How do you keep your water crystal clear?

[Prometheus]

oh-my-goodness. i wonder how many years seachem had to keep their biological chemists grinding away at the chalkboards before they got that stuff perfected! if that stuff is in no wise harmful to humans or the environment and it actually works like they say it does, well that'd be impressive now then wouldn't it?

 

[cyberwaste]

 

[HungDang]

i`m surprised people said filters.

quilt batting and water changes... water changes... waterchanges... the more the better, 50% multiple times a week!

why surprise ? lots of people have huge tanks with bio filter and UV light and the water always clear ! water change too much isn't good !

 

[darknumen]

Well, I personally think water change is the best... There is no perfect bio/mechanical filter. These equipments just try to simulate what is done naturally in the wild. (which is natural filtration)

 

[prober]

The majority of BB live in the filter or on rocks, sand, glass etc, not free floating in the water column. Therefore you would lose very little do to the use of UV.

As for UV on canister filters, they usually have so much flow that it is hard to imagine they are in contact with the algae long enough to kill it. Parasites require even longer exposure. This is why standalone units only have a flow of about 50 GPH.

To answer your original question I use 2 filters, one setup for mechanical with plenty of fibre media to catch particles and one with strictly bio media. Both are large enough to filter the tank by themselves, at least on paper.

 

[MonsterMinis]

why surprise ? lots of people have huge tanks with bio filter and UV light and the water always clear ! water change too much isn't good !

?...

I actually completely agree with quilt batting and water changes... no fancy fru fru for me! Solid maintence and consistant maintence = clear water and healthy stock. UV's are deffinately useful but imo are way over-used. Purigen is good stuff.. but I only use it if I need to "patch a wound" while I fix the problem. my mantra is "bio bio bio, water chaange, water change, water change" since there is nothing that can remove all the dissolved organics in a system better then a water change, 'nore replenish vital nutrients/minerals/ect either. The only times I've seen "increased water changes" harm a tank is when it's subject to haveing "old tank syndrome" and then it's not because of to many water changes, but inconsistancy in water stability PH/nutrients/ect. Thats what kills the fish not the fresh water.. because of slowly introduced to more regular and large water changes they will adapt back, as they slowly adapted to horrible conditions to begin with. Discus and other fish breeders do 80% WC's daily for a reason...

 

[Ocean Railroader]

For some strange reason my 75 gallon Goldfish tank has been very cloudy and murky white for the last three weeks I've tried changing out the water in it six times at 80% time. I've pulled up the undergravel filter and used a garden house to remove the brown muck under the gravel and it is still on the murkey side. Before this happened my tank used to be gin clear and it has had the same four Goldfish living in it for over eight months. The tank's filter is a large power head in one corner that has been running the same fish tank for three to four years and it is cleaned once a week and it is still running like it did when I bought it.

What I'm trying to guess is that my two older eight inch Goldfish got bigger along with the two baby Goldfish in the tank that must have started rapidly growing from two inches to three inches? Will this tank get better anytime soon?


Also if I moved these four fish to a 300 gallon tank would this proberm keep going or would it go away with more water and a larger fish tank?

 

[Prometheus]

I actually completely agree with quilt batting and water changes... no fancy fru fru for me! Solid maintence and consistant maintence = clear water and healthy stock....

what is quilt batting?