Tank cleaning possibilities

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Bottom and mid posted.

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Hi GF fans,
I am considering the inevitable needs of tank cleaning, and want to
bounce
an idea off of you.
I have an undergravel system, with about and inch +/- of stone. What I
propose to do is buy a D.E. filter, which traps all particles down to 1
micron. Put the fish into a holding bowl with some of the tank water,
and
an air stone. Remove the air stone and top piece from the undergravel
riser tube, and connect the input from the D.E. filter directly to the
riser. Use the exhaust jet from the D.E. filter as an agitator to move
the
stone/sludge around and just let it flow into the bottom intake screen
of
the undergravel system. This would just produce a loop of water that
traps
all the debris in the D.E. filter for disposal. I also plan to do a 25%
change out at the same time.


My main concerns are . . .

- Will this introduce too many organics into the water by disolving the
waste products to smaller that 1 micron?

Your method will not "dissolve" the pollutants to smaller than 1 micron -
the diatomaceous earth filter simply will not allow particles larger than 1
micron out through the exhaust of the filter, the larger particles are
trapped in the filter to be dumped out/removed later by you.


- Is the Dietimacous Earth (forgive spelling) safe for GF tank chemistry?

It should work great - but don't use swimming pool diatomaceous earth, only
use diatomaceous earth you are sure is safe for aquariums.


- Would a less efficient canister filter and powerhead be better suited
for
this?
- Should I use manual agitation, and just let the water circulate through
the whole tank?

Wouldn't work as good, some pollution/particles would remain in significant
quantities, but that sure would be much better than nothing.


- Would it be better to just use the D.E. Filter as a power vacuum, and
leave the bottom basically undisturbed?

As long as you maintain your maintenance schedule and never significantly
neglect it, your d.e. filter connected to riser stems idea is superior.


- What brand/size of D.E. filter would be adequate?

I like the idea of the magnum 350 as it won't hurt fry but you might never
have to deal with fry, and it sometimes comes with a gravel cleaner which
you could use in place of the riser stem connection but to be honest I think
you riser stem to d.e. filter seems even better (significantly). To be
honest I own and rarely if ever have to use a vortex xl d.e. filter and it
is almost as good as the magnum because the magnum is easy to open from the
looks of it. The vortex is difficult to open and close for scooping out fry
both because of the bottleneck of it's jar and the d.e. bag often comes off
when opening, and it is hard to get a perfect seal with the vortex as
diatomaceous earth often "grits" the rubber "o" ring that seals the jar to
the main body of the vortex.


- Has anyone ever done this, and what were your results?

I've never done what you are proposing but I have done similar things that
supports your future success with it. By the way - the vortex has an
accessory that works as a gravel vacuum as well. Overall I recommend the
magnum 350 but still appreciate the vortex xl that I own, it may come in
handy some day. I don't use undergravel filters myself but have them in
second place as practical biological filters, the first being biowheels.


--
With all due respect
Kevin

Good luck and later!

P.s. now that I think about it I realize that an actual gravel vac like the
magnum 350 deluxe kit (cheap for a d.e. filter kit) might work better, so if
you want to cover all bases get the magnum 350 d.e. canister filter with the
gravel vac accessory. That way you should be covered/insured no matter what
happens.

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