Clear Water But Not Crystal Clear

[Snake42490]

hey guys. i have a question. i have a 55 gallon mbuna tank with 12 babies.. fast growing little guys haha... well im hearing so much stuff on what to do to try to get my tank crystal clear. right now it just has a haze... to most people it would be clear. but there is a week after i change my filter media when the tank is crystal clear. is there a way i can always keep those results. i have an aqual unimax pro 250 uv canister. right now i have my media as sponge carbon ammo chips bio spheres then uv light. im reading around and a lot of sites suggest taking out the carbon and ammo chips. then replacing and adding some extra mechanical. i have so much filter floss i could sleep in the stuff... haha so im thinking about scratching the carbon and ammo and replacing it with the filter floss making it sponge filter floss empty basket then bio spheres. any ideas on what i could try to do...

 

[Boids-n-more]

remove the carbon and ammo chips and add the floss and either an extra sponge or more bio balls. No sense in leaving an empty spot in the basket.

 

[Snake42490]

right now its Sponge floss, small sponge, floss bio spheres then onto the uv light. does that sound good enough. tank is a cloudy mess.... hopefully thats just from stiring up the filter.. probably just needs some time to settle

 

[raptorrex]

fraid that removing the carbon will be counter productive! you could add a sheet of filter wool on top of you carbon, but to be honest, carbon is the best way to clear water!!! IMO it is safe, well i can find no real evidence that it is not, can be reactivated in your oven, and lasts for years, when properly looked after.

 

[Murray]

fraid that removing the carbon will be counter productive! you could add a sheet of filter wool on top of you carbon, but to be honest, carbon is the best way to clear water!!! IMO it is safe, well i can find no real evidence that it is not, can be reactivated in your oven, and lasts for years, when properly looked after.

i agree, i have always used carbon to make my water clear and it works like a CHARM

 

[Snake42490]

ok so if i were to put my carbon back in what should my layer orders be. i have 4 baskets. right now 1 is spong second is floss with a carbon sponge on the bottom 3rd is just floss and 4th is bio spheres. tell me what to change and i will change haha.. where should i have my carbon placed in there and what about that filter wool?


here is my problem with carbon. if i put new carbon in my filter my tank will be absolutely crystal clear for 1 week then look just a little hazzy . should i then re activate it at that point when it does that? even though it says it can last longer? i want a crystal clear tank with great water quality for the fish. right now the water quality for the fish is the only good thing haha

 

[jgray152]

i agree, i have always used carbon to make my water clear and it works like a CHARM

I disagree about using carbon to get the water clear. I have not used carbon in years and my water most of the time is very clear. A lot of time I think its the simple things people miss when they see cloudy water. Latley my water is about 90% clear but has a very very slight haze to it becuase I tend to over feed my fish. If I let off a little the water becomes crystal crystal clear.

Dirty Gravel / Sand
Collected Fish Waste in corners or under rocks or coves
Over feeeding or uneaten food
Wrong filter media

 

[adambrum]

How long has the tank been running, It could be an algea bloom thats causing it ?

Is your tap water clear ?

Is it dust from the substrate ?

How often are you cleaning your filter ?

I dont think carbon in or out will make any difference at all.

The order i have mine is corse sponge, fine sponge, bio balls, carbon and a filter pad . The top filter pad is cleaned every 2 months and the rest about every 6 months

 

[raptorrex]

i agree, i have always used carbon to make my water clear and it works like a CHARM

I disagree about using carbon to get the water clear. I have not used carbon in years and my water most of the time is very clear. A lot of time I think its the simple things people miss when they see cloudy water. Latley my water is about 90% clear but has a very very slight haze to it becuase I tend to over feed my fish. If I let off a little the water becomes crystal crystal clear.

Dirty Gravel / Sand
Collected Fish Waste in corners or under rocks or coves
Over feeeding or uneaten food
Wrong filter media

i too dont use carbon!!! and have very clear water. however i can see the reason for doing so. could you explain why as a none user you disagree with its use. with no experience of the medium, how can you know?

 

[Snake42490]

tank has been a cichlid tank for now a little over a month. the water in the tank has been going for a little over a year. our tap water is very clear. im wondering if i should just do a good gravel change. i know i will get stuff to come out. ive always tried not to clean every spot of the gravel just because of beneficial bacteria. but have read that it can be replaced in a day from bacteria in the filter.

well yesterday i cleaned my sponge out in some aquarium water.. it was a slime mess. other than that i never replace the bio sphere ball things. carbon every month. not sure what i will do now that i added the filter floss. i put the carbon back in last night. which it did clear it up pretty good. i doubt i could be over feeding but who knows... i try to really watch all of that stuff.... im going to do a good gravel cleaning and see how that works out.....

 

[CichlidAddict]

There is no reason to not clean all your gravel at once. Unless you are removing your gravel and boiling it or something, which would kill any biological activity..

Last weekend I removed all my rock, cleaned ALL my gravel (with a gravel vac), my sponge filters, and my magnum without hurting my bio-filter. I have not seen an amonia spike in my tank since its been cycled.

 

[jgray152]

i too dont use carbon!!! and have very clear water. however i can see the reason for doing so. could you explain why as a none user you disagree with its use. with no experience of the medium, how can you know?

I did not say I NEVER used it. I have used it in the past and found no difference using or not using in how clear the water gets. Which is one reason why I don't use carbon since I see absolutly no use for it in my tank.

tank has been a cichlid tank for now a little over a month. the water in the tank has been going for a little over a year. our tap water is very clear. im wondering if i should just do a good gravel change. i know i will get stuff to come out. ive always tried not to clean every spot of the gravel just because of beneficial bacteria. but have read that it can be replaced in a day from bacteria in the filter.

As long as you have a good amount of bacteria in your filter, don't worry about getting rid of bacteria in your gravel.

i added the filter floss. i put the carbon back in last night. which it did clear it up pretty good

Did you add the filter floss and the carbon at the same time? The only reason I can see the carbon pouch clearing up the water is from the holes in the bag being so small, depending on the type of brand you use, the bag its self will trap a lot of small depris.

I speek from my own experience with 6 years of understanding healthy tanks. Before that I had fish tanks but did not know exactly how the chemistry worked.

 

[Snake42490]

well its a canister filter. there are no bags. you can put up to two cups worth of stuff in. right now the first is the bacteria sponge. then carbon and under the carbon is a mini black sponge to hold it in. then a bag full of filter floss. after that i have the bio sphere things then it goes through my uv light. i just did a 30 % water change. my gravel was a mess. even though its been going for a couple hours it went back to what it looked like before. i dont know if this would have anything to do with it but i have brown algae growing on the back of my tank and on my plastic plants. i have green algae growning on all 4 of my rocks. the green algae adds a nice dimension to the tank and the cichlids love picking at it. brown algae not so much. could that be causing cloudy water? i took a scraper and got it off the back... ive heard the lighting can make it look cloudy itself to. i know when its off and i look in it looks crystal clear. same when i have my moon light on.... but i have seen the tank crystal clear with the normal lighting so i know im not imagining things haha.....

 

[Boids-n-more]

A healthy tank does not need carbon. What carbon does is mask problems or remove medicines from the water. Your water can be cloudy for a bunch of different reasons ranginf from sediment from some new media to a start of an algae bloom. How long has the gravel been in there , are there any new rocks or decor , you talk about uv , is that a uv stearlizer , how big it the tank and do you have any pics of it? Do you have any new pieces of drift wood in there ?

 

[raptorrex]

There is no reason to not clean all your gravel at once. Unless you are removing your gravel and boiling it or something, which would kill any biological activity..

Last weekend I removed all my rock, cleaned ALL my gravel (with a gravel vac), my sponge filters, and my magnum without hurting my bio-filter. I have not seen an amonia spike in my tank since its been cycled.

some people get away with total gravel clean or change. however some people have mini cycles, after doing so. so being cautious is no bad thing. and it depends how you view your gravel/sand, if it is just for decoration, and cleaned fully every time. a compleat change would have no effect on your tank. however, if you, as i do, consider the gravel as part of the filtration system in your tank. i clean my gravel by wafting my hand over the surface, stiring up all the junk, into the water. some will be removed by the filter itself, therefor retaining any bacteria. the rest falls on the gravel again, and you wil be supprised the amount of that which is eaten by your fish. a compleat change or clean in my tank would start a mini cycle.
one thing we all strive for is a mature tank. removing and cleaning deccor, gravel an cleaning the sides of your tank, will remove the mature lineing your tank has created. again with the possibility of a mini cycle.

well its a canister filter. there are no bags. you can put up to two cups worth of stuff in. right now the first is the bacteria sponge. then carbon and under the carbon is a mini black sponge to hold it in. then a bag full of filter floss. after that i have the bio sphere things then it goes through my uv light. i just did a 30 % water change. my gravel was a mess. even though its been going for a couple hours it went back to what it looked like before. i dont know if this would have anything to do with it but i have brown algae growing on the back of my tank and on my plastic plants. i have green algae growning on all 4 of my rocks. the green algae adds a nice dimension to the tank and the cichlids love picking at it. brown algae not so much. could that be causing cloudy water? i took a scraper and got it off the back... ive heard the lighting can make it look cloudy itself to. i know when its off and i look in it looks crystal clear. same when i have my moon light on.... but i have seen the tank crystal clear with the normal lighting so i know im not imagining things haha.....

an open uv light like the type sold for comuters, will indeed make your tank look mirky!! kind of makes sence if you think what your clothing, looks like in a night club, when one is on! i tried one on my tank, as uv light has an effect on the colour of my crayfish. but it made my water look milky so i dumped it. if you have a uv steriliser in and can see uv from that, remove it and dump it, both for humans and fish these lights are very dangerus, and should not be seen!