I am getting to the point that I am just going to give up and take my tank down. I had tried so many things to get my water clear, now I just spent over $700 on a Huge DE filter, all the plumbing and all the other odds and ends I needed to hook it up.from what I have read the DE filter should make my water Crystal clear but it has been running for over a day now and I have not seen any improvement in clarity. Why do I keep haveing a bacteria bloom? It has been months, I have a ridiculous amount of bio media, in the form of over 375 lb of saltwater rock, 6 8x8x4 Marine pure blocks, two 8x8x2 brightwell blocks and four 8x4x2 brightwell bricks. I should have no problem growing bacteria. I also have 2 algae scrubber going and pothos growing to keep nutritions and phosphates down I also do not over feed, as I only feed twice a day and with over 200 fish in the tank the food goes quick. Dose anyone have anymore suggestions as to what I can try?
To many floting Particles
- Thread starter Tj203
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This is a heartbreaker; I've seen a few of your threads and know how much time/effort/space/money you have sunk into this tank system.
You mention tiny particles floating in the water, but you also speak of a bacterial bloom. Bacteria aren't visible as particles, they simply make the water milky and unclear but you can't see them individually. Tiny particles will also obviously make the tank appear not clear, but they aren't necessarily accompanied by a bloom. Can't tell from the pictures which is the case in your tank?
When you first set up a diatom filter, especially if you aren't super careful in charging it with powder, it's easy to introduce some diatomaceous earth into the tank itself and that will also cloud up your water temporarily. The DE powder is so fine it won't be visible as particles, just as a milky white colouration in the water (like a bloom); if the filter is working correctly it quickly clears up. I wonder if possibly your DE filter has some sort of leak or by-pass that is allowing the DE to continually escape into the water?
Or...to continue spitballing a bit...is it possible that you are introducing some DE powder into the tank and then the high-flow pumps operating your other filters keep it suspended? Your mechanical filtration might be too coarse to remove it, so it just stays in suspension until it can finally be captured by the DE filter itself?
You mention tiny particles floating in the water, but you also speak of a bacterial bloom. Bacteria aren't visible as particles, they simply make the water milky and unclear but you can't see them individually. Tiny particles will also obviously make the tank appear not clear, but they aren't necessarily accompanied by a bloom. Can't tell from the pictures which is the case in your tank?
When you first set up a diatom filter, especially if you aren't super careful in charging it with powder, it's easy to introduce some diatomaceous earth into the tank itself and that will also cloud up your water temporarily. The DE powder is so fine it won't be visible as particles, just as a milky white colouration in the water (like a bloom); if the filter is working correctly it quickly clears up. I wonder if possibly your DE filter has some sort of leak or by-pass that is allowing the DE to continually escape into the water?
Or...to continue spitballing a bit...is it possible that you are introducing some DE powder into the tank and then the high-flow pumps operating your other filters keep it suspended? Your mechanical filtration might be too coarse to remove it, so it just stays in suspension until it can finally be captured by the DE filter itself?
Just thought of something: is there any chance that you used an insufficient amount of DE when charging the filter? If there's not enough powder to adequately coat all surfaces of the screen or whatever substrate is used to hold the DE, then the water will take the path of least resistance and bypass the powder, rendering the filter ineffective. And does the actual flow rate provided by your pump match the filter manufacturer's recommendations?
So I have both tiny particles and the water Is milky white. As far as charging the filter I have a set of valves that I close to isolate the intake and output and redirect it in to a bucket and I let it run until it was clear. I am using cellulose fiber instead of DE because it will filter oil and go down to to 2 microns. heterotrophic bacteria is around 3 microns so it should filter them out. The filter has been running for about 24 hours and I see a noticeable decrease in the floting particles but the milk haze is still there and has not improve.
I used what the bag called for 12 cups of cellulose for a 48 sq ft DE filter. As far as the flow rate if anything the pump is over kill. It is a 4 HP with over 12000 GPH and 80 ft of head. The filter only needs about 5500 GPH. So with all the back pressure I should be around that or maybe a little more.
The only thing I can think of is that my Continuous water drip is doing it and I am going to try and turn that of for a few days and see what happens. I am truly at a loss I have had fish tanks for almost 20 years and have never had this problem for this long it usually clears up by itself. I had to Take out about 40% of the water in the last 2 days to hook up the filter Maybe that Is contributing to it too
I’ve filtered a few hundred thousand gallons of beer with a DE filter before we went to centrifuge at the brewery where I used to brew.
We charged the filter with cellulose fiber then DE. The cellulose fiber was to provide a bed for the DE on the screens- not too filter the microscopic yeast from the beer. The DE does the heavy lifting when it comes to polishing
We charged the filter with cellulose fiber then DE. The cellulose fiber was to provide a bed for the DE on the screens- not too filter the microscopic yeast from the beer. The DE does the heavy lifting when it comes to polishing
If you are suggesting a 40percent water change contributed to this- doesn’t that sort of ignore that it’s been ongoing - if you fill a glass with your water source water- is it turbid as well?
Large water changes make it worse, so because I just did one maybe it will take longer to clear it up. Also that's why I am thinking of turning off my Continuous water change. The water source would not be turbid, the water gets Cloudy because of the bacteria. Adding new water makes the bloom get better and then worse.
