White Specks Floating Around

[timbruun]

I'd like to get my water nice and clear. I have these white specks floating around in the water. It doesn't appear to bother the fish. My stats are fine. I have them in my 90gal and 55 gal but harder to see in the 55 since lighting is alot less. The pictures make it look worse than it actually is. You'll probably notice I need to clean my intake tubes... but I can't see that being it. Filtration is 2 Aquaclear 110, a powerhead with filter attachment and a bubble filter - similar to hydor i think.
I tried filter floss hoping it would take out small particles, but it hasn't really helped. All the fish are acting normally. I do weekly water changes of at least 30%. Usually closer to 50%. I'm slowing down on the feeding for a bit to see if that helps.

I usually have the tank right full so there is no waterfall effect. I'm going to try doing a few large water changes a few days in a row and see what happens. I've been reading and someone mentioned that high mineral content in water can cause white specks? Would that be true?

It almost seems to be coming from my tap water... I just did a 50% water change and it looks like there are more bubbles... Would it work to put an inline filter from my tap to see if it can take whatever it is out? And if so would 5 micron be enough?
Thanks in advance.

 

[thefubar]

I'd like to get my water nice and clear. I have these white specks floating around in the water. It doesn't appear to bother the fish. My stats are fine. I have them in my 90gal and 55 gal but harder to see in the 55 since lighting is alot less. The pictures make it look worse than it actually is. You'll probably notice I need to clean my intake tubes... but I can't see that being it. Filtration is 2 Aquaclear 110, a powerhead with filter attachment and a bubble filter - similar to hydor i think.
I tried filter floss hoping it would take out small particles, but it hasn't really helped. All the fish are acting normally. I do weekly water changes of at least 30%. Usually closer to 50%. I'm slowing down on the feeding for a bit to see if that helps.

I usually have the tank right full so there is no waterfall effect. I'm going to try doing a few large water changes a few days in a row and see what happens. I've been reading and someone mentioned that high mineral content in water can cause white specks? Would that be true?

It almost seems to be coming from my tap water... I just did a 50% water change and it looks like there are more bubbles... Would it work to put an inline filter from my tap to see if it can take whatever it is out? And if so would 5 micron be enough?
Thanks in advance.

I would want to be sure what they are before trying to resolve a solution. Have you "caught some" it would be useful to know if they are animal/mineral or vegetable!

Try and get some in a plain shallow dish and let us know if it moves or is hard/soft etc. Pictures clearly show how prolific they are.

 

[Inchworm]

Would anyone else like to comment on this?

 

[MrPurplePickle]

Are you sure they are actual particles, if you put some water in a glass do they settle to the bottom?

I remeber one water change I did inparticular where it then looked like I had lost of small particles doing the rounds in the tank, could of sowrn it was bits of material, turned out it was air trapped in a powerhead being dispersed very finely.

 

[thefubar]

Are you sure they are actual particles, if you put some water in a glass do they settle to the bottom?

I remeber one water change I did inparticular where it then looked like I had lost of small particles doing the rounds in the tank, could of sowrn it was bits of material, turned out it was air trapped in a powerhead being dispersed very finely.

Thats what i thought, it might be a tiny hole in the filter pipe letting some air in. Just wanted to rule out whether it was an actual particle (which suggests something in the water change or even filter particles)

 

[OldMan47]

If I shine a bright light like you have through a sample of my tap water it looks a lot like your pictures. Without resorting to extreme measures in filtration, I would not expect it to look any better with that much light behind it.