Water quality in my reef?

[fishfanny79]

Why would I have TONS of little specs always flying around in my 90 gallon reef water? I have a UV sterilizer and a skimmer...is this normal? I did a water change yesterday and no help. Its not parasites or disease, not air bubbles either. Its just my water is NEVER crystal clear...any ideeeeeeeers?? :needhelp:

 

[slock]

Are you positive it's not micro bubbles?

 

[fishfanny79]

What exactly are micro bubbles? Is there some part of the sump I should check to clean or something? :thinking:

 

[paulcoates]

my powerheads randomly produce these bubbles. any idea what the source of these bubbles is?

 

[murph145]

to get your water crystal clear u need to run some activated charcoal this will clear up the little particles that are not being collected.... the charcoal traps these particles inside of the bag as the particles pass by its like a maze of tiny coridors and they get trapped in it cleaning your water up to a beautiful sparkel :happyfish

 

[fishfanny79]

Ok, what do I buy and and what point in the system do I put it? Does it go in the sump somewhere??

 

[ctgretzky9]

I have always thought it was ok to not have exactly crystal clear water. I think sometimes people strip out too much stuff.
First, make sure they aren't pods
Other than that, if your tank inhabitants are happy and healthy, I wouldnt worry too much about it. Junk always gets kicked up off the rocks or base.
The carbon could work to a degree, but really carbon is more for micro-particulate.
Maybe you want to get a hang on the back or canister filter to run with a very fine floss every onceina while. This will clear up particulate very well.

 

[jjlittle]

My lfs's state Charcoal filters etc.are no good for salt water tanks what is your take on this

 

[ctgretzky9]

i dont want to feel dumb :notsure: but is carbon different? What is "charcoal"?
In any event, i think using carbon occasionally helps take out anything you can't remove with skimming etc.
I run carbon 24/7, but i have a canister and wet dry as my filtration.
Im getting an aqua c remora pro skimmer in the next week or two :cheer: for my birthday as a present from my wife. I do plan on keeping the canister and wet dry along with it.

 

[murph145]

yeah lol i had to go over to my tank right now to see if its carbon or charcoal lol its probably one in the same but the bottle says activated carbon.... anyways i run it 24/7 on my tank too and i have never had a problem withmy water besides phospates being elevated but i ran phosguard in the canister and took out that as well.... anyways a filter of some sort would greatly help remove those particles fromthe water even if u just ran the spongy prefilter media that would trap lots of detrius by itself.... i dont think there is anything wrong with running carbon on a saltwater tank thats what its made for....
when u see particles floating around in your water i would want to remove them as well since this just takes away from the beauty of your tank.... i would get a canister or hang on back filter as well u will see a big difference...

 

[wax32]

pseudo-plankton or reef snow = tiny little stuff, including detrius, almost microscopic critters, etc. = reef food! I run a skimmer and carbon and I still have some stuff zinging around almost too small to see. Plankton feeders like fire gobies and various filter feeders eat it up!