Need advice on water Cleaning/Polishing.
 

Hello all I have a 27X24X24 cubish tank and everything seems to be doing well but if I look closly, I can see fine particulates in the water so I know my water clarity is not what I would like it to be. I have a felt bag over the outlet to my sump which seems to trap a lot of the detrius. I can't afford a RO/DI unit yet. How does everyone get such beautifully clear water?


TIA

Glenn

Running carbon somwhere along the line should help polish the water.

You could get a hang on reactor or HOB filter (like an aquaclear) and throw some carbon in there.

What kind of protein skimmer are you using? What return pump are you using? What kind of livestock (and how many)?

Carbon won't take particulates out of the water. Carbon absorbs organic impurities out of the water; which means it will take the yellow "out".

I have a Phosban reator running contraphos which has carbon in it. Plus I also have a bag of carbon running passively. Need more?????

Sump before I put the filter sock on

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s.../DSCF02731.jpg

Protein skimmer is a ???????? (cheap one) but it seem to give me good result now.

Livestock

2 clowns
3 small Tangs
1 Foxface
1 Coral Banded Shimp.

Brand new Mag 5 pump (1 week old)
Circulation:
1 Seio 620
1 Seio 1100???

Cheato and Red Macro algae in the sump

PS I have also plumbed the phosban reactor into the outlet of the Mag 5 pump, so the little pump running the reator is not there anymore.

Any more questions just please ask..... :)

Thanks

Glenn

Super clear water is a lot of hard work sometimes. My diatom filter( when i don't let it get plugged up and overflow like this morning) works wonders, i went from milky white (new sand, went SSB) to mostly clear in about 6 hours. My problem is a bad design on the refugium on my part and the sand gets out into the water column. I will drain it and shop vac the sand out later. Do you see any crud floating in the sump? if so it gets shot out of the return. I know a few people that put filter socks on their return outlets for a bit. Purigen if you foolow the instructions and are not using anything that causes it to go toxic works very well.

I hope you plan to remove all those Tangs. There is no tang in the world that will be happy in a 50g tank when it's any bigger than 2-3". I don't know how big they are right now, but they are pooping machines, so they could be contributing a lot to your water clarity issue. What are your nitrates at?

You have significantly lowered the effectiveness of your PhosBan Reactor by plumbing it into the Mag 5. The flow through the PBR should only be about 150 gph. It takes time for the media to suck the phosphate out. I don't think carbon is your issue.

The "felt bag" that you are using...is it a "100 micron filter sock"?

Your sump looks really young...how old is your setup? You only have 4.5x turnover through your sump. Sorry to say you should have bought a bigger pump. You should be looking at anywhere from 6-10x turnover. I personally prefer 6-7x turnover, and think anything more than that is a waste of electricity...unless it's a FO or FOWLR tank. This means you need something more in the range of 425-525 gph at 4' head. Yours is only producing 310 gph at 4' head. I'm thinking this may be a significant factor in your problem since the water isn't going through the sump fast enough for the filter bag and skimmer to clean it well.

Another thought is your skimmer. I have no idea what kind that is...looks like a Euro-Reef knockoff of some sort. Skimmers are worth their weight in gold, and you should NEVER skimp on the cost of a skimmer. This may also be a contributing factor to your unclear water.

running quality carbon and various resins in a decent hangon filter like DanG mentioned should definitely contribute, i've been using fluval carbon and honestly when my clownfish isn't dusting all the sand around the bta:twised: the water is pretty clear, one thing I'm starting to consider is that boyd chemi-clear fliter media, wondering if it actually polishes water like it says..worth considering

Your light is too far away from your Cheato.
Have a picture of your tank?

For you guys suggesting carbon...please explain how carbon, which absorbs dissolved impurities, is going to help with suspended particulates?

But ya, post up a pic of your tank. We can probably tell much more from a photo.