How to get crystal clear water help please.

[unbreakabl]

Originally Posted by kzoo
If your in your cycle this may be why you have high ni and na. How long have you had this tank setup? You have done water changes to get the well water out right? If so you have not finish your cycle. You need to buy a saltwater test kit if you dont have one and test your am, you shouls see a spike and then go to 0, also your ni and na should be at 0 after the cycle. Do you have fish in the tank? Also sal just make your next water change with more salt. I hope you have some way to test it? :happyfish
yes i do have fish in the tank and i bought this am test kit which you just put on your tank and it just says safe. I have been doing 20% water exchanges each week for about 3 weks now. And yes i do have a way to test my salt. any other suggestions would be still of much help thankyou.

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by Unbreakabl
yes i do have fish in the tank and i bought this am test kit which you just put on your tank and it just says safe. I have been doing 20% water exchanges each week for about 3 weks now. And yes i do have a way to test my salt. any other suggestions would be still of much help thankyou.

Dump that test kit and get one that measures in ppm.
Your mix out water...are you circulating it for 24 hrs. + before doing a change?
Your specific gravity at 1.020 is way too low...are you making sure your change out water is 1.025 before you use it?
Carbon is fine to use in a reef. Some keep it in 24/7, some use it once a month. Both work, though I find using it 24/7 works better for me. It does need to be changed once a month or so if you do 24/7. Black diamond by Marine is the best IMO.
Next, your bio filter isn't helping matters unless youa re chaning filter medium once a week or so. It is fighting the protein skimmer. If you want to keep the hob filter, I would empty it out, and use it for surfac agitatio, and a place to put the carbon in a mesh bag. You may also want to add some phosban for the phosphates in a similar fashion.
Well water is fine, as long as you have it tested. I use a special filter system on my well water that is better than ro/di as it incorporates ozone, UV light, cyclonic action, .5 micorn carbon block etc....
The source water for mixing salt and top off is crucial.

 

[namas05]

What does a system like that for well water cost and does it filter all the water coming into your house? Sorry just curious.

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by namas05
What does a system like that for well water cost and does it filter all the water coming into your house? Sorry just curious.

Sorry, couldnt find the image, but it is a countertop unit. Cost is $475 or so. Perfect for drinking well water as it kills all bacteria as well.
I wouldnt drink anything from a faucet anywhere without it. Just my opinion.

 

[saltfan]

Just buy a canister filter of your choice, with around a 300+gph, and run a pad and carbon in it, for short periods of time. This will clean up your water.

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by SaltFan
Just buy a canister filter of your choice, with around a 300+gph, and run a pad and carbon in it, for short periods of time. This will clean up your water.

I would advise against this. Canister filters are the WORST for harboring detrius, thus creating more nitrates and phosphates. They are also very difficult to clean. I went that route a couple of times over the years, and I learned my lesson.
Better off with an empty hang on back whisper or something, devoid of any media. In other words, run it without any filter floss, bio balls etc....
This allows you to:
1. Increase surface agitation which is very important for gas exchange
2. Have a place to easily drop in a mesh bag with carbon
3. Drop in a mesh bag for phosban or similar
4. A place to dose anything such as your b-ionic 2 part as it will be "mixed up" in the hob rather than dose into the tank directly
5. Easy to clean in minutes.
6. Far less chance of having a flooding problem with a canister hose letting loose (but this is very rare)

 

[unbreakabl]

I think i am cycling right now i have only had my tank set up for about 4 months. I think my water is dirty because of the die off from my rocks. i really dont know but any other suggestions would still be greatly appreciated. The water is stil hazy and just wondering what you guys do to make it crystal clear. Oh and by the way if you add rocks to a tank does that mean you are cycling again thanyou.

 

[arsen_36]

Originally Posted by Unbreakabl
I think i am cycling right now i have only had my tank set up for about 4 months.
if it's been 4 months then you would have been done cycing about 2 months ago.
Originally Posted by Unbreakabl
I think my water is dirty because of the die off from my rocks.
you will only get die off if you take the rock out of the water or if you put un-cured live rock to your tank.
Originally Posted by Unbreakabl
Oh and by the way if you add rocks to a tank does that mean you are cycling again thanyou.
not if you buy "cured" live rock. cured rock won't cause a cycle. but if you throw in some "un-cured" rocks then you will have a small cycle. un-cured live rocks have die off.
fish food. fish poop, and dead fish all cause amonia(toxic) which causes nitrite(still toxic) which causes nitrate(not deadly but anything over 20ppm may cause stress).
when your amonia and nitrite are steadily at 0.0 ppm then you have finished your cycle. just do a water change to remove excess nitrate.

 

[saltfan]

Originally Posted by ctgretzky9
I would advise against this. Canister filters are the WORST for harboring detrius, thus creating more nitrates and phosphates. They are also very difficult to clean. I went that route a couple of times over the years, and I learned my lesson.
Better off with an empty hang on back whisper or something, devoid of any media. In other words, run it without any filter floss, bio balls etc....
Why do you people think like this? If you clean ANY FILTER WEEKLY, your not going to build up anything. Learn your lesson the hard way you mean...you didn't clean it....If its kept clean, its not going to build up trates or any orther harmful thing to the tank. Been running one for a very very long time. So its from experience that I give advice, not upon one thing that has happened to me.

 

[gtiguy]

I agree although i have never delt with a canister filter i have heard they are nitrate death traps waiting to happen!!! You could try running carbon in your sump (if you run a sump) if not i would advise, all kidding aside because it really did help my tank when i had a green water problem to look into algone...Go to their site and check it out....Also you may want to upgrade your skimmer, the bigger the better and the more stuff it pulls out, i run mine now 24/7 ....Weekly water changes after the cycle may also help :thinking:

 

[i likefish]

I was just wondering what does well water do exaclty to fish live rock and invertebrates?

 

[unbreakabl]

with well water i have heard that it carrys heavy metals in it so that right their cant be good for anything.

 

[supalupa]

I run a micron filter pad in my sump to get crystal clear water. I rinse it out every day and change it often. Sometimes I leave it out for a couple days as I heard it could remove benificial bacteria as well if kept in there continuously. I believe they sell micron filter media for canister filters. Hope this helps.

 

[supalupa]

Oh by the way I also run carbon continuously without any ill effects. Just have to change it regularly(weekly) or it can leach stuff back into the water.

 

[laddy]

I agree with supalupa. Do water changes frequently and run carbon.
As for well water, a lot will have mineral deposits in them, stuf you may not want to expose your tank to......but you really don't know unless you get it tested. I know some local municipalities will test your water for a nominal charge. Maybe you should go that route.

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by SaltFan
Why do you people think like this? If you clean ANY FILTER WEEKLY, your not going to build up anything. Learn your lesson the hard way you mean...you didn't clean it....If its kept clean, its not going to build up trates or any orther harmful thing to the tank. Been running one for a very very long time. So its from experience that I give advice, not upon one thing that has happened to me.

:thinking: I don't understand your last line...think about it.
I agree, it works for you, and that is great. My experience was even when I cleaned it once a week (if you search back through threads, that is what I always recommended with canisters, hob's etc...) I still had some nitrates that I couldnt get rid of.
So I dumped it, and my trates dropped to almost non existant.
It wasn't a coincidence

The other poblem, and why I now recommend against them, is most people dont have time to take apart and clean a canister filter. It is the most difficult piece of equipment to clean imo. You are doing well with upkeep, but most people will let it fall by the wayside. It's human nature. But whilke you can get away with that for most other equipment on a tank, this one is detrimental.