Whole house filters

[EGMono]

Shame on me! While Christmas shopping for my wife at Sears, I wandered through
their water filter aisle. You know, the cartridges for the fridge filter, the
undersink filter, etc.

So it made me curious about a couple of things: There was a whole-home filter
that you plumb in that takes a replaceable cartridge. Has anyone tried this for
their aquarium? Did it work? And the other question: The cartridge it listed
was a p-5, which I found out merely means that it filters to 5 microns. How
many microns is a goodly amount?

Ever Curious,
--
E.G.Mono

[NetMax]

"EGMono" > wrote in message
...
> Shame on me! While Christmas shopping for my wife at Sears, I wandered
through
> their water filter aisle. You know, the cartridges for the fridge
filter, the
> undersink filter, etc.

The hardware dept is a great place for aquariasts. Check out their
underground water-sprinkling systems. Lots of fittings and the
controller makes a dandy automatic water changer for your aquarium ;o)

> So it made me curious about a couple of things: There was a whole-home
filter
> that you plumb in that takes a replaceable cartridge. Has anyone tried
this for
> their aquarium? Did it work?

I haven't tried it, but I suspect that it would not have a lot of surface
for nitrifying bacteria, and it was designed to deal with less
particulates than you would find in an aquarium. It would also need a
pump.

And the other question: The cartridge it listed
> was a p-5, which I found out merely means that it filters to 5 microns.
How
> many microns is a goodly amount?

Good question! I hope someone knows the relevant filter sizes needed to
trap Ich, bacterial blooms or algae spores. Used as an in-line filter to
attach to the output of your canister filter (with a diverter to go
around it when not in use), it has interesting potential. I suppose that
when not in use, you would still need to push a tiny bit of water through
it so that it didn't go anaerobic (or close it off entirely and drain
it).

need more feedback folks....
NetMax

> Ever Curious,
> --
> E.G.Mono
>

[EGMono]

In article >, "NetMax"
> writes:

>Good question! I hope someone knows the relevant filter sizes needed to
>trap Ich, bacterial blooms or algae spores. Used as an in-line filter to
>attach to the output of your canister filter (with a diverter to go
>around it when not in use), it has interesting potential. I suppose that
>when not in use, you would still need to push a tiny bit of water through
>it so that it didn't go anaerobic (or close it off entirely and drain
>it).
>
>need more feedback folks....
>NetMax

That's pretty much what I was thinking, as a filter attached to the output of a
canister. When not in use, you could turn it "off", as it has a valve to bypass
it when you need to change the cartridge inside.

Are there any problems associated with flushing anaerobic bacteria into the
water column?
--
E.G.Mono

[NetMax]

"EGMono" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, "NetMax"
> > writes:
>
> >Good question! I hope someone knows the relevant filter sizes needed
to
> >trap Ich, bacterial blooms or algae spores. Used as an in-line filter
to
> >attach to the output of your canister filter (with a diverter to go
> >around it when not in use), it has interesting potential. I suppose
that
> >when not in use, you would still need to push a tiny bit of water
through
> >it so that it didn't go anaerobic (or close it off entirely and drain
> >it).
> >
> >need more feedback folks....
> >NetMax
>
> That's pretty much what I was thinking, as a filter attached to the
output of a
> canister. When not in use, you could turn it "off", as it has a valve
to bypass
> it when you need to change the cartridge inside.
>
> Are there any problems associated with flushing anaerobic bacteria into
the
> water column?

Yes, the environment where you find anaerobic bacteria (often with a
rotten eggs smell) can be very poisonous to fish. I've personally
watched this and had to deal with customers who have encountered the same
thing. The most common sources are a filter which has been off for a few
days (your application) or deep aged substrate suddenly agitated.

I pulled a large piece of driftwood out of a tank (some detritus was
under the slate), and the closest fish (5" African Aulonocara) was dead
in 15 minutes and the rest of the tank's occupants were showing obvious
stress. A large water change only improved conditions slightly. I threw
in an air curtain and they were all behaving normally in about 5-10
minutes. In this case, I didn't even smell anything, so you can imagine
the effect of a stinky anaerobic filter's water going into the water
column. jmo, ymmv

If you can install a drain plug on the filter, just drain it when not in
use.

NetMax

> --
> E.G.Mono
>