# Diatom Filter replacement for occasional cleaning?



## davejt (Nov 22, 2009)

I've been using Diatom (vortex) filters for cleaning up tanks for, well decades... But my current filter is showing it's age with leaks and what not. 

So any newfangled hi-tech, or low tech filters out there for occasional use to really clean the water like my old Diatoms? Ease of setup, cleaning, maintenance all plusses.

This is for temporary mechanical, micron size filtration, usually done for 8-24hrs about once a month in conjunction with tank cleaning. No Bio or chemical filtration needed.


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## Andy Ritter (Nov 26, 2008)

Hello davejt,

I have also been using Vortex diatom filters for tank maintenance for many years. Unfortunately, they do have issues with leakage where the electric motor shaft passes through the plastic housing. To make matters worse, they aren't designed to be disassembled and repaired, so once they start leaking, you either have to live with it or buy another one. When my first one started leaking so badly that I couldn't really use it anymore, I shopped around trying to find another option. I was unsuccessful at finding anything else that compared, so I just bought another Vortex D-1. However, the new one developed a leak a lot sooner than the older one did, but of course not until it was out of it's 2 year warranty. This time I got really frustrated since I didn't want to have to drop that much money again for another one, so I decided to try and come up with another solution. I took the older one apart, separating the motor from the plastic piece that attaches to the jar. I then took a power head that I wasn't using anymore and hooked it up to the plastic piece with some tubing. I had to use some epoxy to seal up the hole where the original motor had been, as well as do some reinforcing where the tubes hooked up, but it wasn't very hard to do. I've been using it this way now for a couple of years, and it works way better than the original pump. It's quieter, cooler, lighter, and waterproof. I would be glad to post some pictures of how I modified mine if you are interested in trying this modification for yours.

Andy


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## davejt (Nov 22, 2009)

Love to see some photos. And what model powerhead you used.

thats right where mine was leaking. I did install a new shaft seal, cured the leak for a short time, 3-4 uses, now it seems to leak worse then ever! :-( maybe I'll have another look at it.

Just seems in this day someone could cast a new piece of plastic for these things with an easy way to start a siphon, prime the powder, and maybe an option for a second intake hose with a valve on the assembly for a gravel vacuum. 

Maybe a second assembly with no hoses to hang on tank.

Really shouldn't be this difficult.


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## Andy Ritter (Nov 26, 2008)

Okay, I'll see what I can do to explain what I've done to make my Vortex Diatom filter better than new.

As I mentioned before, the first thing that I did was disassemble the top portion and remove the electric motor. Basically, the only part that I kept from that assembly was the plastic part that attaches to the jar. I used my Dremel tool to remove the excess plastic, and then cut out another piece of plastic to fill in the hole where the shaft passed through to the impeller from the motor. I cut the plastic out of an old "Recharge Valve" that I had bought years ago from Vortex that was a leaky piece of junk. I then glued that piece of plastic into the hole using two part epoxy glue. I then took an Aquarium Systems Maxi-Jet 1200 power head and modified the output of it by again using the two part epoxy glue and attaching part of one of the black "U" shaped pieces that comes with the Vortex that goes over the edge of the aquarium. I had to do that because I accidentally broke off the one on the power head, but it also helped because the size of the output was a little too small for the tubing anyway. Here are some pictures of how it looks now:

















As you can see from the photos, the pump is installed on the return side of the filter so the water that goes through it has already been filtered. Other than the new pump, the rest of the Diatom filter works exactly the way that it did before. You still use the filter bag and the plastic tube the same as before. Here is a picture of the whole thing assembled:









You also mentioned that you thought it would be nice to have a different set up with the hoses to where you could use it to vacuum your gravel. Here is how I handled that situation:









I went to the hardware store and bought some fittings for repairing garden hoses, and then used small ball valves and quick disconnect fittings in order to be able to change out which hoses I needed at the time. I have the regular intake assembly and my gravel vacuum both with fittings so I can attach them to the intake hose. I also have the regular return assembly and (not pictured) a really long hose that I use when I do water changes that I have go down the hall to a utility sink.

In order to be able to switch back and forth between the various hose attachments without losing my diatom powder charge from the filter bag, I made my own custom recharge valve. I had originally bought the one that Vortex sells, but as I mentioned before, it was a leaky piece of junk. I even bought the seal kit for it and tried to repair it, but that didn't work either. Later on, when I bought my second Diatom, it came with a "New and Improved" recharge valve, which was an even bigger piece of junk than the first one. Frustrated with these problems, I went back to the hardware store and bought a bunch of PVC fittings and ball valves and made my own. It might look bad, but it works. Here it is:









I'm sure that it could be made more compact and nicer looking, but this is my first and only attempt, and it has been working fine for years.

I love my Diatom filter now and plan on using it until I can't get parts for it anymore (mainly the filter bag and diatom powder, since the rest shouldn't need to be replaced).

Let me know if you have any questions.

Andy


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## davejt (Nov 22, 2009)

Absolutely brilliant. thanks for the inspiration and photos. the last couple of days I have been thinking about how you mated up shafts, impellers and the like, didn't think to just put it on the hose. Duh. 

Do you find it better to have the power head low, hanging on the hose as it were? Or more up at the top hanging on the tank?

thanks again for your time posting!


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## davejt (Nov 22, 2009)

Andy Ritter said:


> I love my Diatom filter now and plan on using it until I can't get parts for it anymore (mainly the filter bag and diatom powder, since the rest shouldn't need to be replaced).
> Andy


Yeah, I tried Vortex's valve too. Junk, good idea, poor poor implementation. I sketched up, but haven;'t built yet the 'recharge' valve you have shown. you'd think there would be something made commercially to do this.


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## Andy Ritter (Nov 26, 2008)

davejt said:


> Absolutely brilliant. thanks for the inspiration and photos. the last couple of days I have been thinking about how you mated up shafts, impellers and the like, didn't think to just put it on the hose. Duh.
> 
> Do you find it better to have the power head low, hanging on the hose as it were? Or more up at the top hanging on the tank?
> 
> thanks again for your time posting!


Hello again davejt,

Glad that I was able to help. Thanks for letting me know that all of that time spent taking pictures, editing, and posting was worthwhile.

As far as your question about the powerhead; the way that you see it is the only way that I've ever had it on there. I haven't had any issues with it so I've seen no reason to move it. I'm not an engineer, but I believe that I read somewhere that pumps like this prefer to "push" the fluid rather than "pull" it, so I think that it would therefore work better how I have it versus having it up on the tank. If you think about it, the setup is very similar to a canister filter. I also have read that when dealing with pumps, if you have the intake to the pump and the return from the pump the same length going up to the tank, the falling water due to gravity offsets the "head height" that you have to worry about if you have a pump moving a fluid from a container up to a higher location. In my case, I haven't had any issues with this little powerhead handling the filtering of my 75 gallon while the diatom filter sits on the floor (you can check out my journal to see what my setup looks like if you would like). It barely gets warm during operation, and that's even if you use it for extended periods. For instance, the other day I started to do tank maintenance on a Friday evening, but then my wife got home and wanted to watch a movie. I had already started the diatom, so I just left it running and went to hang out with her. I didn't get back to finish my tank maintenance until Sunday afternoon, and the diatom was still running just fine with good water flow, no leaks, etc. As I mentioned before, one of my favorite features about it now is that I can put the whole thing down into my utility sink to wash it off since the powerhead is waterproof, whereas before I couldn't with that big heavy and open A/C motor on top.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Andy


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## davejt (Nov 22, 2009)

I wonder if two of these 3-way valves would work for the 'charging circuit'

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=30670&catid=438


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