Help me achieve crystal clear water!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ok here is a terrible picture I just took of the aquarium:
100_4960.jpg


This is about half way to a water change, and hasn't gotten quite so murky. But if you look close you might be able to see some particle in the water and the algae growing on the back. For some reason it doesn't grow as fast on the front.

Here is a picture I took of my goby right before the last water change, looking behind it you can see how the water seems to get kinda tea colored.
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Actually on closer inspection most of what might look like particles in the FTS are actually micro bubbles. It is more the weird tea color that I am trying to remove which seems to kinda come and go. Is algae ever brownish like that? Or would the water actually be green?
 
Most likely a case of overfeeding and being a bit overstocked. Getting rid of the tinfoils will help, but I'd start by feeding less. ALOT less. Maybe once a day about half what you normally feed. See how the water quality is after that.

If you still have a tint to the water, you may want to check out Purigen. I've used it for as long as I can remember. Works like carbon without the negative aspects and can be recharged indefinitely.
 
Looks like you need more water changes, and better management of the substrate.

What are your nitrate levels before and after water change ?


I would start by doing at leas twice the amount of water changes a week that your currently doing and then remove the substrate.
 
You can`t remove tiny particles unless your filter material has fine enough pores to catch it, period.

Lighting plays a major role in algae, both brown and green. Bulbs used and amounts of time they are on.

If your water is clear after a WC and slowly reverts to less than clear, do more WC.

If you have an algae problem a UV can certainly help, but I would look at my lighting before getting a UV.

Food can be a big cause of cloudy water, as said.

Purigen has helped clear a large number of peoples tanks, but that only treats the symptom of what you are doing to cause the problem.

A tank that is in balance and well maintained dosen`t need products like Purigen to keep the water clear.

Good luck
 
You mentioned that the polishing pads in your xp2 clog too quick. I would run em....change em everyother day with your water change......and vacuum your gravel well. So....reduce your stock of big eaters, then I would switch to sand and add a few good sand sifters.
 
Chefken said:
You mentioned that the polishing pads in your xp2 clog too quick. I would run em....change em everyother day with your water change......and vacuum your gravel well. So....reduce your stock of big eaters, then I would switch to sand and add a few good sand sifters.
Click to expand...

I agree with Chefken as a wole. But what you really need is a dedicated canister filter that has a good size micron filter in it (NuClear or Ocean Clear but you will need a pump to drive them or you can use a Magnum 350 canister that is a complete unit) I have had that problem before but as soon as I added single canister with micron filter it made the water crystal clear. You mention your polishing pad clogs up to fast, that's because its trying to clear all the fine particles from the water. If you can get your hand on a used Magnum 350 canister to add to you other filtration, I bet that will do the trick overnight. Also its best to have two micron cartridges as well. So when one gets dirty and clogged, swap it out with the spare one and let the dirty one soak in water and bleach solution until next use. Make life so much easier when it comes to cleaing.
 
What are your phosphates at?
 
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