"Rick" wrote in message
...

that is interesting Tom. I just checked the paper that was wrapped around
my
Micron Cartridge and there is no such information. As a coincidence I have
been swapping emails with one of their Customer Service Rep's. over
problems
I was having with my H.O.T unit and asked him about it. His reply was that
if you have a filter that has those instructions in it then it is old and
I
mean old stock. According to him they stopped including those instructions
10 years ago when it became known that diatom powder was a carcinogen in
airborne state.

Rick

Well, thats interesting....!
I just ordered this from Big Al's. I suppose it could be old stock, but I
would think that would be more likely to happen if I was buying from an LFS
that didn't see much turn over, not from a mail order site like Big Al's.
The box the Magnum came in has ©2002 on it, so I think that must be fairly
recent. The filter I can't tell, but certainly the packaging appears recent.
How reliable is your Rep? How long has he been with Marineland? Perhaps he
thought you were trying to make a case for choosing a diatom filter over a
Magnum and just tried to dissuade you?
Who knows. Certainly alot of diatom filters on the market, and the media
readily available. Seems odd for Marineland to take such a
'carcinogen...don't use it' stance. I may contact Big Als and see what they
have to say.
Well, I have no plans at this point to use diatom powder, but I do have the
instructions if I ever feel the need :-) The micron cartridge worked very
well. My biggest gripe is with the micro bubbles the Magnum puts out. The
water LOOKS cloudy but it's not. Turn off the magnum for a while and it
looks great. The micro bubbles are spewing continuously. Trying to reset the
seals and use silicon lube, 'burping', etc. no luck yet.