Suspended Sediment In Water Column

[Jobu183]

Hey All-

Looking for some help with clearing sediment suspended in the water column. I've tried following this guide on DIY Coral Snow and for crystal clear water, however after a few doses, it didn't clear it up. Tank info below. I had an old canister filter that I added several layers of 1micron filters to after the DIY Coral Snow application and ran for several hours as well.

Biocube 32 w/ Biocube Protein Skimmer (tank 1.5 yr old)

Temp- 78
pH- 7.9
Alk- 9.5
Calcium- 420
Mag- 1250
Nitrate- 10
Phos- .4
Amm- 0
Nitrite- 0

 

[Lavey29]

Did you use very fine sand and your wave makers are blowing it?

 

[twentyleagues]

Hey All-

Looking for some help with clearing sediment suspended in the water column. I've tried following this guide on DIY Coral Snow and for crystal clear water, however after a few doses, it didn't clear it up. Tank info below. I had an old canister filter that I added several layers of 1micron filters to after the DIY Coral Snow application and ran for several hours as well.

Biocube 32 w/ Biocube Protein Skimmer (tank 1.5 yr old)

Temp- 78
pH- 7.9
Alk- 9.5
Calcium- 420
Mag- 1250
Nitrate- 10
Phos- .4
Amm- 0
Nitrite- 0

Pics/video may help. Is this sediment being kick up continually by flow? is it sand particle or mulm? Is precipitate?

 

[Jobu183]

Pics/video may help. Is this sediment being kick up continually by flow? is it sand particle or mulm? Is precipitate?

Attaching video- I've also showed where I have my one power head in the tank, its far above the sand, so don't believe its kicking up sand, although to @Lavey29 point, I do have fine sand.

 

[twentyleagues]

Attaching video- I've also showed where I have my one power head in the tank, its far above the sand, so don't believe its kicking up sand, although to @Lavey29 point, I do have fine sand.

Looks like sand grains. Hard to tell from the video but do you see sand moving in the provided flow?

 

[Lavey29]

Attaching video- I've also showed where I have my one power head in the tank, its far above the sand, so don't believe its kicking up sand, although to @Lavey29 point, I do have fine sand.

That flow looks to high. There is turbulent vortex visible which is sucking up your sand.

 

[Jobu183]

@Lavey29 @twentyleagues

I do have my return pump turned up a bit. I can try turning it down. It is tough trying to get the proper amount of flow within the biocube.

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 @twentyleagues

I do have my return pump turned up a bit. I can try turning it down. It is tough trying to get the proper amount of flow within the biocube.

Based on the corals I see, a low moderate flow is fine as long as you see decent surface ripple for gas exchange. I have my MP40s mounted 3 inches below the surface for reference and I only run 30% intensity

 

[Garf]

Looks mainly to be bubbles from your tornado

 

[Jobu183]

@Lavey29 That was my thought with the high flow near the surface for my return, and then the wave maker more for the corals, running as low as I can get it with a variable pattern.

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 That was my thought with the high flow near the surface for my return, and then the wave maker more for the corals, running as low as I can get it with a variable pattern.

You don't necessarily want high flow through the return because you want to give the tank water time to filter through your media. Control tank flow with the powerhead and use return pump to create linear flow. For instance with a sump, typically 3x to 10x turnover is what you run. If your tank is 25g (with rocks) you probably want return pushing maybe 125gph which is 5x turnover.

 

[Jobu183]

@Lavey29 Got it- thank you. I think my return is rated for ~500 gph at max flow, even if I turn it down, I don't expect it to get to down to 125gph. Sounds like I'm in the market for a new pump!

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 Got it- thank you. I think my return is rated for ~500 gph at max flow, even if I turn it down, I don't expect it to get to down to 125gph. Sounds like I'm in the market for a new pump!

I'd try it at a lower setting first and see how things look.

 

[Jobu183]

I'd try it at a lower setting first and see how things look.

Thank you- I lowered it as low as it will go. Do you mind if I send you over another video tomorrow once the tank settles and get your opinion on flow?

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you- I lowered it as low as it will go. Do you mind if I send you over another video tomorrow once the tank settles and get your opinion on flow?

Sure just make sure you have decent surface ripple.

 

[jabberwock]

@Lavey29 That was my thought with the high flow near the surface for my return, and then the wave maker more for the corals, running as low as I can get it with a variable pattern.

By variable, do you mean random? Try a nice sine curve. The "random" settings are pretty notorious for sand storms.

 

[Lavey29]

Here is a short video showing my flow which varies constantly throughout the day.

 

[Jobu183]

@Lavey29 Updated video with both pumps turned all the way down, still a lot of sediment. I did buy a 125gph pump that came in today, so I think I might hook that up, as IMO it still looks like too much flow and a ton of sediment

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 Updated video with both pumps turned all the way down, still a lot of sediment. I did buy a 125gph pump that came in today, so I think I might hook that up, as IMO it still looks like too much flow and a ton of sediment

Agreed

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 Updated video with both pumps turned all the way down, still a lot of sediment. I did buy a 125gph pump that came in today, so I think I might hook that up, as IMO it still looks like too much flow and a ton of sediment

Another way to determine flow is your overall GPH for your tank. Typically a reef tank needs 20x to 40x cumulative turn over depending on the type of corals. Softs lower flow GPH, SPS higher flow. So let's say your tank is 25g with rock. 20x flow would be 500gph when you add your wave makers and return pump flow together. 30x is 750gph, 40x is 1000gph. You target flow rate for your type of corals.

Does that make sense?