Crystal clear water

[taysh75]

Hi,

How to have a crystal clear water? My 2 ft tank a little bit blur blur but not to the extend of having green water or milky. The tank been around for about 2 months.

Still can see thru, say about 90% clear. How to make it crystal clear?
Thanks!

Cheers

[|squee|]

For me I've never managed to get crystal clear water in my CO2-injected tanks. There will always be a sort of blurness in them, especially at the end of the photoperiod after 7 hours or so.

I don't know why others can get crystal clear water with CO2-injection.

[taysh75]

For me I've never managed to get crystal clear water in my CO2-injected tanks. There will always be a sort of blurness in them, especially at the end of the photoperiod after 7 hours or so.

I don't know why others can get crystal clear water with CO2-injection.

Thanks squee. I wondering is ti because of the lighting. I got 2 set of lights, one set more "white" the other more "yellow" The later perhaps due to long usage. Maybe changing of the bulbs would help? to make it look less "blur".

[taysh75]

For me I've never managed to get crystal clear water in my CO2-injected tanks. There will always be a sort of blurness in them, especially at the end of the photoperiod after 7 hours or so.

I don't know why others can get crystal clear water with CO2-injection.

One more thing. Care to share what is the substrate u using? Lapis or ADA soil, etc? Thanks. Wondering if it could be the relfection of the substrate.

[zenscape]

I had cloudy water issue when I started a 4ft. I tried all sort of stuff in the market, such as Seachem Purigen, Clarity, Geo water and even diatom filter to "polish" the water. The sight of cystal clear water I saw in LFS was an obsession for me at that time. On the other hand, when i went back home to look at my tank, it had these small whitish particles floating around and no one knew what the heck was it.

Finally, after 4 trying months, my 4ft turned cystal clear and it has been like that for 2.5 years

My take is that all you need to do is to wait and be patient. Once your tank is matured, the water will be very clear.

By the way, IMHO, light tube of 8000k and above may give a clearer impression of the tank.

But of course, we cannot neglect getting the basic stuff right, like a good filter and using aged water to wash the media. Also, do not disturb the substrate when doing WC. Lastly, plant more and once your plants are healthy, they will be your best filter.

[|squee|]

Maurice has given good points. I believe mine is just a personal case... maybe it's the way I do things or something. I use ADA Aquasoil and Lapis, same case for both scenarios. Also used 6500K and 8000K, same thing. I've sort of given up

[uklau]

Could it be due to the cloged hose/piping, Terence? This may not be applicable to taysh75 as his set up is quite new.

[|squee|]

No, I don't think so. Anyway don't make this be my discussion, make it tahsh75's

[stephen chung]

My tank usually clears up in 1 - 2 days time. But latly one of my tank starts to get blurr. Don't know what happened to it. Never do anything to it all all. It a fish tank and not a planted tank.

Any idea whats wrong?

[taysh75]

I had cloudy water issue when I started a 4ft. I tried all sort of stuff in the market, such as Seachem Purigen, Clarity, Geo water and even diatom filter to "polish" the water. The sight of cystal clear water I saw in LFS was an obsession for me at that time. On the other hand, when i went back home to look at my tank, it had these small whitish particles floating around and no one knew what the heck was it.

Finally, after 4 trying months, my 4ft turned cystal clear and it has been like that for 2.5 years

My take is that all you need to do is to wait and be patient. Once your tank is matured, the water will be very clear.

By the way, IMHO, light tube of 8000k and above may give a clearer impression of the tank.

But of course, we cannot neglect getting the basic stuff right, like a good filter and using aged water to wash the media. Also, do not disturb the substrate when doing WC. Lastly, plant more and once your plants are healthy, they will be your best filter.

Hi all, Thanks! I had the cloudy period during the setup of the tank last month. After a week, the tank become crystal clear. Nowdays it turn abit blur again. Would there be a 2nd bacteria bloom? Or have i add to much fert that cause it to blur?

[uklau]

I encountered cloudy water with fish only tank before & got fixed easily by using AC.

[zenscape]

Hi all, Thanks! I had the cloudy period during the setup of the tank last month. After a week, the tank become crystal clear. Nowdays it turn abit blur again. Would there be a 2nd bacteria bloom? Or have i add to much fert that cause it to blur?

There is a possibility of bacteria bloom in your case if the nitrifying bacteria been eliminated by say, tap water washing of filter. Or if you add in more fish and the bio-load has been drastically increased to cause an imbalance.

By the way, a small tank will achieve cystal clear water in a shorter time and likewise, it will not be as stable a larger tank.

[taysh75]

There is a possibility of bacteria bloom in your case if the nitrifying bacteria been eliminated by say, tap water washing of filter. Or if you add in more fish and the bio-load has been drastically increased to cause an imbalance.

By the way, a small tank will achieve cystal clear water in a shorter time and likewise, it will not be as stable a larger tank.

Yar. Recently i do add in more fishes but not wash the filter.....Now my tank is still cloudy...drop to 80% clear only...

Do i just have to wait? I turning down the lights to 5 hours instead of usual 8hrs. Would it helps? Should i cut down on fert?

Any advice?

[zenscape]

Yes. You have to wait and be patient. Nature doesn't rush..everything has its own momentum and cycle..

I can identify with what Terence said that his tank becomes a bit blur after 7 photoperiod. It may due to excessive pearling of plants in a good co2-enriched and high light tank. Oxygen accumulation or co2 reaching saturation stage may cause slight blur. I am not sure. But it also happens to my tank near lights off. In addition, it will be more blurred with chiller when condensation occurs on the wall of the tank. For some, it is a beautiful sight as it exudes a dreamy impression- look at the photographs of Amano tanks in the riccia topic of Aqua Journal and you will know what i mean.

On the other hand, the duration of light has no relevance to cloudy water. It doesnt mean that you will avoid cloudiness by switching off the light before the 7 hour period. In fact, I would suggest you to increase the light duration. Folks here normally go on a 10 hour photo period. The key is to get your plants striving and not to retard its growth. Thats the reason why we are into this hobby. If you plants are doing well, it will be your best filter to polish up your water

Cutting on fert? the same view above applies unless you are having a low maintenance tank which is another matter.