Melamine foam or Diatamaceous earth in the filter?

[csdude55]

I've read a "life hack" about cleaning algae out of your pond, by simply throwing a Magic Eraser (or any type of melamine foam) in the filter. Allegedly, the foam soaks up all of the algae.

The author of the hack claimed that she used to spend 45 minutes per week cleaning her pool, then she did this and it solved everything, no more extra work.

I really need to upgrade my filter (it's 1-2 gallons for a 1,000 gallon pond), but what do you guys think about doing this as a temporary fix? Just shoving a bunch of melamine foam on top of my existing filter pad? I can get 100 of them on Amazon for less than $10, so that would be a great fix!

If you don't like that, another "hack" was to use Diatamaceous earth in the filter. I have a ton of that just laying around... I bought a 30lb bag a few years ago to spread around and kills bugs, but I only need about 4 ounces a year. So I could easily dump a few cups of this in between the foam filter pads, if it would help.

What do you guys and gals think?

 

[addy1]

No clue, I would try the melamine foam pads before I would add the D earth.

 

[Lisak1]

My first thought is a pool is not a pond. A pool will have water and algae, not all the other organic stuff that ends up in a pond. For instance, no one poops in a pool, generally speaking.

And what did she mean by "soaks up all the algae"? Also I'd want to make sure it was fish safe. We've had people post that they used "scrubbies" in their filter and then realized they were treated with chemicals that killed their fish.

Just some things to think about!

 

[csdude55]

I had those same thoughts, @Lisak1. I did a bunch of research last night and found a lot of people talking about using melamine (Magic Eraser) on their aquarium glass with great results, but nothing about it in the filter; they just used it to clean the glass. Seachem sells "Algae Pads" for that very purpose, that turn out to just be melamine foam:

Seachem - Algae Pads

www.seachem.com

Most of the talk I found was several years old, though. At the time, they said that the Original Magic Eraser didn't have any chemicals, it was just a foam pad. That alone was pretty interesting... knowing that, I can buy 100 generic melamine foam pads for the same price as a pack of 5 of the Magic Erasers!

My theory is that, if I put it between the two regular foam pads in my filter, then it's really just another foam pad that MIGHT hold on to algae better. If it breaks down any then, in theory, the second foam pad should catch any debris.

@abby1, I'm sad that you said that!! lol Mainly because I already have the DE on hand :-P I've read about homemade water filters for drinking water that include 2" of DE, then 2" of activated charcoal, 2" of fine sand, 2" of rough sand, then 2" of fine gravel... which basically emulates natural water filtration through the earth. I was hoping that the first foam pad in my filter could replace the gravel and sand, and the second pad would keep the DE from just shooting out. I have a charcoal pad in my aquarium filter, so if this worked then I could easily buy some activated charcoal to layer in my pond filter, too.

Why do you think it's a bad idea?

 

[csdude55]

I hope this is OK to post, but I found this discussion on DE from back in 2010:

diatomaceous earth

Anyone here every had any experience with diatomaceous earth? I have used it in my freshwater fish tank when it was still fairly new and had an algae bloom. The way it works is while using a micron filter, you prime the filter with the diatomaceous earth powder. Once the powder is settled on...

www.gardenpondforum.com

@jrladd and @Squidhead are both long gone from the site, though... too bad, I would have loved to have read their results!

 

[Lisak1]

Good point about the more modern Magic Erasers - I bought a big box of them at Costco and was surprised to find half of them were regular while other half were pre-soaped.

I could see using a Magic Eraser to clean aquarium glass, but it seems like it would be really dense to act as a filter material. And DE, on the other hand, is sooooo fine, I can't imagine it wouldn't all end up washed out of the filter in one big whoosh!

 

[csdude55]

I've read that some people sprinkle DE on the surface of their pond, and as it sinks down it adheres to algae and takes it to the bottom. But the problem there is that, once it's at the bottom, there's no way to get it out! So it just becomes more mud.

So I guess that if 8-16 ounces of it shoots out of the filter, it wouldn't be a tragedy, right?

I also want to clarify that the DE I have is food-grade, not pool-grade. Apparently there's a huge difference! Pool grade often has chlorine and other chemicals mixed with it, while food grade is safe for human consumption. I originally bought it to spread in my garden to deter grubs, ants, and millipedes.

 

[Lisak1]

I use DE at home all the time, in the garden, in the house. My daughter uses it on her dogs to keep the fleas off - much safer than the chemical stuff. I just think it would be hard to contain in a filter, but I've never tried it, so...

Are you sure you read DE to sprinkle on the pond? We use koi clay like you described as a flocculant, but that's a whole different product.

 

[addy1]

@abby1, I'm sad that you said that!! lol Mainly because I already have the DE on hand :

I use it to fight ants around our hives, it is a very fine dust, I have no clue if it would help or not. To me to try and use DE in a filter just would not work well. Just mho!

 

[csdude55]

@Lisak1, here's the first place I read about sprinkling it on the surface:

Can You Use Diatomaceous Earth Filters for Fish Ponds? | Homesteady

Most Koi fish ponds on display in stores have crystal clear water. If you purchase one of these Koi ponds and try to achieve the same results in your yard, realize that it is not that easy to maintain clear water for Koi viewing pleasure. Your Koi pond will need a combination aeration and filter...

homesteady.com

I read a few other message boards where people asked and others said that they didn't think it would work, but couldn't find anyone that said that they've actually tried it.

A homemade water filter involves taking a 2L bottle and cutting out the bottom, turn it over, then you put a coffee filter in the top (now the bottom) above the outlet hole. Then you layer the DE, charcoal, sand, and gravel. So if (in theory, at least) a coffee filter would keep it in place, then I was thinking that the foam pad would, too.

But I'm also concerned that it will be too thick and burn out my pump.

 

[GBBUDD]

I could swear i read in the past about someone doing similar and someone else said to look closer at the packaging where it said it was not intended for aquarium use as they used it to clean the glass and it was found that they were toxic

 

[csdude55]

Which one, @GBBUDD, the melamine foam or the Diatamaceous earth?

I've been researching, and keep getting mixed and vague details. Some say that the Magic Eraser has additional chemicals, but then I find that the Original doesn't. Some articles talk about DE containing additional chemicals, but they refer to pool-grade and not food-grade. So I haven't found anything that's conclusive, either way.

 

[mrsclem]

I think the foam pads are going to clog almost instantly and will be hard to clean. Check to see where Amazon is suppling those from. If its China, I would be hesitant about using them, no idea what they could have in them.

 

[Lisak1]

@Lisak1, here's the first place I read about sprinkling it on the surface:

Can You Use Diatomaceous Earth Filters for Fish Ponds? | Homesteady

Most Koi fish ponds on display in stores have crystal clear water. If you purchase one of these Koi ponds and try to achieve the same results in your yard, realize that it is not that easy to maintain clear water for Koi viewing pleasure. Your Koi pond will need a combination aeration and filter...

homesteady.com

I read a few other message boards where people asked and others said that they didn't think it would work, but couldn't find anyone that said that they've actually tried it.

A homemade water filter involves taking a 2L bottle and cutting out the bottom, turn it over, then you put a coffee filter in the top (now the bottom) above the outlet hole. Then you layer the DE, charcoal, sand, and gravel. So if (in theory, at least) a coffee filter would keep it in place, then I was thinking that the foam pad would, too.

But I'm also concerned that it will be too thick and burn out my pump.

OK - some of that made sense. It sounds like they're talking about a filter that is packed with DE - not loose DE that you put between filter pads in your filter box. So if you could find a way to contain it in a package that would be tightly woven enough to keep the DE inside and yet allow water to flow through, it would work, in theory. But again - a pond is different than a pool or an aquarium.

Here's one line that would concern me: " The one drawback of using these types of filtering mechanisms is that the motor tends to burn out with more than three hours of use at a time. " I'm guessing that is a function of how fine the DE is as a filtering medium and would clog easily causing strain on the pump.

I would also question the validity of this whole article based on one thing - they suggest dumping the used DE in your gardens to help kill slugs and pests. You probably already know this, but once DE gets wet, you have to reapply it in the garden. So using it wet makes no sense.

 

[GBBUDD]

Magic Eraser