Hey people, been sometime since i came here.. I gave my oscars away and have not turned back here.. well to get to the point.. has anyone used diatom filters? can this only suffice for a 2000 gallon setup or do i still need to look at other forms of filtering the water.. Please let me know.. cheers..

2000 gal tank will take sometime before accumulating toxic waste unless
you have loaded it with lot of big fishes... i am not familiar diatoms
filtration but i do had experience in setting up a 2m x 5m x 1m pond
using a centrifugal pump to circulate the water....

a huge pond need minimal maintenance if loaded accordingly. i am not sure
what media the diatom filter uses, but swimming pool filter is using
decalite powder... i am not sure if they are the same.... the same powder
is now being used by some food chain in filtering their used oil for
recycling.

Diatom filter are great at cleaning the very small particles, I don't know if you can get them large enough to cope with 2000g. i still think like ofl mentioned that a pond setup would be the best option and give you easy maintenance and be cheaper to set up/run.

@paul / marcus - hey guys.. i dont know if you remember but I queried you guys a lot on my monster tank for silver arowanas and oscars and boy were you guys helpful.. I should be starting the construction bit in a month or two.. we just sorta made a plan for the tank.. i'm just wondering if i should make a filter by myself..looks like i seriously have to look up at this asap. cheers again.

yap...i remember you..you are the guy with big dreams (big tank)
should you need some inputs for huge filtration, don't hesitate to
contact me.... my knowledge in filtration (swimming pool, aquariums,
sewer plant, drinking water and many more) could be of use to you.

if you decide to have a soil pond (no concrete) i used to work
with one huge fish pond and my experience without scientific
explanation can also be tapped

I made a filter for my pond. the pond was 10-11,000g. I used house hold water tank plastic box all linked together and run off power heads. a water fall returned the water. it worked for me and was not a lot to set up. because i used a number of boxes I could remove the contents clean one box when needed very easy. I used 6 boxes if I remember correct.

@paul - thanks paul.. will definitely ask ya more.. thanks for the help..

@marcus - house hold water tank plastic box? do you have a video or pictures of this setup mate? even an illustration would be cool..and detail on filter media etc..

hey Kaya, we went to thailand two weeks ago and i saw this tank....you are
the first guy that enters in my mind... i love the fishes and i help them
to improve the water quality... i devised the set up of the filtration...

Awesome paul.. can you throw a lot of light on this setup please

I used 6 boxes. you can buy them now but this was not around when i had my pond so I made my own using drinking water tanks used to store water in the loft of a house. just a cheap 100L plastic box with a lid. I used pipes to connect all 6 boxes togther just like pauls filter.(can you post a pic paul of your line of filter bottles) and power head x4 3500L. each box had media. 1st box sponge, 2nd sponge and the rest packed full of media.the 1st 2 boxes catch all the crap and is cleaned wkly, the rest was media and didn't need much attention. the boxes were just setup in a line of 2 side by side. i don't have a pic. but the 2 small pics in the link below is like what i made.

www.water-garden.co.uk/proficlear_filters_GravityFed.php

you can use any pumps and any boxes you like. as long as you have some plumbing skill in fixing them together.

in this manner, you always need a clear suction point, otherwise,
there is a danger of "pump suction starvation".

in one of my design, it was the other way around. using a centrifugal pump,
water was delivered in an elevated tank, and allow the flow back to the pond
by gravity, passing through in a series of filtering box with different kind
of media. those filtering boxes are being clean periodically by on different
schedule to maintain good bacteria at all times.

@paul / marcus - this is thoroughly exciting.. i'm gonna go DIY.. will keep ya guys posted and bug ya on the same.. cheers mates..