XP3s causing small particles in water?

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Angler

Angler

Polypterus
MFK Member
May 8, 2007
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Colorado
The water in my 125 is always gloomy looking due to tons of little particles. I have posted another thread about this, received lots of advice, but the particles still persist. I don't think it is algae, my water has no green tint and I only keep the lights on for like 9 hours a day. My parameters are good and I change at least 50% of the water weekly and I vacuum the gravel regularly.

I think some how, my XP3s are not working right. They seem like simple enough filters, but something is just not right. I put pads in the bottom baskets, and in the top baskets, I use bio balls. When I break the XP3s down to clean them, there is no gunk to wash out of the pads. All the gunk is floating on top of all the baskets. I feel stupid because I have to be doing something wrong with these simple filters. Could the XP3s be shooting debris back out into the tank, causing all these little particles?

I am thinking after my next water change, I will just remove the XP3s from the tank to see if the particles clear up at all. This sounds crazy though, because I have only read praises from others on these filters.

BTW, filtration on the tank is the 2 XP3s accompanied my 2 Emperor 400s. If I take down the XP3s to see if there is any improvement, should the Emperors handle the filtration all right (stocklist is in my sig, most of the fish are still small size)? Will the bio-wheels have enough beneficial bacteria?

Does anyone have comments or suggestions? I work so hard on this tank, and the particles in the water are driving me absolutely crazy.
 
I would get 1) get rid of the bio-balls and get a different bio-media like sintered glass or Matrix made by SeaChem and 2) I would put the pads on top. Water gets sucked through the filter column, meaning the bottom basket has water passing through it first. Put the coarsest filter elements on the bottom. If you are see particles I would get some of the water polishing pads made by Rena for these filters... they work great.
 
cassharper;1531261; said:
I would get 1) get rid of the bio-balls and get a different bio-media like sintered glass or Matrix made by SeaChem and 2) I would put the pads on top. Water gets sucked through the filter column, meaning the bottom basket has water passing through it first. Put the coarsest filter elements on the bottom. If you are see particles I would get some of the water polishing pads made by Rena for these filters... they work great.
Click to expand...

I said bio balls because I didn't know what else to call it, but I think it is Matrix by Seachem that I use. Put pads on top? The water goes from the bottom to the top, and you want the water to pass through your mechanical filtration before it passes through your bio.
 
I run an XP3 on my 55g along, and water stays crystal clear. I use 4 of the black coarse pads in the bottom, efhiemsubstrat pro for bio filtration in the middle, and finishing pads in the top. Your bottom filters do the majority of the mechanical filtration, while the finishing pads at the top catches the fine debris.
 
The matrix isn't just for biological filtration, it is also a form of mechanical filtration. As the biomedia catches stuff, the pads don't have to, thus extending the amount of time needed between cleanings. This is also make for less work on the water polishing pads if you put them in.
 
Agree with the other posts, My setup is the coarse foam(30ppi) they the more fine foam(20ppi) they a layer of carbon, and they a mixture of fluval ceramic stones and recharable nitra-zorb in the top box with the microfiltration pad at the top to stop the fine particles from entering the tank. When you are cleaning out the filter are you washing off the media with hot or cold water? Rinse off the media with they same water from your tank or atleast the same temp water so you do not kill off the bacteria. If not then there must be a larger concentration of some minerals from yout tap water.
 
Thanks for all your replies. The thing that I cannot understand is that there is practically NO gunk to rinse off from the pads that I have on the bottom of the XP3. The majority of the debris is just floating on top of the top basket.
 
I went and bought the micro pads to put in the top baskets, so hopefully that improves things.

But once again, when I took the XP3s apart, all the poo and stuff was just floating on top of all the baskets. The pads in the bottom basket looked like the haven't even been used:confused:
 
How often do you rinse out your renas?

I used to clean them every week but noticed that my water always had a haze to it from fine particles, yet the water always tested perfect.

Then on a whim, I decided to cut back on the maintenance and now I only do it once a month and my water is crystal clear.

By increasing the ammount of time between cleanings, you will allow more gunk to get trapped in the filters which will further buffer the water. My water is at it's clearest when the filters are dirty.

HTH
 
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