Marineland diatomaceous earth filter making tank cloudy

[Hyde2406]

So I got the Marineland polishing filter put it in a 5 gallon bucket put the diatomaceous earth in there so that it would get charged took it out of the five gallon bucket put it in my tank and it started blowing diatomaceous earth everywhere I'm allowing the filter to kind of suck everything back up but I'm hoping it's not going to harm my fish or Coral any help would be great

 

[Fishnut]

A trick I learned when turning it on was to start with both hoses in a bucket of water. Run it for about a minute or until the D.E. coats the filter bag and the water runs clear. Then remove both ends from bucket and place into tank. I found that a plastic water pitcher worked well for this.

 

[SDK]

I used to do that by dipping, then floating a small water pitcher right inside the tank.

Get the filter running with both hoses inside the pitcher. As soon as the water is running crystal clear just lower the pitcher and slip the hoses into the tank with shutting it off or interrupting the flow.

 

[Hyde2406]

A trick I learned when turning it on was to start with both hoses in a bucket of water. Run it for about a minute or until the D.E. coats the filter bag and the water runs clear. Then remove both ends from bucket and place into tank. I found that a plastic water pitcher worked well for this.

I don't have any hoses attached it's this model, I'm just worried about my coral and fish. I think when I moved out from the bucket to the tank it shifted the DE in the filter just can't think of anyway to stop it from happening again next time I use it

 

[jdcri]

I don't have any hoses attached it's this model, I'm just worried about my coral and fish. I think when I moved out from the bucket to the tank it shifted the DE in the filter just can't think of anyway to stop it from happening again next time I use it

i was wondering if the DE cleared easily? I added food grade to mine and my whole tank is a cloud.

 

[MadeForThat]

You cannot turn off the pump while the DE is pulled against the filter, or it will just fall off and get pulled through the filter when you power it back on. Keep in mind that the DE particles are often times smaller than the pleated filter that you are pulling it against, and it requires other particles to jam up and make a wall of blocked DE. Like the other guys mentioned, just start the filter in a pitcher inside your tank, so only the pitcher fills with the cloud on startup. once it is clear, leave it on and pull the pitcher out from under the filter so it is then filtering tank water directly. At no time should you shake, move rapidly, or turn off the filter, or you can expect a cloud