How long does it take to get clean crisp look on new tank??

I have had my 55g set up for about two months now. I cycled already .. i had some bright greens and yellows on rocks and then the rusty color all over sand and some on glass.. starting to clear up pretty good.. but i always see the tanks that just look amazing crystal clear.. my question is HOW?? lol im installing a sump system this weekend i hope that will help get me closer to my goal of the clean clear look .. any other suggestions?? im sure lighting has a big role as well.

 

A couple items that help with that crystal clear look.

1. A good clean up crew!
2. Carbon and GFO
3. Water changes.
4. Don't over feed.
5. Use RO/DI water or distilled water at a minimum.
6. TIME....one big factor in the way a tank looks is it's age. The older a tank the more stable it seems to be. Establish good husbandry habits and the tank will almost seem to run on autopilot.

HTH

 

Thanks for the input. I plan to have a phosban reactor going with carbon and phosgaurd.. Is gfo still needed? And RO water i only use at top offs so i should be good on that i would hope. Feeding every other day.

 

i wouldn't make that my goal. I'm not sure that a truely healthy tank ever looks completely clean. For crystal clear water though, you can run carbon.

 

Good point... and yes i run carbon now.

 

okay. don't forget that carbon's effectiveness doesn't last very long. around two weeks at the most before it needs to be replaced.

 

Costie Reefer pretty much said it but I'll add the emphases on RODI water as well as a good skimmer.

Using RO for top off is a good start but see if you can use it for all your water changes as well. Using RODI will reduce the phosphate (not to mention other tap water additives) in your tank that cause algae blooms and sometimes unhappy livestock.
RODI units are expensive and seem silly to buy as all they do is filter your tap water. However, when you think about what your aquarium is i.e. WATER and how all the livestock within the system depend on it you relies how important it is to use pure, clean RODI water.
Its a big purchase but an important one and will go along way in helping you get that crisp- not to mention- healthy aquarium.

 

So rodi is preferred over ro? And I should make sure its rodi plus salt when I do my changes?

 

Yeah, when you do your water changes use RODI and a quality salt if you mix your own saltwater. If not make sure your LFS makes their water with those two ingredients. Just use RODI water to top off evaporated water.

I'll be completely honest. I live in an apartment and would love to have an RODI unit but it's not really feasible. Therefore I use a good distilled water from my local Winn Dixie. It is purified by steam distillation and and reverse osmosis. I haven't had any problems with it and have been using it for months now. It's not even that costly at .65 a gallon.

 

Well said...