How Do I Get Crystal Clear Water?

[brickell]

Hi iam new to this hobby.

iv had my tank for 8 months - but the water is never crystal clear.

I do a water change every week and filter pump clean once a month.

I have a Fluval Tank with built in filter pump in the cabinet below. The tank is 174 litres / 45 gal.

I check the NO2 levels every week and it is usually 0.3mg/l.

Do I need to be doing anything else?

I have the following fish...

2 x silver dollars
2 x plecs
1 x angel fish
2 x glass catfish
4 x gourami
2 x Silver sharks

Any help would be greatly appreciated.. thanks

 

[Dishy]

Hey,

You could try using some carbon in the filter, you need to replace it every six weeks or so for it to be effective, but it's worth doing. Or polywool 'floss' which is good for trapping particles of dirt.
When you say the water isn't clear, do you mean it's tinged green, or brown ? Or are there bits floating around in it?
I would test your Nitrate level (NO3) just before you do your water change and see if it's under the safe level (about 50ppm). If it's over that then you could think about upgrading the filter? Also have your fish grown a great deal? Particularly your silver dollars, angels and silver sharks, all of which will get big. If they have, then that'll put a strain on your filter, and if they haven't, that could be an indication of too much waste in the water, which would stunt their growth. All of which might result in the murky water.

 

[WILDER]

How big are the sharks.
Plecs are massive waste producers, so how often do you do a gravel vac.
I find over filtering the tank and using filter floss keeps water crystal clear.
Don't need carbon for crystal clear water.

 

[Underwurlde]

Use UV

Andy

 

[brickell]

How big are the sharks.
Plecs are massive waste producers, so how often do you do a gravel vac.
I find over filtering the tank and using filter floss keeps water crystal clear.
Don't need carbon for crystal clear water.

Hi thanks very much the shark are getting quite big and the silver dollars have got huge.

I gravel vac every 2 weeks but looking to update to the following vac as mine sucks...

Power Gravel Cleaner Aquarium Systems
http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/power-...stems-126-p.asp

what do you think any good - its quite expensive!

What do i need to do with filter floss? Also i do need to change the media for the filter as i have never changed it yet.

I have a Fluval 05 filter pump.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Underwurlde]

NEVER change the filter media.

Change white floss say every other week.

Sorry, IMO, carbon is useless - remove it.

 

[lyotim88]

as far as vacuums go, thats a cheap one. This one is better

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks overstocked if the shark and dollar are large.
Bala sharks need 100 gallon tanks as they get bigger. Plus they shouldn't be kept in less than a group of 3.
I would buy another filter to cope, as it sounds like your filter not coping with the fish load.
You need to be doing a gravel vac once a week.

You just squeeze one sponge in old tank water if the sponge is really mucked up.
You never do all the sponges at once. Then you touch the other one a few weeks later.
You just place filter floss in the top of the filter compartment.