Crystal Clear Water , HOW ???

[DR.V]

Here is my tank. Does anyone know how to make the water crystal clear ?? Right now , the water seems to be cloudy a bit. It only turns clear after water changes. The next day will turn cloudy again until next water change . I use mini reef filter, lots of bio balls and thick filter wool.

Water pH is 6.5 , temp 29-30 .

Thanks

[leanne31]

Have you tried adding some charcoal to your filter to see if that makes a difference by the way your tank looks great :lol:

leanne

[DR.V]

u mean active carbon ? i used to , for 2 months , i put 500g of carbon on the top layer of my mini reef. It seems make no difference to me.

Thanks leanne

[Merrilyn]

how long have you had your tank set up?

[kalebjarrod]

That was gona be my question

[DR.V]

so far 5 months. Maybe u after the bacteria in the filter ?
I got enough good bacteria in the filter i think

[kalebjarrod]

yep you should have enough

what about substartes and ferts for your plants a little info?

[Ben]

i have a big call!......
try and use some geo liquid..
see what happens...

Ben

[Kaza]

For the first six months my tank was set up I had cloudy water. I tried every thing, finally someone told me I was cleaning the canister filter too much (once a week) I stopped cleaning it and within ten days I had crystal clear water.

[DR.V]

hmmm cleaning filter ?? i think i clean mine every six months :P , so far i only clean this filter once since it was set up...
geo liquid ?? is that the one with the mongkey ??
are they expensive ??

hoho many thanks for the reply

[DR.V]

yep you should have enough

what about substartes and ferts for your plants a little info?

Hmm... i use natural gravel only , with no bottom ferts
i added some liquid fert and use CO2 .

[pitchblack]

try using bio zorb. I have used it and it seems to take out all the muck in the tank including water discolouration. Its 35 per pouch so for me I use 2 for my fluval. But try geo liquid it will give you an indiciatation of how your filter is working, so I have to agree with prodigydiscus.

[weird]

Check your filter wool , it is probably full of gunk if you have not cleaned it in 6 months. I clean my cannister filters every 3 months, and replace filter wool. It is as cheap as chips from the right places.

[DR.V]

the only thing i change is the filter wool every month , yeahh its cheap here , 1 huge bag ( like rubbish bag size ) only 10 bucks !!!!! so i never wash and clean them , just change them !!

Thanks for the info , i'll try some geo liquid soon

[Bill T.]

I had a similar situation with my aquarium. I installed a U.V. steriliser & the water went clear overnight - also took care of a recurrent bacterial invasion.

[mistakes r crucial]

I know the pro's and cons of using UV's has been discussed many times but as far as I'm concerned they rock! Wouldn't be without them.
MAC

[Dee]

G'day MAC,

I know the pro's of using a UVS, didn't know there where cons ? what are the cons ?

Cheers,

Dee. :)

[goldenpigeon]

i recently cleaned my 2 canisters and like kaza said the water went cloudy. when i clean filters i use geo-liquid. it clears it up quickly. give it a go

[Ben]

Hi Crew,
I have read a couple of cons with uv systems, There is some great info in the book DISCUS HEALTH by Dieter Untergasser.
He writes both the pros and cons, the pros we already know but here are some of the cons:

Not only does the UV kill the bad bacteria but it also kills the good bacteria.

Affects usage of medication in the treated water

Immune system of fish is substantially reduced by long term use of UV, (but this has not yet been supported by thougher investigation) :?:

So there you have it! I personnaly dont use UV, probarly due to the fact i need all the powerpoints! But i believe if it works for you, then why not! :)

HTH

Ben
:D
:) :) :D

[DR.V]

Hei all ,
Im also using UV :D since the first start up
Hm... I think im gonna try this geo liquid, i'll buy them this weekend

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi Dee,

Prodigy mentioned most of the negative opinions I've read, ie immunity system weakened, good bacteria/bad bacteria dead etc. I use them, and as I said, I wouldn't be without them.

A mate of mine that I very much respect (successfully bred fish/Discus for 40 years) said that when he had his LFS he would lose fish from the wholesaler if he had 100% UV running through his system. When he changed it to 70% all was OK. Based on that information (only one opinion but a very experienced one) I do the same, 70% through the grow outs and 100% through the breeding system. The fish that I sell don't die so for me it works.

If you don't intend selling fish I can't see there is any issue whatsoever.
MAC

[Dee]

G'day MAC,

Thanks for the info ... appreciate it. So if for any reason i remove my 100% UV setup on my home 4x2x2, will my fish be effected in any way?

I just rememberd I once read some where that in the initial phase of adding a UV to a tank it can unsettle the tank slightly, but i think this was in regard to a newly cycled tank. My filters been fully cycled for over a year now, so I don't think it would be a problem. Then again i could be completely misinformed :roll:

Cheers,

Dee :)

[mistakes r crucial]

Dee,

I have switched mine off for weeks on end and I haven't seen any visible difference in my fish but there's a big difference in the water. No where near as crystal.

Must have had too many Chardonnays last night as my last post should have read that my mates customers complained of losing fish they had bought from him when he was using 100% UV and no losses when he dropped it back to 70%. Sorry about that.
MAC

[Fishpimpin73]

As far as the cloudy water goes.......

I would say that your tank keeps going through mini-cycles.

Cloudy water is a sign of the increased production of ammonia.

This would prolly be bc you change your filter wool out every month.

When you do this you are removing a large part of your bacteria bed.
This in turn causes your system to go into overdrive to make up for the excess.
Sounds to me like your lucky you haven't had a major crash.

I never replace filter media unless it is falling apart.
Some of my filters have been running for three years or more and
they have the same media in them that I started them with.

[geral]

to make your tank look crystal clear use Purigen (Seachem). this filtering stuff have a lots of pros and is better substitute of/than carbon; it absorbs ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates. eliminates colours and odors of your water, ups to six months and can regenerate it with a solution of bleach; and the best part is that not elimminates trace elements. so, if you have a planted tank it will not eliminates the fertilization stuff you added and it will not eliminates minerals and essential elements for discus healthyness. the negative part is that this product consists on very tiny spheres and to use it you will need a special filtering bag.

[merman]

Anyone else used Purigen? How much? Is it any good?

[Davo]

The only problem with using Purigen in a planted tank is that it removes nitrates. You need about 10 ppm nitrates.

I don't think that it removes phosphates though. Seachem Phosguard does.

The purigen will clean the water column but will hamper plant growth.

Dave.