Can you use a coffee filter?

C

cichlidcichlid

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Jun 15, 2006
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Would I be able to use a coffee filter attached to a powerhead to polish tank water? Or would those reusable baskets work better as a permanent filter? You could just take the output of a pump and let it drain through.

Is this even worth trying?

If the water you are starting out with is already clean would this not make it better?

I know that you can get plastic mesh baskets that would probably work.

I thought I saw somewhere that reef tanks used prefilter bags over the intakes in their sumps. Would this be a better option? I think they are 5 micron.

The polishing pads that I have work really well but they get clogged quickly and are kind of expensive.
 
You might be able to use a re-usable coffee filter, but the paper ones would fall apart pretty quick.

Check and see if your particular powerhead has an available pre-filter attachment. My maxijets had a pre-filter attachment and it worked well and fit right on the powerhead without having to make anything to hold it on.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb142/anostomusternetzi/Saltwater/90g/saltwaterforsale.jpg

Bottom righthand corner. It's a plastic cylindrical canister thing and it contains a polishing sleeve that fits within it. I never bought more polishing sleeves, I just cleaned them with bleach water.
I found it did not cut the flow down nearly as much as putting a sponge filter or something on the intake of a powerhead, and polished better, IMO.
 
I thought that since the plastic mesh coffee filter was re-usable it would be ideal for quick skimming. It is designed to work with liquid as well as trap fine particles of coffee grounds. Coffee before it is brewed is in powder form and the filter is fine enough to prevent it from passing through.

I am not sure if it is fine enough to trap particulate in a fish tank, but I thought it might be plausible. Also it would be relatively easy to clean and long filtering life.

Also it would be food grade and definitely suitable for a fish tank.
 
Yeah, that filter paper used in coffee filters breaks down REALLY quickly. I would know because I double wrapped some peat moss in coffee filters awhile back thinking it would be a perfect solution.

After less than 3 weeks, I went to check on the peat packs, and when I tried to pull them out of the filter, the paper (both layers) simply fell apart, spilling out the peat.

Fortunately it didn't cause much of a mess, but it taught me that coffee filter paper is designed to break down fairly rapidly, and I shouldn't try to use it in a submersed environment like a fish tank.
 
Do NOT use white paper coffee filters for any purpose in a fish tank. The paper becomes white by being bleached...and we all know what that means. Nasty chemicals of which chlorine is probably the most benign.

There are some coffee filters on the market that are brown in color and said to be all organic and unbleached and all, but since these terms are not tightly regulated who knows how true they are. And paper of any sort has the disadvantages noted above.
 
Well what about those coffee makers that use built in filters that are fine mesh plastic? I wouldn't think this would break down and would be easy to clean.

As a side note I was wondering if the paper filters would be good for polishing the water for a short period of time. I figured that they were only designed for short term use. However, since you said they may contain bleach residue I think they are now out of the question.
 
yup good thinking not using them on long term basis, for the sake of fish safety.

haye have you also ruled out the coffee as well or the fish will become addicted to it. lol (kidding)
 
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