Filtration

[awillemd1]

I am unhappy with the clarity of the water in my tank. It has many small particles in it even when there hasn't been any disruptions as during a water change etc. Recently I went to an aquarium store where the water was exceptionally clear and the owner told me that his trick was he used filter socks in all of his tanks. He showed me a neat holder for the socks that seemed very good. Do any other people use these or are there other more effective tricks to getting beautifully clear water? I have a good quality skimmer and it helps, but I still have a problem.

Thanks in advance.

Willem

 

[roka64]

Is he running GAC? That should clear up any coloration issues. What exactly are the particles? Maybe if we can determine where they are coming from, you can eliminate them. Do you regularly clean you phs? Is it sand moving or possible molts?

 

[melosu58]

You could get an RO/DI unit and have water that does not have these particles. What are you using for your water source?

 

[awillemd1]

Good questions. I didn't supply much information. I do use RO/DI water and my system is a 90 gallon reef tank with a lot of live rock and a shallow sand bed in the aquarium. I have a deep sand bed with macro algae in the refugium. I have used activated carbon in the past, but that is more for coloration issues or at least that is my understanding and not for particles. I don't know what the particles are.

Do people not normally filter their water? Is this not typically necessary?

Thanks again for any help here.

Willem

 

[tecwzrd]

GAC will clear a tank quick but I prefer either using Purigen or Chemi-Pure which does a much better job at keeping a tank crystal clear.

Filter socks are good for catching larger particles but the smaller ones are best gotten by skimmers, GAC, or the above mentioned products. Filter socks should be rinsed weekly also to keep waste from building up.

Out of curiosity how is your po4 level? If .5 ppm or higher it could be a bacterial/algae bloom that you're seeing.

 

[awillemd1]

Thank you for the reply.

My phosphates are very low. My RO/DI does a great job with this. I learned the hard way that I need good water coming in.

I am confused about the role of GAC. I thought this would removed dissolved molecules that give the water color. I never thought of it as a medium that could remove larger particles.

Also, it looks like most people don't do a filtration step other than a protein skimmer which apparently should remove most particles. I know that in my system the protein skimmer helps a lot, but it still seems that there are some particles aren't getting picked up.

Willem

 

[roka64]

GAC will help with water clarity, and remove some chems. That's why we would remove it if treating the tank with meds. Just about any filter media will trap at least some particles.
Can you tell what is causing the particles?
Where are they coming from?
What do they look like?

 

[awillemd1]

I don't know the cause at this time. I do have a lot of algae growing on my glass, i.e. I have to clean the glass every couple of days. Could that be part of the cause? Also, I have a lot of hair algae growing in my sump on top of my macro algae and it seems to collect detrious. I try and clean this out once a week or so and when I do I get a lot of particles in the tank. This certainly could be part of the cause as well.

Willem

 

[tecwzrd]

Do you still only have two fish in the tank? Are you feeding light? Even though you are not adding po4 to the tank through water changes you do every time you feed. Any uneaten food will rapidly increase your po4 levels over time. Your tank can even test for 0 po4 but still have it since the algae consumes most of it. I assume your sump is lighted some of the time. Do you have algae in the main also?

 

[awillemd1]

That is a good point. I have 5 fish: a yellow tang, hippo tang, striped hawkfish, purple pseudochromis, and a clownfish. I light the sump at night when the main light is off and I have very little hair algae in the main tank. There are a couple of places that don't get any flow that seem to have just a tiny bit of hair algae growing on them.

I feed less than once a day with flake food. The flake food I am using is very light and I think a fair amount of it ends up going to the sump which I am guessing is why I have a hair algae problem in my sump. Does that make sense? I used to use a heavier food where this didn't seem to be a problem.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Willem

 

[roka64]

Flake food will definitely add to your problem. I like to give my fish a variety of frozen and occasionaly flake food.

 

[tecwzrd]

That's a decent bio-load but I think your flake might be contributing to excessive po4 more then you know. I use flake about once a week very sparingly since most isn't devoured immediately like the frozen offerings I feed every other day.

IME almost as much flake that gets eaten just falls to the bottom and is not eagerly eaten by the clean up crew.

Seaweed (which I assume you feed your tangs) can also add po4 if any breaks from the clip and falls behind the rocks.

Frozen if thawed and rinsed before adding to the tank adds very little po4 to the tank.

 

[awillemd1]

Why is flake food so bad?

Wouldn't frozen food bring in just as much po4 as flake?

Willem

 

[roka64]

As Micah said, the flake usually ends up on the bottom and it doesn't get eaten, completely, by the clean up crew or fish, this contributes to higher phosphates. My fish gobble up pretty much most of the frozen, where I see a lot of flake left on the bottom, no matter how little I feed. Frozen probably does have phosphates, due to the freezing process, but not as much of it ends up on the bottom, and what does, gets snagged by my clean up crew. You could make your own food. Go to your grocery and get some raw, unseasoned seafood, put in blender and blend. You can then put it in a bag and keep it in your freezer....

 

[awillemd1]

Thanks again for the information. How do you 'rinse' the frozen food? I have cubes that fall apart as they thaw out. I would think I would need to put it through a filter to get out the juice and very small particles.?

I do use nori on a clip a couple of times a week for my tangs.

Willem

 

[tecwzrd]

Any plastic strainer will work fine. I just pour a cup of tank water over it after it thaws and dump in tank.

Reason for rinsing is that the water often contains po4 and by rinsing you reduce it somewhat.

Sent you a message also.