Diatom D1 Aquarium Filter
Reviewed By: Justin Gray
Overview
Overall the Diatom D1 Filter is a great filter to remove that cloudiness from the water. I use it 24/7 which you are not suppose to. Crystal clear water is the only thing to expect when using this filter.
Here is a break down of the rating 1-10, 10 being best.
Filtering : 10
Design: 5
Ease of use: 3
Construction Quality: 5
Diatom D1 Filter Positives
TOP NOTCH FILTERING! The is NO filter that can make the water as crystal clear as this filter.Diatom D1 Filter Negatives
Some areas of the filter design I don't like, such as, back-washing is non-existant when the powder is clogged up. To clean the filter and put new powder in, it is a complete tear down of the filter. The screw on clamp that secures the motor and plumbing to the plasitc jar that houses the media is very hard to get good and tight and allows air to somtimes get into the filter which makes it extremely noisy. Its also very hard after getting it tight, to loosen it. I ran this filter 24/7 on a 30 gallon. The Sand gets clogged up very easy but adding some filter fiber to the intake in the tank help to extend the life of the sand to about 1 month instead of 3-7 days. Your only suppose to run the filter as a polishing filter once a week or so. I thought I should put it to the test. recentlt after about 4 months of running, a seal in the motor went out and started to leak water all over the place while running. Luckily every part that could possibly fail is replacable and you can order from them.
I give an over all rating of 
because of the issues.
The time lapse video below shows a diatom filter cleaning an algae bloom over a period of hours.
Diatom Filter Comments
| From: Noel This filter is great to do a quick water cleaning. But don't expect to run it continously. It just isn't designed for that. I run it for a day or so at most and get chrystal clear water. I also had the model previous to this which I don't think is made anymore. That model lasted well over 10 years or so and worked great. This new one is supposed to be an improvement over the older design but is not. The older motor was way stronger and you only had to replace the bags every so often. |
