Re: A good sloution instead of a diatom filter

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Thomas Barr suggested using in-line tapwater filters in place of Diatom
filters because they work ae are tons cheaper.

I have heard of folks trying to use the in-line tap water filters (like
you get at Home Depot) in place of other aquarium filters and always
running into one big problem:  they become fully loaded and clogged
within a few hours or a day or so (depending on the micron size), after
1 to a few thousand gallons have passed through.  Who wants to clean
out a filter that often.

But that's just the clogging situation with Diatom filters so this is a
great substitute for those.

The really good filters (such as the Seagull IV)

http://www.generalecology.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=G&Category_Code=1021

run about $400-$500 or more and the cartridges cost about $60-$80. 
Diatoms are much cheaper than that.  **But** Seagulls are the cadillac
(or eheims) that well healed people put on their 45 foot sail boats. 
The "crappier" filters, plenty good enough for the temporary use by the
home aquarist, should work as well as the Sys 1 or the Vortex.

If you put one in-line on your regular water flow/filter/sump flow, you
might want a bypass line to ensure that you maintain some water flow
even if the cartridge becomes totally blocked.

Do folks talk about GW and diatoms too rarely for someone to have
suggested this before --- Or does it take a Tom Barr to seed common
sense into the high priced world of aquaria?

Don't blame me, my Seagull was a gift :-) Scott H.

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