Tank Clarity

[brianc77]

Hey everyone, im 6 months new to the Saltwater world...So far so great! I have one problem with my tank. At night when the lights are on it seems as though i have tiny particles floating around the tank almost looks like something got sucked into the powerhead and spit it out. Its not air bubbles, the tank is fully cycled. here is a list of equipment i have and inhabitants.

110 gal tank
50 gal sump
ASM-G2 protein skimmer (sedra ksm-3500 pump)
5 green cromis
1 clownfish
1 hippo tang
3 peppermint shrimp
5 turbo snails
1 sand sifting goby
1 green star Polyp
1 Finger leather
1 Eibli Angel
1 Koran Angel

All tests are fine, Nitrate is a bit high, but being taken care of.

The tank has an external overflow, which then drops into my basement, where the sump is. The discharge from main tank gets filtered through a sock, then i have the submersible skimmer in there doing its thing (its not inline), then that water gets dumped into a garbage can and then back into the tank (opposite end of the external overflow) I made sure there are no air bubbles from discharge all the way to return into the tank, but for some reason the tank has floating particles...tiny, yet annoying. The protein skimmer is doing its job, the water is thick and yellow, am i doing something wrong? is everything flowing correctly, its driving me crazy. Everytime i go to LFS their tanks are crystal clear. Thanks in advance.

[sdc19982002]

Might have crap in your return line breaking loose. Try using a turkey baster during your next water change and blow off your rocks. Is your sock collecting alot of crap? If not change to a higher micron sock.

[brianc77]

The sock is accumulating crap, i dont think its the return line, I can watch the water come out at night and it doesnt seem to be shooting anything out. I could be wrong. I didnt know you can purchase smaller micron sock. i actually have 2 hooked up. One from the overflow into the sump and another on the return going into the trash can back into the tank.

[Mike31154]

At night when the lights are on? You mean the room lights? So when the tank lights are on there is no issue? If so, why worry about it. Could just be pods and stuff that tend to come out of the rock work when tank lights are out?