Particles in water

[Fiori]

I have a juwel rio 180 tank, fairly heavily planted, set up for about 6 months. Water parameters all spot on, no algae problems - but - I cannot get rid of small particles floating in the water - it's doing my NUT!! The tank has the original filter and also an Eheim 2224 external, both with additional filter floss, but no carbon, cos of plants.

Any tips on what I could do? It's so annoying to look at my lovely tank and then see stuff floating about close up

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I get that in my small tank. Tis a little annoying although I suspect the nitrAtes are probably a little high.
There are some things that you can use to make the water crystal clear but the names escape me right now. I don't doubt someone will be kind enough as to name them for you.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Logitech]

I like watching those floating specks for some reason.
I don't know how to get rid of it, I don't mind them anyway; sorry I couldn't help you get rid of them.

 

[morgan]

When I had particles after disturbing the substrate I used Filter Aid. I got it from lfs, there are probably loads of different brands that would work just as well. The particles in the water can irritate the fishes gills (according to the leaflet). Don't know if that's true or not but the stuff did get rid of the particles.

 

[Undawada]

Diatom filters, aka micron filters are an expensive but sure-fire way to remove particles.

 

[abstract]

just put some activated carbon in your filter...within a day it should be cleared up

 

[Undawada]

He doesn't want to use carbon because of the plants.

Besides, carbon removes dissolved chemicals, not visible particles.

 

[abstract]

He doesn't want to use carbon because of the plants.

Besides, carbon removes dissolved chemicals, not visible particles.

oops didn't read that part, and i suppose you are right although carbon still does function as another type of mechanical filtration...maybe change out some of the filter floss? after it has reached a certain degree of saturation i've found that even rinsing it out doesn't make it close to as functional as new floss...you obviously don't want too kill off all of the beneficial bacteria either, but in a planted tank that's not too much of a conern IMO

 

[Tiggs]

i had this in my trigon.....withplants you get minute bits breaking away all the time so its hard to avoid......i did it by doing this:


avoid fast bottom feeders.....fish whizzing along the bottom chuck up bits of crap that hang in the water for hours.

filter - i run 2 large external eheims with floss filling the top chamber on both.


lastly......i have put a LOT of wood in front of my outlets - this means there is very little flow in the tank (despite the water being filtered at a very high rate)

this means particles fall to the bottom and dont get whipped up by filter flow......as the plants use this gunk for fertilzer im fine with that.

when i clean i give the tank a good churn up and get lots of that crap into the water - the filter rate means it clears very fast once churned up.

T

 

[Fiori]

Thanks for all the advice everyone - maybe if I reduced the surface agitation it might help, but I turned it up a little as the weather was so hot, to make sure there was enough oxygen. Now that you mention it Tiggs, the problem has been a bit worse since I got my polka dot loaches, as they bomb about all over the place. I clean my floss every week in tank water, as it does get absolutely filthy - I replace the Juwel white pad every week and the Eheim one every month approx, but I have extra filter floss in as well which gets changed as required - so plenty floss used. Actually the particles don't seem to bother the fish; I just find it an aesthetic nightmare. Think I'll adjust the flow and see what happens.


Cheers everyone

 

[Tiggs]

i had a horseface loach....he went back to the shop as he churned up the bottom. watch them, it only takes a quick tail flick and they chuck crap into the water that will take a while to clear....if they are doing that every 20 seconds the tank will always be "bitty"


i have floss in both my eheims BUT i clean 1 one month and filter 2 the next - so 8 weeks between cleans.....and i only clean the floss (chamber 2 and 3 i only do every 4 months)

if your floss is that dirty maybe theres too much crap in the tank? are your plants rotting or are there rotton leaves that you dont take out? a rotton leaf will drop particles constantly so keep and eye on that.

T

 

[Fiori]

I only clean the Eheim once a month, so I don't damage too much bacteria in one fell swoop - maybe I have crap at the back of the tank - problem is there's lots of bogwood and rocks and moving them regularly is such a hassle. No rotten leaves as far as I know. I will turn down the water flow first and see what happens and then may give tank a biiiig clean out

Cheers Tiggs

 

[freddyk]

Here's my response that seems to get largly ignored, but it works - add a simple sponge filter, driven by a decent air pump. It can do wonders for water clarity.

 

[danski]

do you have good clearence around the lift tubes? after putting some new things in i kinda screwed up the flow it seems by placement of plants and wood. i dont know if it will help but i was experiencing the same thing for the last 6 days after putting in more new plants and root wood. i even asked about this today in the planted section since i thought i had too many tall plants. i grew tired of water changes, seeing all the debris settling on my leaves and particles floating all around and finally took a good look at things. i dont clean my filters too much due to bacteria loss but after i squeezed it real good my entire bucket turned dark brown. i cleaned my filters real good after that and replaced two of the foams on my aquaclears. i checked my filter for level and also noticed it was way off. after cleaning out my filter housing leveling and replacing one filter in each im already seeing a big difference and my blood pressure level is already turning to normal
every time i disturbed anything in the tank things got real ugly quick. i thought it was the wood releasing little bits in the water or a rotting leaf. however rearranging things a good cleaning of my filters and leveling seems to have worked.