Secret to crystal clear......

[bluezx636]

Getting a skimmer made my water go from just clean to crystal in a few days.

 

[davocean]

Agreed.

with all the above. Not sure about you guys, but sometimes after a big water change my water appears to be a bit misty from the salt mix. And yes, i premixed the salt in a giant container prior to adding the water.

Did you let sit overnight before doing WC?
I always give it a day to disolve, also read that helps stabilize PH, just let a powerhead run in container.

 

[MattAndKim]

2 MP40's won't be too much flow. They are quite adjustable.

 

[cloak]

Psst!

Please disregard. A friend of mine was online last night and I just got my threads mixed up. Sorry about that. I was just trying to say hello.

 

[Ninja1]

The use of a filter sock can change water clarity dramatically in a day or two, that and carbon.

Ive heard that the filter socks can be a pain to change out daily? Is it okay to purchase 20 and re-use them daily (washing/cleaning). Or are the socks meant to be disposable. I have seen a variety of them.

 

[geezers11]

Carbon and replacing filter floss when dirty. I change the floss every couple of days.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

Ive heard that the filter socks can be a pain to change out daily? Is it okay to purchase 20 and re-use them daily (washing/cleaning). Or are the socks meant to be disposable. I have seen a variety of them.

I change my filter socks every 3 days, to clean them I throw them in the washer, small load, half a cap of bleach. extra rinse cycle, let air dry before you use again. you can get several socks just keep them in a bucket of RO until you wash them

 

[davocean]

Yeah, no need to change daily, every 3-4 days is fine, and agree, keep a handful and just swap out, wash when needed.

 

[eums]

Clarity is a 2 part issue really, color(well lack of) and particles in the water.

For me color was more important than particles, carbon did the trick in removing the green/yellow tint from the water. I wanted clear water (no color) but did not want to remove the particles as I believe this can filter food from the micro fauna.

I've moved over to an ATS (was skeptical) from a skimmer, water color has improved to the point where I no longer run carbon and particles have remained the same.

 

[Ninja1]

If you can reuse them then that's not so bad.

 

[Aquaman]

I'm old school, Ive used carbon and Diatom earth filters,

Now I use socks, and an oversized skimmer, still have carbon I use now and then.

 

[boogerCo]

You have to be kidding me ... If all of that testing was necessary daily 99% of people would be out of the hobby within weeks ... Weekly should be frequent enough for most tests - ammonia should never be present after your cycle is finished, nor should nitrite... check these once in a blue moon if it makes you feel better but otherwise don't worry about them unless you have some reason to suspect something is amiss...

To check your RO filters you should be using a TDS meter.. quicker, simpler, cheaper...

Testing alk/calc/mag/nitrate/phosphate weekly or fortnightly should be more than sufficient... anything else is on an as-required basis.

-Dave

I do dailyu checks. I want to know if there is a random spike That I might need to look into. Years back I had a carbon reactor foul my system for a few days. made the water dirty. Had some trouble with mag and calcium after that. There are many things that some people should do and then they dont do. He is new to the hobby and I jsut put my 2 cents worth in on how I keep my tank clean.

 

[steelhead77]

I do dailyu checks. I want to know if there is a random spike That I might need to look into. Years back I had a carbon reactor foul my system for a few days. made the water dirty. Had some trouble with mag and calcium after that. There are many things that some people should do and then they dont do. He is new to the hobby and I jsut put my 2 cents worth in on how I keep my tank clean.

Warbyd is correct. There is absolutely no need to check anything daily after the cycle is complete. If you have corals, they should be the "canary in the coal mine". When things go amiss, they will let you know, but even then, sometimes corals are temperamental and can go south for no discernible reason.

If you have the time, money and patience to do 6-8 tests per day, then go for it. No-one should tell you not to, if it makes you feel better. But it definitely is not necessary. It's like taking your baby's temperature daily, just in case she might come down with the sniffles.

 

[dzfish17]

I've found that if I run my UV sterilizer a couple of days a week my water has that crystal clear look.

 

[Ninja1]

I though you don't have to worry about a UV sterilizer if you are using good filtration and 0 TDS. Please educate/correct me if I misunderstood this.

 

[disc1]

I haven't read the whole thread but I have to put a vote in for a dirty fuge. It seems like of the tanks I've seen, the cleanest ones had the nastiest sumps.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[zachfishman]

A shallow tank haha.

 

[Retired Reefer]

A little note on the check valves that where mentioned as a must. DON'T trust them, they become clogged with scum and fail. A siphon break on the returns and drains works way better. The check valves are becoming a thing of the past.My filter socks last at least 5 days before changing.

 

[acropora1981]

I use filter floss to get that crystal clear look (replaced every 72 hrs or so), as well as cleaning the glass every 10 days with a razor blade. I'm sure having a good skimmer also has some a large effect.

The shimmer from the halides also IMO adds to the illusion of the water being sparkling clear.

I do not use carbon, but I do use GFO. My tank is always amazingly sparklingly clear; we had a few ppl over a few days ago, and one of the girls was grossed out by the corals, but she did compliment the tank saying 'its so sparklingly clear.' lol

 

[bayoupr]

Bio Pellets and Carbon. I don't use socks or floss. My sump gets dirty but when I do a water change I suck the debris out with a maxi jet and hose.