes from replantings,etc. Not so good for substrate cleaning. You have to manually stir up the substrate to get debris into the water column for the filter to remove it.



Tom

The XL has a much bigger surface and will not clog anywhere near as fast as the HOB types. That is one of the biggest problems with diatom filters... they clog very quickly.

I owned a couple of XLs many years ago. They do a good job, but I find them unnecessary if the tank is established properly.