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Dusty water

frankoq

frankoq

Members
I did a search but did not find anything about this...

The water in my 180 mixed africans is dusty.
Not cloudy or different color. just dusty.
parameters look normal PH=8.0, no Ammonia, no Nitrites, Nitrates = 40
weekly 50% water changes, all fish look healthy and eating well.
Filtration: 2 FX5s.
I use PFS and the 2 intakes are 2 inches above the sand.

At times, the the water looks crystal clear but dusty most of the time.

Any ideas? :confused:
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
When you say the waters"Dusty", do you mean there are particles in the water?

What media is in your filter?

Sent from my VS985 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
Andrewtfw said:
When you say the waters"Dusty", do you mean there are particles in the water?

What media is in your filter?

Sent from my VS985 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

It looks like particles in the water.
FX5-1 has: 2 trays of Biomax and the third tray has crushed coral in media bags.
FX5-2 has: 2 trays of Pond Matrix and one with carbon.

I tried polishing pads but they clogged the FX5 almost immediately so I took it out.

Also, this is most noticeable when the lights(marineland LEDs) are on.
when off, water looks fine.

I also have 2 air stones.
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
In my 125, I used to have similar problems with particles in the water. I removed all contents from the middle of the media trays. I kept ceramic rings on top, and added a filter pad (blue on top, white on bottom), on top of the ceramics.
I added AC50 sponges to the other two trays. That seemed to work wonders.
The particles are too small for your current sponges to contain.

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CichlidAddict

CichlidAddict

Members
frankoq said:
It looks like particles in the water.
FX5-1 has: 2 trays of Biomax and the third tray has crushed coral in media bags.
FX5-2 has: 2 trays of Pond Matrix and one with carbon.

I tried polishing pads but they clogged the FX5 almost immediately so I took it out.

Also, this is most noticeable when the lights(marineland LEDs) are on.
when off, water looks fine.

I also have 2 air stones.
Click to expand...

Dusty water is due to insufficient mechanical filtration of particulate matter in water. Biomax, pond matrix and AC sponge have large pores, good for biological but not mechanical. The reason your polishing pads get clogged up immediately is an indication that you have too much particulate matter in water that is not removed by your biological filters. Canisters are lousy for mechanical filtration because it is a PIA to clean. HOBs and sump sock are best for mechanical because they are easy to clean. I run multiple HOBs for mechanical filtration only in all my tanks and the water is crystal clear. One way to measure the adequacy of mechanical filtration is to time how long it takes to clear up the water after feeding. If takes more than 15 min to clear up, you need more mechanical filtration. For my 125g, I need three Penquin 350 to provide a total of one square foot of filter pad filtration which I changed twice a week. If you are using AC, you can wrap a filter pad around the sponge to provide better mechanical filtration.
 
Siklid

Siklid

Members
Frank,

I learned this trick from Thai.

Powerhead - water bottle - pillow stuffing from Walmart. Work like a champ - simple and easy. See the image.

DSC_4730.jpg
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
CichlidAddict said:
Dusty water is due to insufficient mechanical filtration of particulate matter in water. Biomax, pond matrix and AC sponge have large pores, good for biological but not mechanical. The reason your polishing pads get clogged up immediately is an indication that you have too much particulate matter in water that is not removed by your biological filters. Canisters are lousy for mechanical filtration because it is a PIA to clean. HOBs and sump sock are best for mechanical because they are easy to clean. I run multiple HOBs for mechanical filtration only in all my tanks and the water is crystal clear. One way to measure the adequacy of mechanical filtration is to time how long it takes to clear up the water after feeding. If takes more than 15 min to clear up, you need more mechanical filtration. For my 125g, I need three Penquin 350 to provide a total of one square foot of filter pad filtration which I changed twice a week. If you are using AC, you can wrap a filter pad around the sponge to provide better mechanical filtration.
Click to expand...

This is why this forum is AWESOME!
thanks for the help. I will try with some HOBs
 
CichlidAddict

CichlidAddict

Members
Siklid said:
Frank,

I learned this trick from Thai.

Powerhead - water bottle - pillow stuffing from Walmart. Work like a champ - simple and easy. See the image.
Click to expand...

That will work, but ugly. A champ doesn't necessarily have to win pretty, just get the job done.

There is no short cut to effective mechanical filtration, which requires small pores to trap fine particles that will get clogged up quickly, meaning that you have to change filter frequently. I purchase polyester batting from JoAnne Fabric by the yard and cut my filter pads to save money, costing less than 10c per square ft.
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
Siklid said:
Frank,

I learned this trick from Thai.

Powerhead - water bottle - pillow stuffing from Walmart. Work like a champ - simple and easy. See the image.
Click to expand...

How often do you change this?
Change or just clean it?

Agree... ugly but effective.
Can remove when visitors come. :)
 
Siklid

Siklid

Members
I change mine when the dirt line gets 3/4 up. You will know. To make it a it prettier, I have used Sprite and 7-up bottles (they are green).

Good luck - let me know how it works.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
I just noticed the water coming out of one of the FX5s seems to be the one throwing this "dust" particles. This FX5 has about a year old Biomax. I read you can keep media forever(although the box suggest to change every x months).
Could the ceramic rings be disintegrating?
I'm thinking on removing the biomax from this FX5 and adding Matrix instead.
Thoughts?
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
On my three 6' show tanks, the main filtration is a sump on my 180, matten filters on the 125 and canisters on the 150. Each of them also has one or more Aquaclear 110s to pull particles out of the water column. Without the Aquaclears, the water would be pretty nasty looking - especially with big messy eaters.

The plastic bottle will also so do the same thing.

Good luck, Frank.
 
B

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Turn that powerhead upside down and remove most of the batting, and you have an effective surface skimmer.

Blaise
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Are you sure it is dust and not micro bubbles? I've had the micro bubble issue on my FX5 before. If there is a tiny air leak somewhere, the tiny bubbles will be an issue.
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
Tony said:
On my three 6' show tanks, the main filtration is a sump on my 180, matten filters on the 125 and canisters on the 150. Each of them also has one or more Aquaclear 110s to pull particles out of the water column. Without the Aquaclears, the water would be pretty nasty looking - especially with big messy eaters.

The plastic bottle will also so do the same thing.

Good luck, Frank.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tony. I'm going to get an AC110 to help clean the water.
I'm determined to get this issue fixed.
I'm doing the plastic bottle and it helps catch a bunch of crap.
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
jonclark96 said:
Are you sure it is dust and not micro bubbles? I've had the micro bubble issue on my FX5 before. If there is a tiny air leak somewhere, the tiny bubbles will be an issue.
Click to expand...

it could be that.
I shutdown the one FX5 and noticed the following
in about 15 minutes the water looked very very clean(no "dust").

I turned the FX5 back on and waited about an hour. the water still looks very clean.

If I had an air leak, I should see the micro bubbles as soon as the FX was back online, yes?

I'll go ahead and change the media and see if that helps.
 
frankoq

frankoq

Members
update:
I added the external bottle/power head filter
I changed the year old biomax for pond matrix on the FX5.
I also added poly batting to one basket in the FX5.
still no cigar.
I did notice there are no microbubbles in the morning. by the time I come back from work, microbubbles everywhere. That must be because of the daily automatic shutdown on the FX.
Now, where could these microbubbles be coming from?
 
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