Water Clarity
 

Just wondering how everyone gets their water so darn clear. My water never seems as clear as say the LFS (some of them) :biggrin: So lets hear about water clarity.

Glenn

Charcoal, heavy skimming and proper maintenance works for me. I have also heard of people using diatom filters and those magnum filters but I have never tried them personally.

I used to notice the same thing until I got metal halide lighting, then my tank was as sparkling and clear as the LFS. Of course everything Ruth mentioned must be done as well.

Just installed the 175W 10000K MH retrokit. Supplemented with 1 - 24W 6600 T5 and 1- 24W Actinic T5.

Can you add charcoal to a phosban reactor?

Glenn

Yup. I usually just run it passively but I know lots of people who use a reactor or other filter to run charcoal.

Now I get to show my lack of experience. "Passively" as in put it in a media bag and let it float in the sump?

You got it. I will quite often just knead the media bag a few times a week.

Try emptying a your overflow thru a micro bag in your sump. They will pull an amazing amount of junk out of your water column.

Just what I was thinking this morning went and got media bags and charcoal. Gonna put charcoal at the exit of my phosban reactor and a media bag on my overflow outlet.

Ohh yeah and a couple of fish.

Big difference between a micro bag or sock as they are often called and a media bag. For example the micro prefilter socks are usually 100-200 microns. 1 micron is 1/1,000,000 of an inch. I use them in my tank and they work wonders for removing all floaties including excess bubbles.

How big of a media bag does one require and how much charcoal or is there a rule of thumb ie: So much per gal of water to get clearer looking water and how long is it good for? 1 month 2?

I am not sure if there is a rule of thumb about how much carbon but I usually throw about 1 litre into a media bag in my 230g and the same for my 190g. I remove it after a month although I have heard that the actual value of the carbon is lost after only a few days (or it could even be hours - I can't remember right now).

Hmmm what I got was Aquaclear filter insert bags........ Correct ones or not? If not where do I find the right ones?

Thanks

If you want instant clarity, try running ozone in your system. There is some slight risk to this method so you will want to do your research before you make your decision.

Something to think about.

Those bags will be fine to hold your carbon in to place in your sump. They will not work as a "sock" on the end of your water return.

What would I use at the end of my water return? This was all they had at Gold's.

Thanks

Ozone, ozone ozone.



One you use it you won't go back.:mrgreen:

IIRC Glenn is just starting out in salt water. For ozone to work it is a fairly big investment plus you either have to have a skimmer that you can run it through (more $$ as not every skimmer will accept ozone) or some other piece of equipment (again $$$) plus ozone still scares the crap out of me and I've been doing this a year or two:redface: :redface:

I don't know if Gold's or some other place carries the "socks" but there was someone on this board that had a whole whack of them for sale a while ago. Don't know if he still has any left but you might try a search on here or on one of our sponsors sites.

I am selling (I guess it is sold already) a used ozonizer for $60.

You can buy new ones (cheapy, but will work for a year or two) for around $100.

I have helped a couple of real newbies set up simple 55 gallon systems, and I got them a $159 CAD ozonizer right off the bat, it works great (they just use it on a very low setting, until they ever get an ORP monitor). They never run carbon (I didn't for 3+ years) and just let the little bit of ozone do its thing.


Just MO, but I think it is cheaper then buying carbon and other stuff long term.

Except for afternoon microbubbles from the O2 the macroalgae makes in our tank, our water is always clear. Mixed soft, lps, sps, bta BB 120g, low bioload, don't overfeed. No skimmer, no sump, no ozone, no carbon. 2 x 175w MH with PC actinics. Weekly maintenance, 15% water change, lots of crud siphoned from the bottom, too. I don't understand why folks' water isn't clear?

I notice alot of "dirt and dust" coming out the the rock. Is this normal? I vacuum it up and more comes in... I think that is what is getting my water not quite clear enough.

They want the crystal clear only ozone seems to give, mine is immaculate so i thought...when i saw a few ozone in use tanks, well it was a difference in clarity for sure.

We baste our rock every week before siphoning out the crud from the bottom. Lots of crud comes off the rock. After watching how much snails poop while making videos of them, I think it is snail and other poop that gets stuck in rock crevices.

I agree that ozone does give the absolute best sparkling water clarity and maybe I just LittleSilverMax to give me ozone lessons. It still scares the crap out of me. I know that if I did I would go with a specific ozone reactor chamber and not run it through my skimmer - not so much that I don't think it can and does work with a skimmer, it's just that I believe it is hard on the equipment and I don't want to risk the integrity or quality of one of my large skimmers.:mrgreen:

Zeovit makes clear water AND happy corals!