Ok so I am obsessed with getting super clear water. No matter what I do I don't seem to be able to maintain clear water. 
So here is what I have going:
My aquarium is a 115 gallon.
Weekly 50% WC and vacuum.
1 FX5 with:
Top basket -fluval prefilter over rena bio chem stars
Middle - fluval fine filter pad over biomax rings full
Bottom- full of fluval biomax rings (sometimes a polishing pad on top to clear water after large maintenance)
1 Rena Xp2 with:
Surface skimmer
Course and medium filter pads on bottom.
Basket with biomax and stars (used to have polishing pad, but would clog too quick)
Hydor inline heater
My filtration keeps my water parameters perfect, but just won't keep it very clear. I have gravel as a substrate which I am considering removing, there seems to be no way to get all the crud out when I do water changes and the fish stir up all kinds of crud.
I also seem to be starting to have an algae problem, which makes me wonder if it is algae keeping my water kind of tea colored. Here is a picture of what the water (often) looks like after about a week:
Does this look like algae? Would a UV sterilizer fix this? Or any tips to improve on my filtration?
Sorry for the long post I want to provide as much info as possible!
Thanks in advance!!!!
So here is what I have going:
My aquarium is a 115 gallon.
Weekly 50% WC and vacuum.
1 FX5 with:
Top basket -fluval prefilter over rena bio chem stars
Middle - fluval fine filter pad over biomax rings full
Bottom- full of fluval biomax rings (sometimes a polishing pad on top to clear water after large maintenance)
1 Rena Xp2 with:
Surface skimmer
Course and medium filter pads on bottom.
Basket with biomax and stars (used to have polishing pad, but would clog too quick)
Hydor inline heater
My filtration keeps my water parameters perfect, but just won't keep it very clear. I have gravel as a substrate which I am considering removing, there seems to be no way to get all the crud out when I do water changes and the fish stir up all kinds of crud.
I also seem to be starting to have an algae problem, which makes me wonder if it is algae keeping my water kind of tea colored. Here is a picture of what the water (often) looks like after about a week:
Does this look like algae? Would a UV sterilizer fix this? Or any tips to improve on my filtration?
Sorry for the long post I want to provide as much info as possible!
Thanks in advance!!!!
