It won't clear up and i don't know why

[Dj City]

I can't get the tank clear.
I have soooooo much tiny "stuff" floating and blowing around in the display it's stupid.
Tank is a 180 gallon new reef (just over 1 month old)
I have 4 Neptune Wav's on back glass and 2 Gyre 350's on either side facing each other.
I have a Clarisea SK-5000 and I'm about 1/2 way through my 2nd roll. I do not have the bypass open.
I don't understand this. Maybe I have too much flow and it keeps everything blowing around in the tank?
I don't know.

I am very open to suggestions.

 

[KrisReef]

Did you wash your sand?
Do you have tiny air bubbles floating around from someplace?
Do you have a bacterial bloom going on?

Do you have a picture to help us guess?

 

[Dj City]

Did you wash your sand?

Sand was rinsed very well before going in.

Do you have tiny air bubbles floating around from someplace?

I had microbubbles from the skimmer but that ain't the problem.

Do you have a bacterial bloom going on

I did but my UV took (is taking) care of that. It's not a bacterial bloom.

Do you have a picture to help us guess?

Pics coming!
I hope this tiny stuff shows up in a pic.

You can check out the build thread for VERY specific details.

 

[Dj City]

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I would suggest upping the fllw to sump for a little while and run a 10 micro filter sock to get it all out of the water colum. Might be dust from inside the dry rock slowly making its way into the water.

 

[KrisReef]

Is your urchin boring a hole in the rock? It appears that there is a lot of arragonite colored dust being collected. I presume it has not been getting "better" with less dirt collected over time and the tank water getting clearer?

 

[Dj City]

I would suggest upping the fllw to sump for a little while and run a 10 micro filter sock to get it all out of the water colum. Might be dust from inside the dry rock slowly making its way into the water.

I don't have a filter sock. I have no way to mount one.

 

[Dj City]

Is your urchin boring a hole in the rock? It appears that there is a lot of arragonite colored dust being collected. I presume it has not been getting "better" with less dirt collected over time and the tank water getting clearer?

It's not from the urchin. That color you see is diatoms from the tank being new.

I turned three Wav's off, the gyres off and the UV off.
Water got clearer.
I think it really is microbubbles.

Now I have to figure out how to have high flow without the microbubbles.

 

[KrisReef]

My sources for microbubbles were:
air bubbles that escaped the skimmer, (I put a sponge in the water path to reduce bubbles)
Splashing in the sump created bubbles that entered the return pump
and air getting sucked into the return (or into a powerhead/gyre) when a vortex formed above the pump that pulled air into the impeller.

I hope this helps you troubleshoot the issue.

Off-topic, The rock work looks very nice btw.

 

[Albertan22]

I agree it looks like micro bubbles from your pictures. Does it dissipate rapidly if you turn off all the flow (return pump included)? If it is micro bubbles, try turning everything off then cycling on all your sources of flow one at a time to figure out where the culprit is. Once you find the source you can work towards a solution.

 

[Dj City]

I agree it looks like micro bubbles from your pictures. Does it dissipate rapidly if you turn off all the flow (return pump included)? If it is micro bubbles, try turning everything off then cycling on all your sources of flow one at a time to figure out where the culprit is. Once you find the source you can work towards a solution.

Thanks.
It does not dissipate "rapidly" when I turn all the flow off but it lessens. I have "stuff" in the water as well as microbubbles.

Microbubbles are coming from more than one source.
The flow of the UV through the sump is causing microbubbles from the water rushing through the sump and going down the bubble trap with too much force.
It's also coming from the skimmer (when I turned it back on).
I had turned the skimmer off because once I turned the UV on, all I get from the skimmer is water and bubbles like boiling water. No foam.
Microbubbles get trapped in the rocks and the 4 Wav's plus the 2 Gyre 350's push them everywhere even redepositing them in the rocks.

My solution (kind of) was to raise the water level in the sump.
That helped with the rushing water and the water pressure through the bubble trap. It did nothing for the microbubbles from the skimmer.
For that, I turned the skimmer on, opened it wide and I'm letting it do what it does till it's happy, broken in and skimming again.

What are you guys thoughts?

 

[MichaelReefer]

I don't have a filter sock. I have no way to mount one.

Dont expect to get crystal clear water with no particulates in it if you aren't running socks or filter floss of some sort. You water can only be so clean with no mechanical filtration.

Just noticed you have a roller? What micron are you running? Maybe go to a smaller micron? Personally I only run 100 Micron socks.

 

[Dj City]

Dont expect to get crystal clear water with no particulates in it if you aren't running socks or filter floss of some sort. You water can only be so clean with no mechanical filtration.

Just noticed you have a roller? What micron are you running? Maybe go to a smaller micron? Personally I only run 100 Micron socks.

The fleece roll is 20 microns. Going smaller would not be the greatest idea because I would be running through rolls like crazy.

I think I just have to wait this out and hope the skimmer tunes back in.

 

[KrisReef]

Sounds like a reasonable plan to move forward. The only other suggestions I could provide is perhaps you could reorient the skimmer in the sump and change the return and pick-up directions so that bubbles have more time to surface instead of passing through the sump?

or adding a Polyfilter in the over-unders for mechanical and chemical filtration that may remove bubbles and filter water so that the skimmer action is tamed.

And keep the hands out. Sometimes just leaving it all alone will allow time for the system to heal itself.