Help, I want clear water.

[nattydread]

Overall I am very pleased with my water conditions and parameters. No algae at all, 2 month set up. Running phosban.

BUt I have alot of small particulates floating around in the water. They are not air bubbles. I do have about 40x flow, and filter floss in the sump makes no difference. Maybe detrus?

Anyway, would carbon help remove this?

[landlord]

I doubt that carbon will help with particulates. Do you know if the particulates are coming from your return line from the sump. I mean, when you turn off your sump return line and wait about 5 or 10 minutes do you see less particulates. You may want to try and capture anything entering the sump with a filter sock of some sort. Could you possibly be stirring up your substrate. Perhaps you are getting a snow storm of calcium precipitate.

Just a couple thing to ponder --landlord

[riley290]

I am having this same problem and have tried multiple solutions. I was convinced it was microbubbles from the skimmer at first but now I'm sure its not. Doesn't look like bubles, but my filter floss in my sump doesn't remove it either.

[nattydread]

it looks like dust suspended in the water colum. And no, it is not from the sump or return. It seems to come from the live rock or substrate and the high flow pulls it out.

I am surprised its not skimmed out through the overflow or sump. Its endless.

[ClayWagner]

I had a snowstorm when too much flow was hitting the sand. Might be your problem. Addition of a sock helped wonders for me and I havn't had a problem because I wash every week.

[Aquarist007]

this will stop it:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4200.jpg

I removed this on Sat morning, by Sunday afternoon I was not pleased with the particles in the water

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11166010#post11166010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nattydread
Overall I am very pleased with my water conditions and parameters. No algae at all, 2 month set up. Running phosban.

BUt I have alot of small particulates floating around in the water. They are not air bubbles. I do have about 40x flow, and filter floss in the sump makes no difference. Maybe detrus?

Anyway, would carbon help remove this?

carbon will remove some of this detrius as a secondary function esp if you run it in a phosban reactor. The water is forced through the carbon rather then being able to take the easy route around the bag in the sump method. this gives it time to absorb

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4525.jpg

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11166132#post11166132 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nattydread
it looks like dust suspended in the water colum. And no, it is not from the sump or return. It seems to come from the live rock or substrate and the high flow pulls it out.

I am surprised its not skimmed out through the overflow or sump. Its endless.

using a turkey baster to clear live rock of debris will help get the particles into the water and available to be filtered

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11166010#post11166010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nattydread
Overall I am very pleased with my water conditions and parameters. No algae at all, 2 month set up. Running phosban.

BUt I have alot of small particulates floating around in the water. They are not air bubbles. I do have about 40x flow, and filter floss in the sump makes no difference. Maybe detrus?

Anyway, would carbon help remove this?

what kind of flow do you have in the actual tank itself--eg powerheads, hydors,wave action?

[nattydread]

1 vortech, 1 stream 6000, sedra 9000 return.

[corals b 4 bills]

I have the same thing happening but then again I have three tangs nipping at the rocks all day so I hapve an endless supply of particles.

[commabc]

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4525.jpg [/B][/QUOTE]
i am running two reactor like this as well. my question is... i have mine being pumped from and back into my refugium wich is a seperate tank and in a dif. room then my sump (do to limited space) how much will this slow down the effectiveness due to not having as much water flowing through the fuge as in the sump?

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11167734#post11167734 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by commabc
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4525.jpg
i am running two reactor like this as well. my question is... i have mine being pumped from and back into my refugium wich is a seperate tank and in a dif. room then my sump (do to limited space) how much will this slow down the effectiveness due to not having as much water flowing through the fuge as in the sump? [/B][/QUOTE]

IMHO it will limit it alot...I asume that with limited flow you want the refug to produce inverts and useful bacteria for the tank so for this use it is not an effective filtration. The reactors should be where the greatest flow is directed:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4520.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4527.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/IMG_4524.jpg

[chucksta1]

I made a drop filter box for my tank. It's simple to do. Take a container from the dollar store, drill about forty 1/4 inch holes aroung the bottom three inches. Put some foam filter elements in it and make the water from the tank run through it as it flows into the sump. At less than $20.00 it was a great bang for the buck.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11172120#post11172120 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chucksta1
I made a drop filter box for my tank. It's simple to do. Take a container from the dollar store, drill about forty 1/4 inch holes aroung the bottom three inches. Put some foam filter elements in it and make the water from the tank run through it as it flows into the sump. At less than $20.00 it was a great bang for the buck.

thats a great idea except for the foam filter. These can become nitrate sponges. If I can picture your set up you could easily insert a filter sock inside the container that can be rinsed out daily or every other day.