coffee filter

[BIO-Linist]

Has anyone tried using a reusable coffee filter as part of a filtration system?
I think it might be easier to clean.

[Lady Hobbs]

How can a coffee filter absorb anything?

[BIO-Linist]

I'm thinking of using one to hold carbon. I'm tired of tiny bits falling through the slits and floating around no matter how much I rinse it beforehand. The reason I use carbon is explained here:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Rue]

...I'm not sure if the water will run through a coffee filter fast enough...aren't the filters supposed to slowly filter the coffee?

[cocoa_pleco]

^ what i was thinking, i would think it would overflow due to how non-permeable coffee filters are

[BIO-Linist]

The mesh on the reusable kind allows water to run through. I tried filling it with water at the kitchen sink with the faucet on full blast, and it only filled up about halfway.

[DrNic]

Using coffee filters alone would probably only work as a physical filtration to remove large objects.

What I have seen done however is a system in which coffee filters were used to hold various materials. In the system, the filters were used to hold layers of carbon, bioballs, floss, etc. and were stacked onto eachother in a canister.

[BIO-Linist]

What I have seen done however is a system in which coffee filters were used to hold various materials.
Yes! Do you have experience with using coffee filters to hold stuff?

[DrNic]

Yes! Do you have experience with using coffee filters to hold stuff?
I don't have any direct experience. At one point I did get a used broken canister filter from the woman I know who does this so I saw how she had done it. Seemed pretty straight forward. Just layers of large coffee filters with different materials stacked on to each other. The hardest part was getting the ones at the bottom out without flipping them over. I ended up folding the filters in to make a 'sandwich' then pulling them out. It seemed to work pretty well.

Aside from that I would just make sure to use high grade filters so they don't come apart over time in the canister and leech into the water.

[gm72]

I think it would cut the flow and clog easily. I say this based upon your experiment in the kitchen sink and the filter filling up half way. I don't think it would take more than a week or 2 to totally clog. Proper aquarium filters don't impede flow at all. That's why you can take any standard filtration material, make a bowl out of it, and water won't ever fill up, it just runs clean through.