Reef Tank Questions

[Fish7]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the hobby and am loving every minute of it! I am very curious how everyone keeps their tanks looking crystal clear! I am having a horrible time trying to clean the tank and have no particles in my pictures, I want to show off my tank!! Any suggestions or secrets? Thanks everyone!

 

[road_runner]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the hobby and am loving every minute of it! I am very curious how everyone keeps their tanks looking crystal clear! I am having a horrible time trying to clean the tank and have no particles in my pictures, I want to show off my tank!! Any suggestions or secrets? Thanks everyone!

Good activated carbon is very effective especially in a reactor.

 

[SPR1968]

Well I personally use the following in addition to a skimmer
Filter socks
UV-C running 24/7
Activated carbon
Purigen

I also use around 3 pieces if filter wool in my sump and all of this combined means my water is ‘gin’ clear, certainly as far as photography and generally staring at it is concerned

I also run rhowaphos 24/7 to help keep phosphate down to prevent algae etc.

 

[road_runner]

….

 

[Fish7]

Good activated carbon is very effective especially in a reactor.

Thank you!

I have all 3 filters I am supposed to have, biological, chemical, and mechanical, and activated carbon is one of them. Any suggestions for the other two?

 

[Aeb1419]

Get a 100 micron pad or sock. It will clean out the water in a matter of minutes. If your water is really dirty it will clog up fast so be sure to check on it. I usually run a 100 micron pad for a day and my water stays clean the rest of the week.

 

[lapin]

Some options
Change out the carbon or run more since you have this one already.
You can get a uv sterilizer but they cost money and you have to plumb that into your system
You can use filter socks and stuff some polishing floss in them however it can cause them to over flow quickly so watch them.
On my other tank when it started to not be crystal clear I used an old canister filter with polishing floss and carbon. A few hours and the water was crystal clear.

 

[ZaneTer]

Nobody has suggested ozone?

I don’t think it can be beaten for water clarity.

 

[road_runner]

Get a 100 micron pad or sock. It will clean out the water in a matter of minutes. If your water is really dirty it will clog up fast so be sure to check on it. I usually run a 100 micron pad for a day and my water stays clean the rest of the week.

Am curious how did you come up with this conclusion without knowing if the issue is bacterial bloom or very fine particles?
OP already said he do not have particles in the water...filter socks will work on certain size particles and up.. yes it will help but you hsbe such a strong conviction that this will solve all the problems which made me think..

Just wondering the source of this advice..

 

[road_runner]

Nobody has suggested ozone?

I don’t think it can be beaten for water clarity.

Her you go, op ask very high level question about clearing water, we are talking about ozone ha ha ha.
Based on what data would we think ozone? To fix what issue exactly?

Sorry if am party pooper am just trying to understand everyone line of thinking...

 

[ZaneTer]

Her you go, op ask about clearing water, we are talking about ozone ha ha ha.
Based on what data would we think ozone? To fix what issue exactly?

Sorry if am party pooper am just trying to understand everyone line of thinking...

Well, why not? Tannins and gelbstoff are both very quickly broken down through the use of UV.

Could you point me to any research on how carbon removes fine particles? I am well aware of the mechanisms it uses to hold onto chemical but for particles this is news.

 

[Fish7]

Just to give some more info to help. I am having some alge issues but again it is a new tank and it is getting better day by day. I have a 16g biocube specific for saltwater aquariums. I have live rock, live sand, my 3 filter medias, the biocube filter, I have recently introduced 5 new fish this week. I officially have a zoa, torch, hairy mushroom, montipora, and a flower pot coral (which is the only one that refuses to open up, still alive, just unhappy), a turbo snail, zebra snail, sand sifting starfish, purple short spine urchin, nassarius snail, cleaner shrimp, diamond back goby, firefish, 2 clowns, 2 cardinals, 2 chromis. Everything is happy except the flower pot coral.

 

[road_runner]

Well, why not? Tannins and gelbstoff are both very quickly broken down through the use of UV.

Could you point me to any research on how carbon removes fine particles? I am well aware of the mechanisms it uses to hold onto chemical but for particles this is news.

Hmmm. If you asking about what carbon does, any water filter theory of operation would do yo explain how carbon is used in all water filters to clear water as a first stage.
I think you know how it works thu..don't you.
I did not say ozone do not have effect on water clarity. But do we know if op system is compatible with ozone? Do we know of they use carbon dosing or not? Do we know the experince level of the op?
An example: Ozone would crash my system as an example because of my system details...
Each component is designed to do specific function, I bet you agree no meed to add components unless its really needed.
If the issue is physical particles and denies carbon woild be more than enough.
If we are treating bacterial bloom, carbon and filter socks will not be enough so UV is good none invasive option.
Ozone is invasive and not easy equipment to operate..
Without being defensive all what am advocating here is informed decisions and data driven approach. The post did not go in to any of the system data so we do not know.thats all

 

[road_runner]

Just to give some more info to help. I am having some alge issues but again it is a new tank and it is getting better day by day. I have a 16g biocube specific for saltwater aquariums. I have live rock, live sand, my 3 filter medias, the biocube filter, I have recently introduced 5 new fish this week. I officially have a zoa, torch, hairy mushroom, montipora, and a flower pot coral (which is the only one that refuses to open up, still alive, just unhappy), a turbo snail, zebra snail, sand sifting starfish, purple short spine urchin, nassarius snail, cleaner shrimp, diamond back goby, firefish, 2 clowns, 2 cardinals, 2 chromis. Everything is happy except the flower pot coral.

My advice is to start with the general treatments that are effective.
Filter socks are very useful regardless l, as long ad you wash them regularly and not leave them accumilat9mg nutrients.

Activated carbon is very good, not only it will filter water it will also increase the surface area for thw biological filtration bacteria to strength it. It will also treat yellowish water if yoi have any...
You will need to change it every month nor so depend on your feeding habits and how dirty system is.

If these did not help you need to take a picture and share with us so we understand how water is looking like and if it's a floating debris or color.

 

[road_runner]

Thank you!

I have all 3 filters I am supposed to have, biological, chemical, and mechanical, and activated carbon is one of them. Any suggestions for the other two?

I did not understand your question here?
You have 3 filters in the system? What kind of filters and where are they exactly?

 

[Fish7]

I did not understand your question here?
You have 3 filters in the system? What kind of filters and where are they exactly?

I have the biological, chemical, and mechanical filters in the back of the biocube.

 

[ZaneTer]

Hmmm. If you asking about what carbon does, any water filter theory of operation would do yo explain how carbon is used in all water filters to clear water as a first stage.
I think you know how it works thu..don't you.
I did not say ozone do not have effect on water clarity. But do we know if op system is compatible with ozone? Do we know of they use carbon dosing or not? Do we know the experince level of the op?
An example: Ozone would crash my system as an example because of my system details...
Each component is designed to do specific function, I bet you agree no meed to add components unless its really needed.
If the issue is physical particles and denies carbon woild be more than enough.
If we are treating bacterial bloom, carbon and filter socks will not be enough so UV is good none invasive option.
Ozone is invasive and not easy equipment to operate..
Without being defensive all what am advocating here is informed decisions and data driven approach. The post did not go in to any of the system data so we do not know.thats all

I am curious to know why your system would crash under ozone. It rapidly deteriorates and should not be present outside of the skimmer. If ozone crashes your system you are using it very poorly, perhaps even dangerously.

Bacterial populations are mostly not in the water column so that’s also a fallacy.

I am also very familiar with the uses of GAC considering I design and automate water treatment facilities up to 20 mega litres per day. It does not remove particulates! It does not remove bacteria! It is exceptionally good at removing a wide range of chemical compounds.

The suggestion to consider using ozone was exactly that. A suggestion. Sometimes people don’t know their options unless they are informed of them.

 

[Fish7]

Now, these pictures are the worse my tank ever looks! One is the day before and the next is the day after. Just one night and my tank is crazy dirty!

 

[road_runner]

….

 

[ZaneTer]

Just to give some more info to help. I am having some alge issues but again it is a new tank and it is getting better day by day. I have a 16g biocube specific for saltwater aquariums. I have live rock, live sand, my 3 filter medias, the biocube filter, I have recently introduced 5 new fish this week. I officially have a zoa, torch, hairy mushroom, montipora, and a flower pot coral (which is the only one that refuses to open up, still alive, just unhappy), a turbo snail, zebra snail, sand sifting starfish, purple short spine urchin, nassarius snail, cleaner shrimp, diamond back goby, firefish, 2 clowns, 2 cardinals, 2 chromis. Everything is happy except the flower pot coral.

Please don’t obsess too much over algae on the glass. This is completely normal. The same nutrients that feed your coral are the ones feeding your algae. Take it as a good sign.

Perhaps get some more CUC and get a test kit to check what your nutrient levels are if you are really worried. Just try not to bottom out on nutrients or you will probably kill your corals.

Best of luck