I've been keeping tanks for over 10 years, and I've kept african cichlids for only about 2 years now

and only this past 6 months i've really started to focus on my water conidtions getting test kits, and such. Yah I know Cruel to my fish that i didnt care as much earlier, but anywho back to the point.

All those years of keeping tanks I've never had 100 pct clear water. Like I still get these little white particles in the water, there less and less now that i've cared more about my tanks, before u could see the particles from far, but now you need to look close other wise tank is crystal clear.

Only reason why im addressing this is because i've seen tanks that are 100pct crystal clear with zero particles. I want these Bloody things GONE FOR GOOD.

Could it be perhaps my filterrs? My Impellers have deprie stuck in them? Impellers dirty with waste? Type of filter? Gravol used? lighting? background?

Could it be that particles are always prevelent but only reason why others can't biew is because of the way they set up there lighting or Background as well as gravol?

My tanks:
Emperor 400 filters
penguin 350 filters
Black background, black Gravol, lava rock, green plants, drift wood (75 gal)
Blue Background, White Aragonite Sand, Lace Rock,no plants (140gal)

Im not gonna list all my tanks but u get the point all have those dame white particles

my 75 gal shows them the least.

Any ideas?

Rob, there a few things I could suggest to you to clear out any particiles.

1. Have a heavy amount of 'bio' media in order to handle any load you throw @ it.
2. Aragonite, clean it 1 every 6months, even then youll find its not very dirty. It tends to stay on the top. Gravel clean it in sections, every month-2nd month. A huge amount of bio is kept in your gravel, dont clean it away.
3. Have good water flow and filtration. I have only used one emperor filter before (smaller than the 400), myself, I wasnt impressed with it. My tanks have never been so clear and clean untill i started useing AC
4. Keep a roll of filter floss around, use it only after heavy maintenance, or filter cleanings. Will remove fine particles, but also gets clogged fast.
5. Of course...proper and strict maintenance and water change schedules...but I dont really have to say that Im sure

Let us know how things go

Andrew

CF, to confirm assumptions, do you have foam/floss filtration, carbon filtration and biological filtration on every tank?

What kind of filter media do you use for the foam/floss portion?

Only time I've seen something like this is right after I added the biological media to a new canister filter when I had not rinsed it as well as I should have, so when the little concrete-like tubes first got wet the filter pumped out a bunch of fine white particles. But they didn't stay suspended in the water, they either precipitated into the substrate or ended up in the filter foam.

Interesting question -- thanks for posting this!

Your welcome I aint ashamed to ask a noob question lol

Thanks Andrew for the tips I was thinking of going over to Aqua clear Filters.

I use HOB filters on all my tanks each has the blue filter floss enclosed with Diamond Charcoal bits ("Standard Emperor INsert").

And the emp filters as well as the penguins have all three levels of filtration.

Im gonna make the move to AC filters very soon ill let you all know how I make out

Appreciate the responses

Cheers Cheers!!!

Cichlidfinatic,

I used to run my 55 gallon with only one Penguin filter when it was lightly stocked and I also noticed that there were always tiny white particles everywhere in the water.

I eventually figured out that they were tiny little bubbles and I was able to get rid of them by keeping the water level up so that the output of the filter was under the water level. That also eliminated the slight splashing sound the filter makes as well.

I looked at your tank videos and they look pretty darn clear to me. But I did notice that your water level was not all the way up to the top.

I don't know if this would be causing your problem, but thought I'd mention it anyway. ayeaura

Thanks Aura, yeah ur right the particles do seem less when I fill the tank up to the top but none the less I still experience those little particles, I've even cleaned out my Impellors on my filters they improved things but still got those white specs.

Im a perfectionist and that pains my eyes to see that...Unfortionatly the particles do not show up on the video as my digital camera video feature isnt really advanced so the pic quality is compramised... Thats to bad because you guys cant see the particles im talking about.

This poses no threat to my fish, they are always lively ravenous feeders, so its just mearly Asctethic reasons i want it 100 pct clear.

AC filters are going in by friday, slowly though don't wanna risk loosing a big load of Beneficial bacteria..

I'm a "Aqua Clear" fan as well!

I use the AC 110's.

Aura gave you a great tip on reducing the particles as well.

It sounds like you like the "polished" water look.

If the AC's don't give you what you're looking for, although
I believe they will, you may want to consider a canister type
of filter for this job.

On my AC 110, I only use the foam insert in comes with and I
purchased an additional bag of ceramic rings. Therefore, I run
the foam insert topped by two bags of ceramic rings. I don't use
the charcoal anymore unless I want to remove meds or odors.

Some AC user run 2 sponges on top of each other and then some
other bio media on top of them.

Good luck and let us know how you like the new AC's. Remember
Aura's tip and fill up the tank as high as possible and you won't hear
much noisy at all!

Yeah I was gonna get the Ciramic's as well they never need to be replaced right? and it saves you alot of cash on filtration.

I cut the filter floss my self so that should not be a problem, I buy to 24foot long roll for 10 bucks and it last me a long time!!!

came you say savings??

C.H.I.P.S

Right, the bio-rings don't need to be replaced. They should be included with the Aqua Clear filter. They also come with a coarse sponge (reusable) and carbon. Like preacherboy, I don't use the carbon.

I do use some floss and/or quilt batting on top of the sponge for catching finer particles.

I think I might be the only person on the world wide web who is not overly thrilled with my Aqua Clear filters. I've had a couple that were cracked before I even got them out of the box.! They do a fine job when they work, but I have a lot of trouble keeping them running. dumb dumb

In my mbuna tanks, sand is always being spit and sprayed around at all levels and I would swear that they are deliberately aiming for the intake tubes of those filters!! Sponge prefilters did very little to stop sand from getting inside. When this happens, there is a short period of grinding as the sand gets into the impeller and then it stops running causing me much misery and suffering. Grrrr

My penguins do better with some sand getting in. They will grind a little bit and then it sounds like the impeller clears itself and continues running.

My canisters are unaffected by the sand. I usually dump some out at maintenance time, but have had no problems with them and sand. Good Job

As much as I complain about them, I have four AC 110s on my tanks along with Rena XP canister filters.

I hope yours will do the trick and take care of those little particles for you.

Thanks for the tip about the filter floss!

I've never tried that before and I will do so the next
time I need to clean my filter!

Fingers Crossed my AC filter will be in Tact.

They do seem pretty delicate.. But its not like im tossing the thing around so long as it does what its meant to do, and takes those Dame Particles out dumb dumb
then im fine with it.

Besides I only have one Cichlid tank that I keep Sand in the others are Crushed coral and Cichlid mix gravol. the Coral/gravol are 2 large to fit through the intakes, so im safe there :) Good Job

Dido on the appreciation for the filter floss tip Cheers!!!
lol

I have all AC filters and on my 110's I use the big sponge, then some floss, and I stand a mini sponge along the side where the impeller is (to catch bypass water), then ceramic rings. I used to have alot of problems with particles and bubbles so I took my water level up and added the mini sponge to the side and that seemed to help alot with the mini particles floating around! Here's a little sketch to help show you what I did.

Another great tip, Rena!

It is funny how one question on this great forum often
leads to many answers that are very helpful! the Clap

Witch is why I love this forum :) most active one i've stumbled across

thanks Guys/gurls for ur Responses!! and I love the Visual on the set up its very helpfull as im an artist so Visual is usually the only way to go for me ..

Wiggle it just a little bit!

Cturner great diagram!

I recently traded a bunch of rock for a smaller AC filter, and it cam with a small sponge like that for the side. It took me a few mins to figure out where it went and why. I thought it to be a brilliant idea to avoid the bypass.

I have to say, now that Ive seen your diagram, and confirms my suspicions on why and where, I soon will be adding them to all my larger AC's.


Good Job Good Job Good Job