How do you keep your water crystal clear?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
W

Wulfonce

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2009
881
9
18
Ontario
I've always wondered this...

I could do water changes all day and still not get crystal clear water. Im not saying my tanks are dirty but looking through some of these TOTM entries a few are so clean it almost looks like the waters not even there.

How are you guys doing this? Chemicals? :confused:
 
many use backgrounds which can help hide any color tints to the water. If there is no background it becomes painfully obvious that the whitewall behind the tank looks yellowish, brownish, or whatever through it.

However, if you're keeping up on gravel vac, w/c, and filter cleaning, your water should be pretty clear. Since I added an auto w/c to my 125g, the water looks much much clearer than when I was doing a 25% change weekly.

my 100g however is on the regular 25% weekly change and it seems clear as well, granting it has a black background. but the clarity could also have to do with the fact that it is barebottom. it makes it easier to remove waste.
 
I use filtration.

i have a high turn over rate and very fine media.

On one of my 125's I have 6 pieces of drift wood in it. So in the sump I run a sponge for a prefilter followed by a 8"x12"x6" space of compacted poly fill. And then I have 3 sheets of white 1/4" felt on top of the drip tray. And then i run a discharge of my pump out put to a micron sock. The tank is powered by a 1325gph pump. For right around a 10x turn over.

The compacted poly fill, thick felt, and micron sock catch all the tannins and any other Micron-ish particles.

In my 75 I have 3 small pieces of drift wood. So in my emperor 400 filter's i run the regular filter cartridge as a prefilter and i have the gray media baskets packed full of poly fill for micron filtering ability.

My other tanks do not have any drift wood so i just run normal filter media and a high turn over rate. I shoot for 10-12x turn over rates on all tanks small or big.

I also do 75% water changes on all tanks once weekly. i am sure that helps as well.
 
I added a power head with a filter attachement that polishes the water, it helped in my case.
 
im a clear water junky, so i have a huge sump, FX5 and a diatom filter running 24/7 :)
 
8-10X turnover. Micron filtration, turbo twist UV For my mechanical side

Matrix carbon , purigen for the chemical filtration.

Here is an old picture. Kind of gives you an idea. Sony cyber shot camera lol... Now using black tubing and external plumbing and whatnot. But this is under only 40 watts of light :)
DSC03268.jpg

50% water change every 4 days obviously with gravel vac as well...

Never tried the chemical stuff like Clarity does it work ?
 
I notice a big difference in giving the debris somewhere to settle, such as a sump chamber. The filter floss catches most of it, what is left falls to the bottom of the sump. I just have to clean it out every now and then.
 
heavy filtration and a uv steriliser works wonders.

the best stuff in the world to clear your water is polyfilter. put it in an internal filter and youll see for your self.
 
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