how do i get my water "clear"

[reefwars]

nice i havent been there in a while ill have to make a trip down i think the marine snow does that too i have mine refridgerated and im about half way through and it seems like its gettin thicker but i gotta say my corals love it i hope i wont have a problem switching over to coral snow from marine as i wanted coral snow anyways

[DiverDude]

Originally Posted by Milad

whats best way to get the water clear from junk floating around
I have a filter sock but its starting to get annoying changing it every 3 days. is there other options?

The sock is clearly (pun intended) doing exactly what you want. They are cheap, don't take any power, can't really 'fail', etc.

Not to be snyde or anything, but what more could you ask ?

[lockrookie]

i use ozone my water was greenish/yellowish and it drove me crazy hooked up an ozone generator to my skimmer with a orp controller. and now im happier.

[Seamazter]

Unclear water is mostly produced but too much particulate in your water column.
Mostly carbon will remove yellowing and some waste and hard metals from your water,, also does very well at removing chemicals and additives with the downside being it removed many trace elements from the water. It does also help provide a breeding area for beneficial bacteria.

The filter sock does a perfect job at removing particles from your system, does nothing to the water chemistry at all that i know of.
Additives like coral snow do feed corals, help remove the food source from many bad algae and bacterial blooms, and does help clear your water and remove red slime bacteria.

The biggest improvements on clear water is running the bio-pellets and zeo rocks. Every guy that runs these can attest to having the most pure water, and mostly the best tanks ive seen are running zeo rocks, and some of the chemical regiment. Bio-pellets do help but not as much as the zeo.

[fkshiu]

Coral Snow is a fine clay mixture that acts as both a flocculant and a pH stabilizer, I believe.

As a flocculant, its clay particles adhere to the little bits and pieces floating about and then they are skimmed out by your skimmer.

The clay has a secondary effect of neutralizing acids in the water column preventing lower pH which would explain why it also has an effect on cyanobacteria.

[whatcaneyedo]

Another option is to build a large low flow area in a sump where suspended matter will settle down to the bottom for siphoning out later. However that probably isn't feasible for most people.

[JonT]

I think the easiest thing to do would be to solve the problem, and not the symptom's.

If you have particulate in your water column, then something isn't right.

Over feeding? Are you putting more into the tank, than is being consumed (and I am including all the way down the chain to the bacterial level)

Water flow? Is there sufficient flow in the tank? Is it being fully utilized? The flow should keep particles suspended, but only for the purpose of getting it to the skimmer.

Skimmer? Is your skimmer rated for the size of the tank you have (realistically? Some companies put nice big numbers on them, but lets be honest when were looking at them) Is there too big a bio load? Feeding habits? Correct GPH going to the skimmer. Water moving too fast through the sump?

I would look at those. If all of that is working correctly, you shouldn't have the problem your talking about. If you feel all of that is okay, then I guess you can start spending money on the additives being mentioned. But it is IMO that you would be using the product for the wrong reasons.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by JonT

...
If you have particulate in your water column, then something isn't right....

Yes and no.
Your corals and some other invertebrates need to eat.

Depends on what you want your aquarium to be.

Mitch

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by Seamazter

Unclear water is mostly produced but too much particulate in your water column.
Mostly carbon will remove yellowing and some waste and hard metals from your water,, also does very well at removing chemicals and additives with the downside being it removed many trace elements from the water. It does also help provide a breeding area for beneficial bacteria.

The filter sock does a perfect job at removing particles from your system, does nothing to the water chemistry at all that i know of.
Additives like coral snow do feed corals, help remove the food source from many bad algae and bacterial blooms, and does help clear your water and remove red slime bacteria.

The biggest improvements on clear water is running the bio-pellets and zeo rocks. Every guy that runs these can attest to having the most pure water, and mostly the best tanks ive seen are running zeo rocks, and some of the chemical regiment. Bio-pellets do help but not as much as the zeo.

water purity is not synonymous with clarity.

The op is talking about water clarity here and not the level of contaminants in the water.

These two things do play a role in one anothers level but you can have perfect water paramaters with cloudy or even yellow tinged water.

If your water clarity does not stem from nitrate or ammonis levels, I fail to see how Zeo and or Bio Pellets will make any impact...
??

and filter socks are quite fallable, if you leave them for even a little too long, your going to have a hige build up of undisolved organics and sediment...a huge problem just waiting to manifest itself.

I believe the "what more" that the OP is asking for is something does doesn't require 2 or 3 times weekly maintenance....


Coral snow is a great fix for water clarity and great for coral PE too...

I run carbon (changed monthly), dose about 2ml of coral snow a day and am very happy with my water clarity.

[MitchM]

For any tank in general, the best way to achieve crystal clear water is:

-bare bottom tank
-very strong alternating water flow and circulation to sump
-fine mesh filter socks on water entering a sump
-strong skimmer
-GAC changed out every few weeks

However, with the corals you presently have in your tank, that would not be not a healthy environment for them.

Are you sure you want a crystal clear tank?

Mitch