I can't get my water clear

[timrocks311]

My 40 gallon tank has been up about 2 months or so. Initially I had two Tunze nanostreams, 750 gph each. They are pumps I've had for a long time sitting in the box. I quickly realized I wanted a controllable pump for random flow, so I got the Icecap gyre 1k. It's at one end of the tank, same as the return.

Ever since putting it in, I have cloudy water that won't clear up. Stuff is settling on the surface too at the far end. I noticed this with the old pumps but not as much. I try to agitate the surface but when the pump slows down it's noticeable on the surface. The floating stuff never clears up.

I guess I'm looking for thoughts since I'm frustrated. I do see the surface scum go in the overflow when the pump slows. I guess there are things I can try still...move pump to the other side opposite the return, add a second pump back in, has thinking of running carbon but not sure that's it.

I was hoping the gyre by itself would be enough. With it up to 80% Max at the moment and the return, have at least 1000 gph in a 40. That should be enough for LPS and zoas. I'm afraid adding a nanostream back in will be too much.

Anyway, thoughts would be appreciated. I have a sump with skimmer and chaeto. This white debris always seems to settle on the rocks though and I guess it's getting stirred up.

Thanks

 

[LetItReef]

If you are not running Carbon, try it.

 

[Tahoe61]

Do you have any floss, foam, sock in the sump or overflow?

 

[timrocks311]

Do you have any floss, foam, sock in the sump or overflow?

No I don't have a filter sock. I was trying to avoid that and the maintenance of washing them. I was thinking of trying floss in a cup though but space by my drain pipe is limited with the skimmer there.

There is a foam filter on the return pump but it's coarse.

 

[charles5261]

My 40 gallon tank has been up about 2 months or so. Initially I had two Tunze nanostreams, 750 gph each. They are pumps I've had for a long time sitting in the box. I quickly realized I wanted a controllable pump for random flow, so I got the Icecap gyre 1k. It's at one end of the tank, same as the return.

Ever since putting it in, I have cloudy water that won't clear up. Stuff is settling on the surface too at the far end. I noticed this with the old pumps but not as much. I try to agitate the surface but when the pump slows down it's noticeable on the surface. The floating stuff never clears up.

I guess I'm looking for thoughts since I'm frustrated. I do see the surface scum go in the overflow when the pump slows. I guess there are things I can try still...move pump to the other side opposite the return, add a second pump back in, has thinking of running carbon but not sure that's it.

I was hoping the gyre by itself would be enough. With it up to 80% Max at the moment and the return, have at least 1000 gph in a 40. That should be enough for LPS and zoas. I'm afraid adding a nanostream back in will be too much.

Anyway, thoughts would be appreciated. I have a sump with skimmer and chaeto. This white debris always seems to settle on the rocks though and I guess it's getting stirred up.

Thanks

I would say its two big of pump. I bought one and took it back today. Was told it was to big i have a 50gal tank. I seen a video on youtube from bulk reef supply that if you want 1000g of flow that its better to to get two smaller pumps then one big pump. Cause it can stir up your sand. This is the pump i took back

 

[Gungo]

Check if the gyre is moving around the sand... gyre flow can easily make a mess with your sand and make your water cloudy.

 

[NinnJinn]

You want your flow not to cause a sand storm in your tank. And you need some kind of filtering system to collect the debris. Floss or a sock otherwise it's just going to keep circulating in your tank.

Possibly lower you are powerhead but pointed up towards the surface more. IMO you don't need to be doing over a thousand gallons of circulation in a 40 gallon tank. Basically you're turning the tank water over 25+ times an hour with nothing to catch the debris.

I have a 125 gallon DT and a 30 gallon sump and I'm only turning it over roughly 12 times an hour (1400 gallons) and that includes my filtering system. I'm changing my filter sock out every 4 days.

If you are not wanting to continuously wash the filter Socks buy an 8-pack and you only have to wash possibly once a month depending on how dirty your socks get.

Such as others have stated you need to have something in there to filter the debris.

 

[beaslbob]

Looks to me like your tank is actually pretty clear. But that could be just the picture.

Every 6 months or so I use a vortex xl diatom filter which water polished a 90g tank in a couple of hours.

If you actually do have cloudiness that is not stirred up sand, It is probably micro algae and bacteria responding to the nutrients and light. So try killing the lights to see if it clears up. If so then adjust light duration to where the coralline algae on corals thrive but the water stays clear.

Just some thoughts.

Worth .02 at most.

 

[Gareth elliott]

For water cloudiness UV is another option. Dont need to run often. Plug in when cloudiness fades, take it out.

Stay away from any type of water clarifier. Most of these work by flocculation. One set of chemicals destabilizes suspended particles another set bonds to them, causing the suspended particles to fall out of solution, landing on rockwork corals and sand.

 

[vic5hands]

Kent sells a water clarifying additive

 

[timrocks311]

You want your flow not to cause a sand storm in your tank. And you need some kind of filtering system to collect the debris. Floss or a sock otherwise it's just going to keep circulating in your tank.

Possibly lower you are powerhead but pointed up towards the surface more. IMO you don't need to be doing over a thousand gallons of circulation in a 40 gallon tank. Basically you're turning the tank water over 25+ times an hour with nothing to catch the debris.

I have a 125 gallon DT and a 30 gallon sump and I'm only turning it over roughly 12 times an hour (1400 gallons) and that includes my filtering system. I'm changing my filter sock out every 4 days.

If you are not wanting to continuously wash the filter Socks buy an 8-pack and you only have to wash possibly once a month depending on how dirty your socks get.

Such as others have stated you need to have something in there to filter the debris.

I was targeting 1000 gph based on Ecotech's Coralab. They recommended about 1000 for LPS in this size tank. I'll try to turn it down and see how it goes.

The issue is debris in the water, not really cloudiness, so I don't think a UV or clarifier is the way to go. I notice this white debris settles on the rocks. I can blast it off with a turkey baster and it just floats around in the water. I guess it is dust from the sand. The sand doesn't get blown around really but I do see a few grains tumbling slightly, but not a lot.

I guess maybe this is two-fold...turning down the flow and something to catch the particles. I figured they would settle in the sump or sort of get filtered out by the chaeto in the sump. I did put some filter floss in the sump baffles last night. I'll see if that helped when I get home.

 

[tr3]

I had the same problem. I turned my pumps to their lowest settings and pointed them more toward the surface and it took almost two days to clear up. I then turned them up little everyday. I noticed it was starting to come back around 75%. I backed them down to 65% and everything has been good since. I never noticed my sand moving around but I have a very fine substrate so my best guess is the pumps were just blowing a thin layer off the top and getting into the water column.

 

[Sipec]

This happened to me when i overfed, the tank turned a milky white color. The easy way to fix it is scale back on feeding and do a waterchange or two

 

[Sipec]

If you are not running Carbon, try it.

+1 on the carbon too

 

[NinnJinn]

I was targeting 1000 gph based on Ecotech's Coralab. They recommended about 1000 for LPS in this size tank. I'll try to turn it down and see how it goes.

The issue is debris in the water, not really cloudiness, so I don't think a UV or clarifier is the way to go. I notice this white debris settles on the rocks. I can blast it off with a turkey baster and it just floats around in the water. I guess it is dust from the sand. The sand doesn't get blown around really but I do see a few grains tumbling slightly, but not a lot.

I guess maybe this is two-fold...turning down the flow and something to catch the particles. I figured they would settle in the sump or sort of get filtered out by the chaeto in the sump. I did put some filter floss in the sump baffles last night. I'll see if that helped when I get home.

I do not have corals so I guess I cannot help you too much. If they are the type that moves try turning the pump down a little to see if they still move. I know that's a lame explination but that's the best I can do in reference to corals.

It might very well be dust. When I had everything to set up my tank my daughter was super excited and I totally spaced it by not rinsing the sand. for the first two weeks if you looked at my filter sock you would have thought I had a thriving a aquarium full of fish with all of the debris that was inside the filter sock. After 2 weeks the tank was crystal clear. as long as I don't stir up the sand I'm good

 

[timrocks311]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The tank was looking better last night. I did turn the flow down and added filter floss to the sump until I can get something better. I still have some surface scum but the debris floating in the tank was reduced. Actually, I noticed a lot of the "debris" were tiny white copepods, but also some of it is sand dust I suspect.

I did wash my sand (dry sand, not live) as best I could before using it. The two Tunze nanostreams I had before were 750 gph each not controllable, so cutting down to just one gyre at 1000 gph I didn't think would be a problem. It's a different type of flow though, and for some reason the gyre seems to disrupt things more.

I think I'll have to play with the flow more and direction. Turning it down I did notice less particles in the tank, but more scum on the surface as it wasn't being moved as much.

 

[NinnJinn]

The surface scum will eventually make its way down to the sump and with the floss should remove it.

When I started getting the surface scum I ended up moving my powerhead to the same end as my return and adjusted the powerhead towards the surface to push all of the surface scum towards the overflow box. It took a couple of days But the surface scum finally disappeared

 

[Nhjmc]

I would say its two big of pump. I bought one and took it back today. Was told it was to big i have a 50gal tank. I seen a video on youtube from bulk reef supply that if you want 1000g of flow that its better to to get two smaller pumps then one big pump. Cause it can stir up your sand. This is the pump i took back

I’m having same issue with my RSM 130d. I just picked up the maxi jet 900 using as return pump and it just seems way to strong I got home from work and my sand in front left corner of tank got blown all around. Gonna try repositioning nozzle (again).