Clearer water?

I was wondering how some of you guys keep your water so clear. Currently, I am running carbon in my 29 gal Biocube. I don't have any sand sifting fish or anything like that to stir things up and I don't have any powerheads or returns directed at the sand. It just seems like I have a lot of "floaties" in the water. There is a sponge in the back of the tank next to the return pump that I have rinsed out and it doesn't seem to help. I haven't switched the bioballs out for LR rubble yet either. Any ideas or tips on how to clear things up a bit.

 

How bad is it? If you have a lot of larger particles, you could consider a filter sock, something along the 100 micron range. Do you use RO/DI water?

 

could it be possible that the powerhead is disturbing the sand bed? how long has is been setup?

 

How often do you feed your tank, and what types of foods do you feed?

 

I feed marine flakes once in the morning and then some form of frozen food in the afternoon, either brine, mysis, etc. I add zooplankton twice a week.

My return is pointed towards the upper half of the tank, rippling the surface. There is flow on the bottom of the tank, but not enough to disturb the sand bed.

It's not too bad and it's mostly smaller stuff. I'm not sure what you would consider larger stuff. I use tap water, and yes I know I should be using RO/DI water. I'm in the process of looking for one right now. Whenever I do water changes, I always add Prime and a water conditioner, Sea Fritz.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention, it has been setup for about 4 months now.

It's never been bad or anything but I would just like to clear things up a bit.

 

I started my tank tank with tap water and noticed very tiny particles floating around the tank. At first I thought they were micro bubbles from my skimmer, but they never went away. After i switched to RO/DI water, my water became crystal clear. I think the tap water is your problem, it has a fairly high DOC level. You will need to live with it, or get some RO/DI water from some source.

 

Sea chems Purigen - is very good at polishing water, to an even greater degree than carbon IME

while you have tap water in your system, adding Purigen to you filter system would also help with removing the nutrients that nuisance algaes use

Steve

 

Thanks a lot Steve. I'll be sure to look into getting some of that stuff until I can get a RO/DI unit.