Cloudy water!

[iamquockie]

What do you guys do about cloudy water? My tank is 60 gal tall with 30 gal sump. I was thinking about putting a filter sock on my drain hose from the overflow leading to the sump or just plain running some carbon. I never had this problem before but for the last couple months it has been cloudy if I look at the tank from the sides.

trates are 0-trites are 0
phos-0
ph 8.2-8.3
temp 79-80.5
cal 380 ppm
alk 6dkh

I was thinking a canister filter but people are steering me away from it. I used to have a HOB filter that worked really well but it got in the way, ppl also said that it is not a good idea for saltwater.

Help in this would be appreciated

 

[Aquai]

Sure you don't just have dirty glass? Hehe

Tried using a UV for a few days just as a test?

 

[hopper]

Seachem makes a product called Clarity. It has worked well in my tank as I have been having a similar problem. Used this and some carbon in a phosban reactor and my water looks great now. Clarity will turn your water very yellow for a couple of hours and then it will start to clear up. I use it as needed and change my filter floss after it has cleared back up. Has not affected any of my corals or fish, but Seachem recommends only using it once a week or so. Filter sock would work also but you would need to change it out fairly often or it will start to overflow.

 

[iamquockie]

thats what I was hoping the filter sock wouldn't do. I do maintanance on it, but to change/clean it along with every other thing would be a PITA. I've used clarity once before and just havent thought about it. Don't you have to take out your carbon when you use clarity?

How often do you run carbon?

aqua--yea i'm sure about the dirty glass thing. I scrub it with the mag float. My girl loves the mag float because it is "interesting" to her. She is my official mag floater.

 

[stereomandan]

Just use carbon. I'd run it for a few days, and then take it out. In a 60g, I'd use about 3/4 - 1 cup in a filter sock. Make sure you rinse it first to get any of the fine powder off the carbon. Don't rinse it too long though, or you will take away a lot of it's usefulness.

I run mine in a HOB filter which I have specifically for occasional carbon use.

Actually, Walmart has great carbon. Very similar, if not identical to black diamond. I think its sold under the marineland brand.

Dan

 

[stereomandan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8199004#post8199004 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stereomandan
Just use carbon. I'd run it for a few days, and then take it out. In a 60g, I'd use about 3/4 - 1 cup in a filter sock. Make sure you rinse it first to get any of the fine powder off the carbon. Don't rinse it too long though, or you will take away a lot of it's usefulness.

I run mine in a HOB filter which I have specifically for occasional carbon use.

Actually, Walmart has great carbon. Very similar, if not identical to black diamond. I think its sold under the marineland brand.

Dan

 

[RichConley]

Carbon will take out discoloration, but wont make water any less cloudy.

Do you run a skimmer? Skimming is the best way to get rid of it.

 

[drummereef]

I'd throw some carbon in there and get the skimmer running wet for a little while.

 

[hopper]

I don't see why you couldn't use Clarity and carbon at the same time. I haven't used them both at the same time because I had to take the Clarity out of my phosban reactor I was running it in because it was getting into the sponge filter of the reactor. I just had too much flow in it though I believe. So I just placed carbon in the reactor and that's when the water really started to clear up. For the price of it, I would just run carbon for a few days and see it that helps.

 

[iamquockie]

I ran carbon---and let the overflow drain hose drain into a sponge. It is clearing up fast. I will leave the sponge in there for a couple more days and then take the carbon out also. I also bumped up the skimmer to run a little wet. I think this combo really cleared up the water. Thanks guys.

 

[iamquockie]

now how long should I leave the carbon in?