Crstal clear water

[Evo_boi81]

What must i do to make my tank's water crystal clear? I cannot make my tank's water crystal clear no matter what i do eg, adding a UV. Wny secrets?

 

[Old Guy]

Diatom filter, but doing this will also clean out any good stuff in the water that your filter feeders would eat. The older a tank gets the cleaner it seems to stay. For me anyways.

HTH

 

[nin0]

Use lots of activated carbon in a mesh bag and change the carbon every 48hrs....

 

[MandarinFish]

Does carbon filter out beneficial stuff?

 

[esmithiii]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Does carbon filter out beneficial stuff?

That is the $50,000 question, which has been hotly debated.

Personaly, I run it once a month for a couple of days at a time and then remove it.

Ernie

 

[HARRISON]

Are you skimming?

I keep carbon in my tank all the time. There is debate about it taking out the good stuff too but I think I feed my tank heavy enough and am on top of water changes enough to keep it from being a problem. I know phosphate sponge is to be taken out after 48 hours to keep from leaching them back in, but carbon can be used for a month I thought. I change mine about once a month or so. I use a media bag (mess bag) and sometimes if something is sliming I add another. But I always have one in...

HARRISON

 

[Evo_boi81]

my tank is a 4x2x2 with overflow and i have set this tank up for bout a year now. my parameters:
ammonia:0
nitrite:0
nitrate:<5
sg:1.025
temp:82-84F
phosphate:<0.1
calcium:400-420
kh:8
Btw i do use a skimmer(amiracle quad) but the skimmer does not skim alot and furthermore the skimmate is always very wet and light in colour

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

There's synthetic resins that can be used as an alternative to carbon.

The up-front cost is quite high but they can be re-charged - quite quickly they work out cheap.

I use Seachem's Purigen - my water is crystal clear - good enough to drink (if you know it was a touch salty).

 

[Rich-n-poor]

more resins:

Bio-chem zorb

Chemi pure

either one will make your water sparkle

_________________
Birth Control Forum

 

[chris_h]

You could always do more water changes.

 

[mariner]

Be more specific.... What are the details of your tank(I.E.age,size,components,test readings.......etc)

 

[Emperator]

A bit of ozone has always cleared my water to crystal clarity.

I run ozone one night out of the month.

 

[XXX]

What kind of substrate do you have? A fine sand will often do more for clear water than crushed coral, ect.


Steve

 

[Evo_boi81]

i have carbon in my tank and i change water once every week. Sometimes i wonder are the impurities parasites. i just can't seem to make it crystal clear. The LFS told me it is very normal but i don't believe them. Everytime i ask they give me a product to try but it has never worked. I am totally pissed off with this problem that i never return to that LFS anymore. Maybe i should try ozone but i heard it is dangerous to use this as it will react or do sometime fatal to your tank. Any comments?

 

[Carpentersreef]

Hi,

#1, I don't think that crystal clear water is a goal of reefkeeping. All animals in the tank require nutrients in the water column to one degree or another.

#2 There are always parasites present, EVERYWHERE, including our own food, water and air. The thing that we must be careful of, is the concentration of the bad ones.

#3 My understanding of carbon filtration is that it will filter out anything of a particular size. I kind of equate it to early gas masks - didn't they used to use coconut shells as the medium? The shells contained small enough passages so that air could still pass through, but the larger molecules of poison gas would be trapped in the passageways. I kinda think that activated carbon works in the same principle. Salt water will pass through, but larger molecules, and it doesn't matter which, whether it's iodine or toxic chemicals that are leached out by corals, will be trapped in the passageways of the carbon.

If I'm wrong, please correct me, but that the scenario that makes sense to me.

Mitch

 

[pardsie]

Could what you are perceiving to be less than crystal clear tank water actually be minute bubbles caused by your skimmer or return pump?

 

[VkeSu]

I was thinking the bubbles too! I also run diamond carbon all the time, rinse out or change once a month w/full reef. I've done this for a couple of years now. If you're changing out too much water at a time, you can create a bloom ,and water can be cloudy for a bit? Do you have sand that is stirring? LR? to help filter?

 

[dukecola]

reef-newby, Ozone will not cause damage nor is dangerous to your tank. It is dangerous to humans if not used correctly. Must use carbon to remove residual ozone from escaping in the air. Most use it at the water output of the skimmer, I also recommend using a bag of dry carbon on top of the skimmer cup's air hole. Ozone has a sweet smell, if you can smell it you are using too much or it's escaping into the air.

BTW, Ozone is much better than carbon at clarifying the water, often only takes less than 1 hr of use to turn yellowish water crystal clear.
Neither Ozone or carbon are bad for a reef, many use both.

R/Duke

 

[Cruiser]

Reefnewbie

Is your water "yellowish" from built-up phenols, tanins, organics, etc.

Is your water "cloudy" from suspended organic detritus, fine oolitic sand, fine air bubbles, etc.

Is your water "greenish" from algae blooms, asexual caulerpa, etc.

Carbon is very good at removing the phenols, tanins, etc. in the water (plus other goodies). Polyfilter is another excellent organic compound remover, Chemi-pure is another -> all of these won't adversely affect your reef tank.

Ultra-violet will not generally clear any water, except "greenish" algae (or micro-organism cloudy tanks).

Ozone is VERY good at cleaning the water (so is diatom filters, but they can't complete with O3).
Ozone used correctly (dosage / contact time / removal / system placement)is best method to "polish" water.

 

[Cruiser]

Dukecola wrote:

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Ozone will not cause damage nor is dangerous to your tank. It is dangerous to humans if not used correctly.

I'm sure you realize and was trying to convey that.........Ozone is extremely danagerous and lethal to ALL forms of life, not just humans!

Ozone used incorrectly in an aquarium can be extremely detrimental to its inhabitants - bacteria to fish to invertebrates.

Ozone works great! & is extremely safe to use in tanks at the appropiate concentration levels. Ozone can dramatically increase skimmer effeciency too!