i dont get it.......everytime i get my tank clear the next day i come home and its not clear anymore..........its a 75 and im running an xp3 (i know a lot of people say not to use cannisters but i clean it regularly and i cant afford a sump right now).....i have a little over 20 lbs of live rock....20 lbs live sand and more crushed coral........i also have a protein skimmer rated for a 100 gal tank..............why wont my water stay clear? is it the cannister?
why wont my tank clear up
- Thread starter bigpeacock
- Start date
a couple other things..........my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all come out zero.....and they did spike and lower when i cycled it..........and i also have a ton of copepods which is supposed to be a sign of a healthy tank
what kind of chemicals are you using?? whats the reason for using crushed coral and live sand? this more then likely has nothing to do with cloudy water but just curious. also what kind of skimmer are you using?? some tanks using canisters and certain skimmers tend to form a micro bubble causing your tank to look cloudy. also, how much turnover do you have. its unlikely but it might be that your salt is not thoroughly mixing! im just throwing ideas out there because i dont really know for sure. hopefully someone does!
the reason for the mix of sand and crushed coral is because i had crushed coral and i just added some sand for the hell of it.......i dont think its micro bubbles making it look cloudy....it just is cloudy....its not the salt because it was clear after i added my protein skimmer ( i added it like two weeks ago) and then one day it was cloudy without adding any salt.........i also did a water change to try and clear it up but that didnt seem to help
i have considered it but i want to keep my electricity use down..........is a uv sterilizer really that necessary to keep a tank clear?
shouldnt be needed. thats why i didnt say that right away. i think there is an underlying problem in your tank. like i said im not really sure whats happening so hopefully someone else will chime in.
Skimmer = only 2 weeks old? Might be the problem. They take a few weeks to break in and work at full capacity. It might be a micro bubble thing for sure. How long has the tank ben running? how long since the filtration cycled?
A picture might help. Also, What kind of skimmer? usually the smaller ones are over rated 2x so you might not be skimming like you think.
On my 120 I ran a TurboFlotor 1000 and it was awesome. Get one of these for your 75 and you'll pull out every last bit of gunk. Smallest salt I had was a 75 and I ran a skimmer that was rated at 120 gallons. It was a Bak-Pak 2 (Dual). Worked great. Tried a lot of others and they all failed to work as advertised.
Crushed coral = bad nitrate problems.
Canister filter = potential nitrate factory.
20lbs of Live rock = 3-4 times more would be a better idea then you can ditch the canister.
UV = waste of money unless used for algae issues only. Then they work great if properly sized.
I used to run all my salt on canisters until I ran into a huge nitrate problem. Upped the live rock and got rid of the canisters and wallah, not more problems.
A picture might help. Also, What kind of skimmer? usually the smaller ones are over rated 2x so you might not be skimming like you think.
On my 120 I ran a TurboFlotor 1000 and it was awesome. Get one of these for your 75 and you'll pull out every last bit of gunk. Smallest salt I had was a 75 and I ran a skimmer that was rated at 120 gallons. It was a Bak-Pak 2 (Dual). Worked great. Tried a lot of others and they all failed to work as advertised.
Crushed coral = bad nitrate problems.
Canister filter = potential nitrate factory.
20lbs of Live rock = 3-4 times more would be a better idea then you can ditch the canister.
UV = waste of money unless used for algae issues only. Then they work great if properly sized.
I used to run all my salt on canisters until I ran into a huge nitrate problem. Upped the live rock and got rid of the canisters and wallah, not more problems.
i agree with what VL said. i assumed micro bubbles in my first post only because i had the same problem. my skimmer being a deltec took about 2.5 weeks to break in. after its broken in it should stop adding those micro bubbles. depending on the brand they will sometimes incorporate a trap to catch the bubbles preventing them from being in your tank.
How long ago did you add the sand? It might micro particles of sand or it might be ca going into solution from small particles of sand . What is your ph an hour after lights out? If you are running the cannister free of any media it shouldn't cause any issues any way . It would more or less act as a sump.
hth
Max
hth
Max