Particles always - 380g

[PaulieReef]

No matter what I do, I have massive particles always in my display. I tried the following.

1. Carbon
2. Filter socks 200 micron down to 10 micron
3. Coral Snow

I do not think it’s micro bubbles, only source of micro bubbles is my skimmer and I put a custom filter sock on the outlet to catch all the bubbles. Their are also precautions post skimmer to prevent micro bubbles too.

I feed 3x a day chrome boost both medium and small pellets. Also feed 1 sheet of nori a day.

I thought it could be the auto feed but there is no difference in particles in the morning before a feeding happens and middle of the day after 2 of the 3 feedings.

Info that might help.

4x Gyre - left (350), back(280), back(280), right(350) - gyre more 60%
2x Varios6 Return (50% 8ft head pressure total approx 800 gph for both)

My last resort is going to be ozone, but if carbon doesn’t do anything. Not sure ozone will.

please help

 

[PaulieReef]

Fish:
11 tangs, 2 clowns, dragon goby, melanarus wrasse, blenny, 2x cleaner shrimp

 

[PaulieReef]

Particles

 

[Troylee]

Hard to say without seeing it in person.. I have a diamond goby that keeps my sand in the water column I’ve always dozed mb7 and just started back up with vodka here and there and my tank is sparkling besides the sand grains lol

 

[PaulieReef]

Tried adding a video to show particles. I am currently dosing vodka too haven’t tried microbactor7.

I am using special grade aragonite

 

[cwerner]

If you didn't rinse your sand thoroughly those gyres do a really good job of making sure the really fine sand particles (dust basically) stays suspended.

 

[PaulieReef]

If you didn't rinse your sand thoroughly those gyres do a really good job of making sure the really fine sand particles (dust basically) stays suspended.

Tanks been running for a solid 8+ months would that still be an issue? I did wash the sand pretty good but prolly not perfect. Did like you do with rice. Rinse dump until water is clear.

 

[PaulieReef]

Doomed to have particles always!

 

[rocket098]

What is your sump flow rate. This plays big roll in water clarity. You need to be able to have the particles get sucked in over overflow and not just approach it and get turned away.

 

[blecki]

I have the same problem on my 230. I think it's because my engineer gobies are constantly spitting sand into the water column.

 

[Rmckoy]

Fish:
11 tangs, 2 clowns, dragon goby, melanarus wrasse, blenny, 2x cleaner shrimp

11 tangs alone can produce a lot of particles ( from poop to pieces of what ever they pick off the rocks and glass when grazing .

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

If it is truly particles the only way to remove them is with aggressive mechanical filtration. The best thing I have used are the 25-micron pleated filters from lifegard, marineland, and inland seas. You can try one of the permanent polishing filters like a NuClear, but I would recommend trying some of the marineland polishing filters. This will let you try the polishing and see if you like it. You can also use them for a week and then pull them out if you think you don't need them anymore. They say they are rated for 60 gallons but I think if you added 2 of them you would see a good clarity improvement.

The 25-micron cartridges are fine enough to remove anything the eye can see while not clogging so fast allowing you to run them continuously.

Marineland Magnum 200 Polishing Internal Canister Filter

The Marineland Magnum 200 Polishing Internal Canister Filter offers powerful 3-stage filtration aquariums up to 60 gallons.

www.marineandreef.com

 

[doubleshot00]

With 11 tangs you got a lot going on. Constant pooping and they are always flying around the substrate stirring up the sand to i bet. My foxface alone when he gets scared (IDK why he does he's weird) stirs my tank up.

 

[PaulieReef]

What is your sump flow rate. This plays big roll in water clarity. You need to be able to have the particles get sucked in over overflow and not just approach it and get turned away.

Currently running 2x Varios 6s at about 50% with about 7-8ft of head pressure. From multiple charts, I am getting about 800 gph of flow, so the tank is being turned over roughly 2x an hour. (Tank total volume with sump and rock displacement is 420g)

I have the same problem on my 230. I think it's because my engineer gobies are constantly spitting sand into the water column.

I have a dragon goby and the dudes a monster, however, he dribbles sand slowly across the sand, I do not see to many particles with him.

11 tangs alone can produce a lot of particles ( from poop to pieces of what ever they pick off the rocks and glass when grazing .

I honestly never even thought of the poop. Very interesting.

If it is truly particles the only way to remove them is with aggressive mechanical filtration. The best thing I have used are the 25-micron pleated filters from lifegard, marineland, and inland seas. You can try one of the permanent polishing filters like a NuClear, but I would recommend trying some of the marineland polishing filters. This will let you try the polishing and see if you like it. You can also use them for a week and then pull them out if you think you don't need them anymore. They say they are rated for 60 gallons but I think if you added 2 of them you would see a good clarity improvement.

The 25-micron cartridges are fine enough to remove anything the eye can see while not clogging so fast allowing you to run them continuously.

Marineland Magnum 200 Polishing Internal Canister Filter

The Marineland Magnum 200 Polishing Internal Canister Filter offers powerful 3-stage filtration aquariums up to 60 gallons.

www.marineandreef.com

Would something like ozone also help with this? I know a lot of people talk about crystal clear water with Ozone.

With 11 tangs you got a lot going on. Constant pooping and they are always flying around the substrate stirring up the sand to i bet. My foxface alone when he gets scared (IDK why he does he's weird) stirs my tank up.

Very good point!

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

As an avid Ozone user. Ozone will not help with particles only discoloration and odors from dissolved organics. Regardless I am happy to have more reefers on team Ozone.

 

[Reef.]

Surprised with that size tank and all those tangs you are not using a filter roller, you would definitely see a marked difference.

Carbon is not going to remove visible sized particles, socks are good but they only work for a short period, a 200 micron sock will obviously let everything through that is smaller than 200m, these particles will be very visible, the sock only becomes effective as the holes in the sock become clogged, the sock then starts to trap smaller and smaller sized particles, but again they will be visible until they get down to around 10 or less microns, but by this time your sock will be almost fully blocked and over flowing, so you will effectively not have any water going through the sock at all, using a smaller micron sock will just speed up this process.

Buy a filter roller.

 

[Troylee]

Try cranking your return up.. I run 3500gph on my return with a 275 display. Skimmer pulls some crazy stuff! I’ve always been a fan of high flow sumps myself.

 

[rocket098]

Doesn’t matter the micron ratings so much if you can see the particles you can probably filter it out with a roller or socks. Your 800 gph is not a lot if you think about it. I have observed this issue for a while on the big tanks. You need to create enough flow that any particles approaching the overflow get sucked in. Most tanks with low turn over rate as the particles approach the overflow they end up veering off because the in tank flow is much higher then the overflow flow. Hard to explain this but just observe some of the particles in your tank as they approach the overflow.

 

[Rmckoy]

For crystal clear water and to polish removing particles you can try calcium carbonate mixed with rodi water and dosed to the tank

it will make it cloudy but the skimmer picks up everything including the particles

I’ll see if I can find the post and tag you in it

I have used this for years but can’t remember the water to powder ratio

 

[Rmckoy]

For crystal clear water and to polish removing particles you can try calcium carbonate mixed with rodi water and dosed to the tank

it will make it cloudy but the skimmer picks up everything including the particles

I’ll see if I can find the post and tag you in it

I have used this for years but can’t remember the water to powder ratio