RedSea 650 Water Clarity
 

Help me out please. I have a 150g Red Sea max s650 tank. Been running for 2 years now. I have been having trouble for my water clarity. Its not cloudy, just not as clear. looks like a dusty tank when you look close. My calcium is a little high, may be calcium carbonate ppt?

http://i65.tinypic.com/fcqr1l.jpg

nitrate: 0
ammonia: 0
temperature: 80
Salinity: 1.025
Alkalinity: 8.5
Lights T5
Calcium: 600
Magnesium 1350
Dosing Calcium, ALk, Mag

Have a phoshate reactor and activated carbon in sump.

Tried using a canister for a night to clear the water with no help. Thinking to get a UV.

Any suggestions?

how often do you do water changes ?

every two weeks there will be a 30% water change.

have you used purigen? purigen helps in my case.

Do you have fine substrate? Maybe something (fish or power head) is kicking up a small amount to make it almost look dusty.

Agreed with dkoko, perhaps a sandsifting Fish is kicking up dust, or maybe your cal and alk precipitating. How often do you test? Care to post up your parameters and wha brand of test kits you test with? A general statement that your cal and all is high is not a lot to go from....

Thanks for your replies.

I did post the parameters.

I test my water once a week.

I do have fine substrate that's my initial thought too and been monitoring my sand and it doesn't seem that's the case as none of my powerhead are pointing down.

Have you tried Coral Snow? Sounds like you just have suspended particles, coral snow will bind these for the skimmer to remove. It's Zeovit so expensive but there is a DIY version that works exactly the same, it's what I use and give crystal clear water.

Yeah I saw someone else mention coral snow and some say mb7 too.

Do you use any filter socks or filter floss? maybe try a fine filter floss or sock for the next bit see if that clears anything out

Id start with mechanical filtration before adding anything else to start

I have to 200 socks and floss too been changing them every 4 days and I used a canister for 2 nights In a row with no help.

floss
 

what size sump and what is the turnover rate? powerheads in tank?
I don't see how filter floss wouldent remove the haze... must be pretty fine stuff. When you do a water change does the old water look cloudy in the bucket? does it settle after time.....

my sump is 75g
flow rate 7000 litres per hour
4 maxi jets
2 wave makers

When I do the water change the water seems cloudy too but hard to say because I always blow the live rocks with a turkey baster before water changes.

If your calcium was the issue and it was binding in the water column I'd have to think your pumps would all be seizing up due to calcification. I doubt its that. Could be an algae or bacteria bloom of some sort. Can you post a picture of the tank so we can see how cloudy it is?

I just added a UV yesterday will wait for a few days and hopefully that solves the problem. The picture of the tank is on the first page but it is hard to see exactly what I meant.

ah ya sorry, my work blocked the image.

Have you tried turning your gyres off for a few hours? Shut them both down and see if your tank clears, they can pull dust of the bottom with the gyre they create. Your coral will be fine for a while with them off.

Just an idea.

Tank looks killer btw...

Thanks for be advice guys. I will give it a try tonight.

Just an update bought a uv yesterday and when I got home today.. crystal clear!

uv
 

Awesome must be a bacterial thing. What size UV and how much flow? I'm currently trying to properly size a pump for my 18w aqua medic helix.. I'm thinking 300-400 LPH suction from skimmer chamber discharge into fuge....

have any pix how you plumbed?