Help! J-P's Set up

[J-P]

To CO2 or not ......

With diatoms in the tank I am wondering if I should hook up a CO2 refractor?

[DarkStorm]

scrap it all and go marine

[RTR]

LOL! There are just as many marine diatoms as FW - the mined strata of diatomaceous earth are mostly from geologically ancient shallow seas that are no longer around.

[J-P]

Stormy, haha and you just the guy that wants all my plants, drift wood and equip, at a discounted price, right? LOL!!


Ok 2 Vortex Diatom D-1 filters arrived today, along with Prime a n undergravel filter and some other accessories.

I'm sitting here looking at this diatom filter.. then looked at the tank, looked at the filter.. thinking "This this isn't going to work!"

It feels like I'm putting together parts for NASA!


Update:

GRRRR... my hose is 2" too short!

[RTR]

Vortex diatoms are a major PITA. Too bad they work like a dream and last forever. Talk about love/hate relationships...

If you want to do much tank photography, diatoms are your friend. Diatom the tank an hour or two, remove it for several hours, and take pictures in air-clear water.

Don't do this before the fish folk come by to see your setup - we all recognize a freshly diatomed tank.

[J-P]

Yes I understand that they are only to run for short periods of time... and not to be run 24/7

That is why I got the 2 smallest on the market, to help with the 2 dirtiest tanks along the top

I like the back washing feature also (your idea). I hope I can run them once a day, once a week to help "clear the air". The water changes will help lift the debris and what the floss does not get the vortex will.

[Pufferfreak42]

Hey, I noticed that you're keeping goldfish and loaches with the puffers. I didn't see anyone else point this out - goldfish are coldwater fish, and should not be kept with tropicals like loaches (and of course not in brackish water, but you know that).

Loaches are also cold water fish. I had 3 when I had goldfish, they did great. Then I got a tropical tank and had 2 new loaches in there. They were lethargic and seemed very depressed. The water was too warm for them so I ended up finding a new home for them.

[J-P]

ahhhh and when I dropped the temp they went sprinngy and I have none left. All the weather loaches I had jumped the tank and ended a) in the filter or b) on the floor as a cat toy

[Pufferfreak42]

Awe, that sucks, sorry to hear. I've read some of this thread, seems you've had a lot of problems getting it set up. I loved my weather loaches, they swam through my fingers and I even was able to pet them. I hated to part with them but I had to do what was best for them, not for me. Is the tank up and running now?

[J-P]

nooooooooo the tank crashed from meds and recovering now

my weather loach got to 9" I loved that silly guy.

With this set up there is an additional factor to consider. "Where the fish comes form". Although it simulates a river those "river" fish take that for fact and don't know there is a filter waiting for them. Thus very quickly my fish selection has become VERY limited.

River fish I can do, if I can keep them out of the filter. Larger slower fish I can do also. Temperature is also a problem...filling a tank that size with only cold water takes hours; and to correct the temp it takes days.

Then comes part B) Hydroponics ... single filter multi tank. There must be enough plant mass on the lower section to help purify the tanks on the top of equal mass. The entire 250 section acts as a refrigerium for the top. That eliminates more fish .. the lurkers / borrowing fish.

The list goes on ... If you follow this thread ... you'll learn a lot. and not make the mistakes I did.

[RTR]

Vortex diatoms can run 24/7, but upkeep becomes an issue then. They are also power hogs - or at least my old ones are. For constant running I prefer things that use less power than the refrigerator.

[J-P]

quick tank update

Ammonia .62 and dropping
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0~.01 (lowest readable level)

Things are starting to settle down

[Pufferfreak42]

Great news.

[Nick]

We used a vortex regularly when I worked at a LFS. Running them a lot is interesting - they get HOT, especially if you do not oil the shaft regularly. Even the new vortex diatoms use a very old school motor, no modern sealed impeller unit on these, and they do NOT like being wet.

That giant black motor with its spool of wound copper wire reminds me of the first power filters I used in the early 1980's. There was a rectangular plastic tub which hung on your tank, with a slotted plate similar to an UGF, only in place of the downspout was a hookup for the giant motor, which sat atop it and sent water out of a return into the tank either as a stream or attached to various output tubes/pipes/bars. You layer the filter media(generally floss and carbon in alternate layers at the time) over the plate, and you rigged a series of siphon J tubes to deliver water from the tank which passed through the media layers before the massive motor returned it.

[DarkStorm]

have you tried out the diatom filter yet? seen there on sale hella cheap atm was wondering if worth it.
http://www.diatomfilters.com/index1.html this what i was looking at.
Vortex XL Diatom Filter DISCONTINUED DUE TO MANUFACTURER ISSUES wonder if parts wont be available too.