Water Clarity

[elmo666]

Hi all. My tank is not as clear as I feel it shud be given my set-up. The water appears sparkling when viewed from the front but not so when done from the side. It definitely isn't a cloudiness issue, more a lack of clarity. My fish are all active and feeding well. The tank is circulated at a rate of around 3000lph. My set up is an Aquamedic Percula 120. 1 x 9", 2 x 5" oscars, 1 x 10" plec and 1 x 11" pengasius cat. 1500lph external with various foams, ceramic rings and siporax media. internal tank trickle contains bio balls and ceramic rings.1200lph sump pump returning to tank. 500lph powerhead also pumps into trickle from weir. external returns into trickle which has 4" filterwool at top to help polish water.Decor is large rocks and gravel, 3 large pieces of bogwood for mt plec to rasp on. A couple of large plastic plants complete the picture. All water parameters are well within range, ph is 6.9, temp 80 deg. Any suggestions please? It could be that I am simply being a little too fussy perhaps.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Have you tried wiping the inside and outside of the glass to see if there is a thin coating of algae on the inside?

 

[elmo666]

I do that with every water change, which means it's done about every ten days or so. I think it's frustrating me so much because my last set up was an open top discus tank that was nothing short of imacualte. A good thought though and thanks for your post.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

For how long has the tank been setup/cycled?

 

[elmo666]

For how long has the tank been setup/cycled?

 

[elmo666]

Hi,the tank has been running as described for 9 months

 

[PJPJ]

Hi,

You've some big impressive messy beasts in there and some due to get bigger too.

468l minus sand and ornaments at maybe 15% that's 398l. It's difficult to say what your true throughput of filtered water is without measurements I suppose. Remember, if the external pump throughput is rated at 1500lph that is without media and hoses. Its real throughput is probably 1000lph if your lucky, unlucky then maybe 750lph.

I don't know enough about sumps but would assume 1200lph return would be the same barring gunge building up in the pipe and motor impeller etc. Maybe all the pipes need a good clean out on all filter systems?

500lph going through trickle filter.

So at best 2700lph real life filter throughput. That gives you at best 6.78 times turn over per hour, is that enough for a rasping Plec, Oscars et al?

Have you considered Seachem Purigen? Many people swear by it.

Active carbon can also clear up water clarity but I haven't found it particularly impressive the few times I've used it and it gets expensive.

 

[elmo666]

I will take a look at the seagum, thanks. Maybe the term sump was a little misleading. The trickle filter is built into the back of the aquarium using an up and over method through 3 chambers. Firstly it goes over a wier, down, up through pre-filters and over into the trickle filter. Then it flows down through the bio-media and under into the "sump" area housing the 1200lph pump which pumps it through a hole around 4" high back into the aquarium. Yhe pump serves to draw the water through the filter and no tubing is used. The external tubing is cleaned using a brush on a wire once a month. I knowt his is a tricky problem to solve, had all manner of set-ups over the years and haven't had this before. I am just looking now very closely and it really does appear to be very fine particles in the water, going to have to try a very fine filter media. Went down the carbon route before, but in my mind if is far more effective at removing dissolved impurities rather than as a mechanical medium. Thanks again for your input.