Cloudy Water

[adamc1303]

I recently changed my 90 gallon Fish Only to a FOWLR and eventually a reef. My problem is that now that I have the Live Rock the water always has little particles floating around and it is not crystal clear like it used to be. I pointed the spout from the return away from the rock but it still gets these particles suspended. I understand that debris being suspended is good, but I am not sure that this is how it should be. Would running carbon reduce the particles in the water? Is it detrimental to Live Rock?

 

[mr.125]

What kind of filtration do you have?
Carbon helps to pull impurities from the water column and might benefit your problem but not solve it.
Did you rinse your LR before you introduced it to the tank?
How much did you add? A large amount might have swung your tanks WC.

 

[jester805]

I am also curious as to what kind of filters you have. I have an Emperor 400 & Emperor 280. I just added an AquaC Remora a few weeks ago. Also, what is your turn-over rate? My tank isn't always crystal clear and I'm looking for help solving that as well.
I have a blue fin Damsel that is huge. He likes getting under some rocks and shaking real hard to kick sand up all over the tank. It drives me nuts! :scared:

 

[dzekunoi]

Prefilters on powerheads help me alot with solving this problem. However I always have something in the water column anyway - including pods.
I was thinking about adding a canister into the system but it is not recommended. :thinking:

 

[mr.125]

Originally Posted by dzekunoi
Prefilters on powerheads help me alot with solving this problem. However I always have something in the water column anyway - including pods.
I was thinking about adding a canister into the system but it is not recommended. :thinking:

PREFILTERS~!!! yessssssssssss thats the ticket
It is possible to have crystal clear water...hard but completely possible

 

[jester805]

Originally Posted by dzekunoi
Prefilters on powerheads help me alot with solving this problem. However I always have something in the water column anyway - including pods.
I was thinking about adding a canister into the system but it is not recommended. :thinking:
How often do you have to clean / change the prefilters??? Is it a weekly/monthly routine? I tried them at one time, but it REALLY slowed down how much water the powerhead was pushing out.

 

[mr.125]

Its a visual thing...when it looks dirty, rinse it out...i rinse all of mine once a week.
If your powrhead comes w/ a prefilter its recomended that you use it.

The pump will pull in larger particles that could impede the performance of that pump.

 

[adamc1303]

Originally Posted by Mr.125
What kind of filtration do you have?
Carbon helps to pull impurities from the water column and might benefit your problem but not solve it.
Did you rinse your LR before you introduced it to the tank?
How much did you add? A large amount might have swung your tanks WC.

I did not rinse the live rock but it has been over 2 weeks. The LFS had it in big tanks I didn' think it needed to be rinsed.
I have a 30 gallon sump. It a wet/dry set up with bio balls a skimmer and a U.V. Sterilizer.
What is a WC?

 

[adamc1303]

I removed all the fish and water because I had to redo some plumbing and then added about 175Lb and started my cycle over again.

 

[jupoc911]

it is extremelly diificult to get rid of every possible bubble in your tank. Some micro bubbles imo are aesthetically pleasing. If you ever go diving in the ocean you there are micro bubbles everywhere. However big micro bubbles are caused by air getting sucked in some where. The smaller ones are caused by flow banging into glass, hitting the surface, etc, etc.

 

[adamc1303]

I don't have micro bubles just little particles coming off the rock. It bascally loks like air does on a very sunny day when you can see al the little dust partcals, but this is under water in my tank!

 

[adamc1303]

Anyone Anything?

 

[jupoc911]

just leave it be. maybe add a HOB filter to help suck out some of the stuff. You can also turn everything off and let everything settle. However when you turn everthing back on it may cause all the detritus and fauna to rise back up. Try putting yoour powerheads up at the top of the water column this may help. Just so you know the particles you see are very good for a reef as they will feed your corals.

 

[adamc1303]

I don't user power heads just a strong mag 12 return pump, and as you can see it is doing well. Will adding a flare nozel help because it will be distributing the water in a wider range rather than just having it shoot straight? I purchsed one for $5.00 just incase it was what I needed, but I don't know how to connect it.

 

[jupoc911]

how big is your sump? do you have a lot of bubbles in there? You may have to much flow going through there and putting debris back into your tank? Is your setup hard plumbed?

 

[adamc1303]

part of it is hard plumbed and part is soft. The sump is 30 gallons. The drain is hard plumbed but the return is soft here's a pic. The water makes it down the drain into a bio chamber then into a skimmer, into my mag 12 and through a U.V. strelizer before it gets returned.

 

[jupoc911]

do you have any ball vavles on the return line?

 

[adamc1303]

No do you think it is too powerfull? Rite now I am still cycling sice I redid the tank so the skimmer os not running do you thin that would elliminate some of it?

 

[jupoc911]

i have a mag 9.5 returning water in my 75 and I had to turn my ball valves a little. Mine is split into 2 return though. I dont think it will eliminate everything but it should certainly help. How many returns do you have?

 

[adamc1303]

1 return