My quest!! To get crystal clear water in a 40gb

[Kolkri]

Water changes will give you CLEAN water, not necessarily clear water. Small floating particles will not get taken out by water changes alone. You need some type of mechanical filtration.

Wow don't know where you get your water from but around here our tap water don't have stuff floating around in it.

 

[jcardona1]

Have you thought about using a diatom filter once a week, just to polish the water? Everybody thinks their sponge pads or floss gives you crystal clear water. Trust me, you have no idea what clear water until you see a tank that's been filtered down to 1 micron. It literally twinkles right before your eyes, sparkly and crispy

 

[junior1]

40b is a tiny tank. Good for dithers, guppies, and feeders. Filtration shouldn't be a problem. AC110

 

[DMD123]

I use 2 Purigen bags (100ml) on each of my Cascade 1500's (x2) in my 120g. 4 bags on that tank is more than enough.

One of the canisters also contains 2 liters of Matrix, the other ceramic rings. This was doing pretty good except I still did not get the crystal clear water I was looking for.

With the addition of a Aquamedic 9W Helix UV Sterilizer that killed any free floating algae in the tank, the water is now crystal clear and has been so for quite a while now.

 

[michalm]

Well,

If you want to have super crystal water in your tank you need Vortex Diatom Filter.

See my post: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=376572

GL !

 

[Ancient_Fish_Master]

i just added two 200 micron filter socks and like said before, my water is STUPID clear. hahah

 

[aclockworkorange]

Diatom filters are great, but the OP doesn't want to spend too much money, so don't know if that's an option right now.

 

[skerzfan]

Have you thought about using a diatom filter once a week, just to polish the water? Everybody thinks their sponge pads or floss gives you crystal clear water. Trust me, you have no idea what clear water until you see a tank that's been filtered down to 1 micron. It literally twinkles right before your eyes, sparkly and crispy

I agree 100 %! For the clearest water just give it a couple hours with a Vortex diatom filter. Unequaled IMO...

 

[Moloch]

I didn't say trouble priming, I said trouble purging air... as in after a few days I've noticed the filter gets air trapped in it and the flow is reduced. This is after the annoying priming process, which you make sound easy but I have 5 tanks dude, I don't have time for that. Your filter sounds like you recently purchased it... try using it for 5 years and tell me you don't have issues. BTW, the eheim I own that's OLDER still runs perfectly.
You know what I like? My FX5... it primes itself automagically and it shuts down for 2 minutes every day to purge air, and it's an all around awesome filter.

Ah...thats fair, yeah I've only had mine running for 3-4 months, I guess I'll have to see how it goes over the next few years. So far I've got no issues with them anyways.