[APD] Diatom filter and Haze (CO2 loss)

["Pete" <peteal at sympatico_ca>]

You can remove large quantities of CO2 from your tank using a diatom filter if you are removing lots of contaminants, that goes for a Vortex filter with the output below the water line. Basically once the diatom gets well used and starts clogging up, the back pressure forces the CO2 out of the water (and maybe O2 for that matter).  Can be very visible and shows as lots of bubbles forming on the outside of the filter.  Once while filtering a tank which had a green water bloom, I had a PH spike from 6.2 to 7.4 (which is my basic tap water PH) in an couple of hours.  First the diatom powder had gotten nice a green and then I noticed bubbles forming on the filter also, but it didn't sink in until I saw some of the fish coming to the surface to skim the water breathing.  Did a check and found the large PH change.  Stopped filtering, raised my spray bar from the canister filter above water level for some aeration.  To avoid the problem you probably could just stop and replace the !
 diatoms in the filter once they get clogged.

Pete.

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