How to filter very fine particles.

[stany]

I'm having no luck filtering out very fine particles in my 50. I have a Fluval 206 and Tetra Whisper 45 HOB and keep seeing fine waste particles floating around. I completely cleaned the 206 media and I replaced the foam blocks with new. I bought the Tetra HOB and have the Bio filter installed. I'm trying to engineer a contraption with 180 ML filter media bag to catch the outflow from the HOB. It will look like crap in the tank but I figure I will only need it for a day or so after a water change/gravel cleaning. Anybody have ideas?

 

[Wet Sleeves]

what do you have in the 206?

 

[JLW]

Yea, you need a bigger filter.

You could also try a diatom filter for occasional use.

 

[stany]

The standard stuff that came with it. I replaced the foam pads and carbon filter, cleaned the biomax media, polishing pad and Bio-foam pad.

 

[stany]

A 206 and Tetra 45 is not enough for a 50?

 

[Cal]

You can try running this thing for a bit and see if it helps.

Seachem Purigen is another option that collects out fine partials in my 55gal.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Run the DIY polisher

 

[stany]

I bought the Tetra HOB thinking I could solve the debris problem by using the bio-filter and have an easy way to do things like add\remove carbon filtration, etc and as a temporary back up if my 206 went down.( I have a 306 or 406 in use on another 50 tank that I can use as well) I've tried sliding "the Bag" a 180 Ml mesh bag in the flow to catch these particles to no avail. This is a great video and will give it a try. I have some 180 Ml poly sheets I use to catch fine particles from my gravel cleaner I can put into the bottle. I'm baffled why they are not caught by the normal 206 and HOB filter set ups but I just want them gone. Thought about Purigen but this is simple filtration and the video seems to be exactly what I'm looking for without opening my 206 every month. The diatom option Joshua suggested would work if I had a fish room of tanks to deal with but I have just one cichlid tank. Thanks everyone, you guys are the best.

 

[Frank Cowherd]

The diatomaceous earth filter is a polishing filter that will even remove ich. It should even remove cloudiness. Cost for a new one is around $150. Some people just run these as needed to polish the water though it can be run all the time. Public swimming pools often use this type of filter (though a lot bigger) to keep the pool water sparkling clear.

 

[stany]

Looks like a diatom filter would work great but I'm looking at one tank and something temporary. I have another community non-cichlid tank with a 306 and 406 on it (because of overstocking) and do not have this problem. Thanks for the suggestion but I'm going to try Calvin's idea for under $20 and have a powerhead on hand if I need it for something else. Still confused why the 206 and Tetra 45 HOB does not eliminate this.I do have a minor brown algae problem in the tank which I'm treating and scraping which is adding debris but my filters should handle this.

 

[CSnyder00]

I have a tank with a cloudiness issue that I haven't been able to resolve. I've done numerous water changes and even changed filter pads to no avail. It is finally starting to come around to being clear. It never seemed to affect the fish. I assume it was some sort of algae or bacterial bloom. None of my other tanks had this problem.

 

[stany]

So I bought a Marineland Maxi-jet 400 and put it in with a 500 ml bottled water cut and filled with Poly floss from Michael's ($3 after 40% coupon discount) and pushed onto the intake yesterday. I did a water change, gravel cleaning and scraped all the algae off the the glass. So the tank was as filled with floating particles as could be from stirring things up. A day later it is a little better and I can see a lot of particles caught in the floss as it is now brown instead of snow white when I put it in. I can see particles going into the floss but was hoping to see faster results. Thought about turning off my HOB and just let the Fluval 206 run. I see a lot of stuff coming out of the HOB using the stock media it came with, but I'd rather see more stirring up of the water and suspending particles for the powerhead to suck up. This does work. I need to give it more time. I did see a juvenile 1 1/2" Sulfur Head inspecting the bottle opening but was not fighting to not get sucked in. Seems fish are avoiding the set up but after a water change and re-arrangement of 20 cichlid rocks they are still trying to figure out the new environment.

Thank Calvin for the idea. Still not sure why my Fluval 206 and HOB are not catching these particles.

 

[Cal]

I'm glad that's helping!

 

[stany]

This is working great at collecting debris. Replaced the floss once already and almost ready to do it again along with the bio on my HOB. While I am catching stuff I still see floating stuff. I had a Rusty that was swimming funny and I started ParaGuard dosing. The Rusty seems to be swimming better. I don't think I'm over feeding and do gravel cleanings at least every 10 days. Could this be dead parasites or algae floating around? .

 

[stany]

Bump. Update. The solution Calvin gave is still working as I replace the floss every 2 weeks with water changes because it turns brown from the dirt it picks up. With a bag of floss costing less than $3 and I've used about 5% of the bag after 3 months I'm happy. It has not solved the floaters in the tank and may try upgrading this solution to a Marineland Maxi-jet 1200 to get it under control for less than $20 and go back to the 400. .

 

[Becca]

I may have to give the DIY a try for our 125. I have several tanks where I get fine particles because we've used soil-type/volcanic substrates, which tend to break down over time.

 

[Cal]

Woohoo! I’m helping~!