How much Purigen.

[cartandpeg]

Hi All,
On my tank Aqua One 980T my filter system is under the hood wet/dry trickle I believe it is called.

I was thinking of adding Purigen to see if I can get some nice crystal clear water.

As I have three media trays,would I have to add Purigen to each tray,I currently have one Aqua One Bio Zorb bag #6 in the last tray sitting on top of the noodles,though the bag does not cover the whole tray,I have noticed a difference.

But,I would like the water to be far more polished.

Currently from the bottom of the tray up I have ceramic noodles,two layers of filter mat,one layer of black coarse foam and sitting under the holes in the spray bar some fine filter wool.

Thank you.

 

[swifty]

Your tank isn't clear already with that filter wool? Normally filter floss is all I need to clean up the finer particles in my tanks. I experimented with purigen a while back and honestly couldn't tell a major difference to justify the cost/hassle of recharging it.

 

[cartandpeg]

Thanks Swifty,
Sorry I should have been a bit more precise. My water is clear,I suppose it could be clearer in respect to the polished look,but I still have small particles floating around in it.It is something I have not been able to rectify since I have had the tank.

I am just wondering,because I have a flat black background,if that is tending to high light those particles.

Hence asking if Purigen would add more clarity to the water,though adding one to each tray @ $20.00AU for 100ml will cost me a bit.

Thanks.

 

[Mebbid]

If particulates are your problem than purigen won't do anything about it. Your best bet is to try to increase flow through filter floss. I keep a hob filter that I can move from tank to tank after I stir up debris. I fill it with filter floss and run it until the water is clear. It works wonders.

 

[Mebbid]

Also, you can buy the bottle of purigen for a far cheaper price. From there buy a large very fine mesh brewing bag. You can cut it into pieces and use hot glue to seal the purigen in little diy baggies. It cost me about $20 for 6 bags of it.

 

[MICEY]

the best way to get rid of the tiny floating particulates is to run a diatom filter or some kind of micro filter , you might be able to get some very fine pads to add to your filter
purigen removes dissolved organics , and will make your take look like there is no water in it ,
if whats floating is white it might be bacteria and you might be over feeding your fish causing a bacteria bloom

 

[cartandpeg]

Thank you all for the advice,

I might have to put a small internal filter in as well, as to putting a HOB in with the hooded system,there seems to be no room to fit one.

I did notice last night a lot of particles floating around,which seemed to be coming from a tall rock formation I have,the fish where in there rummaging around and stirring it up.

So there is either fish food getting lodged in there or a fish had died and they stirred it up.

I have thought about modifying the current system and fitting an external canister system.I will hunt around on the net and see if anyone has done that mod.

Many thanks again,I will reread what you have all suggested and look at the options to help.I not sure how to do the quotes for each of you who posted,so apologies for not replying to each suggestion.

Andy

 

[cartandpeg]

Just need to resurrect this post.

I came to the conclusion that less is more with my filtering problem.

So to help with water flow( this seemed sort of logical,maybe) I stood all the ceramic noodles upright as they where just piled up and my theory was they where restricting to some degree my water flow.

I laid the filer media out evenly,making sure that each pad was snug up against the trays,as I felt I was getting some by-pass of particles.I also got rid of the filter wool under the spray bar.

This enabled me to have trays that where not all bulked up with media.

I did notice a slight improvement in the tank.

Another person who has the same tank as myself,runs the standard filter system but has added two of these,see pic.



From what I can gather these run from an air pump and as the tank is in the lounge room having an air pump and bubbles going would be too much in respect to noise.

Which now brings me to my question,can what is in the pic be run from a powerhead or would it be beneficial to put a small internal filter in.I do not want to much circulation in the tank,just something to maybe help pick up these small particles I have floating around.

Thanks all.

 

[Mebbid]

Arranging the filter media in that fashion is likely creating quite a lot of bypass all on its own as the water isn't chaotically flowing through it. Even if it did restrict the flow some its by a very marginal amount. The things that really restrict flow are clogged filter pads.

As for the sponge filter you posted, they are amazing for biological filtration but junk for mechanical filtration which is what you're looking for. What's the gph of the filter on you're tank as it stands? From my experience 10x the tank volume per hour is just about the perfect amount of filtration for a tank.

 

[cartandpeg]

Thank you Mebdid, Flow rate is 1000 ltrs p/h (264 gals) according to specs on web site. Very good point about bypass with the noodles in the upright position,I never took that into consideration.

I note that you mentioned 10x the tank volume per hr,which sees mine as per your suggestion, under.Current filter system is under the hood type one.

The tank has Neon Tetras,Rummy Nose Tetras,Rosy Barbs,Bronze/Pepper Corydoras and a pair of Bristle Nose Catfish. I would also say that when the Rosy Barbs grow my tank will be overstocked a bit..I can rectify this by removing as they get older.

Tank is not overly planted,consisting of Anubias and Java Fern,Java Moss,substrate is swimming pool filter sand.

I mentioned the above in regards to whether an increased flow would create any problems.

Appreciate your thoughts. I will flick the noodles back over.

Thank you.