120 gallon water clarity issues

B

bullshark

Bullshark
Mar 12, 2005
35
0
0
50
Toronto
I have had a 120 gallon tank for about a year and I've been trying to get the water nice and clear but I just can't get it right. I don't have an algae issue but rather the water looks dull / no sparkle. Almost a light tea clour (no drift wood in the tank). I used to have a 60 gallon and my water was always perfect so I'm assuming I'm not doing something right with the bigger tank.

I'm doing weekly 10-15% water changes and I'm currently running a Filstar XP3 canister and a emperor 400. I was recently told I don't have enough filtration. He said I'm running only 700 gph and I need 1200 gph. I recently bought the new Fulval FX5 (950 gph) and I plan to run it with my XP3. The new filter is being shipped and I hope to have it by this weekend.

I'd really appreciate some help. Could it be that I'm not loading my canister filter with the correct mixture of media (not enough activated carbon?). Perhaps not changing the media frequent enough?

Thanks for the advice

Dave
 
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Most of the advice you will get here will tell you do not use the carbon.

My personal preference, use it, lots of it, and change it out every 7-10 days. Been doing it for 30 yrs and my tanks are always clear. Whenever I get in a duobtful mood and stop on a tank or two for comparison, the tanks look dull.
 
Another thing that can help is a real fine floss in one of your media baskets on that fluval. I tun AC 500's which use the same foam as the fluval and unless I put some quilt batting on top of it my tank looks dull as well. The batting filters out all the real fine particulate matter. If you really want a crystal clear tank then you should purchase a Diatom filter. You only need to run them once a week for a few hours from what I gather but some people run them all the time. You should have no water clarity issues at all if you get one.
On a side note I dont ues carbon or charcoal but this one LFS that I go too which does have awesome tanks uses bone charcoal and the lady there swears by it says carbon is just wasting your money so you may want to consider that as well.
 
Thanks man. I'll head to the LFS and ask about the bone charcoal. I'll also grab some floss - never tried that.

Is it true that I need about 1200 gph in filtration (120 gallon tank)?
 
bullshark said:
Is it true that I need about 1200 gph in filtration (120 gallon tank)?
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No. Most people use the rule that 10x the tank volume is needed to flow per hour. Test you water, and if your parameters are in check, your filtration is fine.

The only added benefit from higher flow rates is more mechanical filtration.
 
Some fish like higher levels of water agitation. But I woudl suspect your filtration is fine. If a higher flow rate is wanted you can achieve that with prefiltered powerheads.

There is nothing wrong with carbon, as long as you understand it does need to be renewed every 2 weeks at the most as it dies off very rapidly in a tank setting.
 
I usually add a small amount of carbon each time I clean the tank ( I rotate the cartridges I change in the Emperors) and my water has been very clear. I get the maga bucket of it at the pet store so it only costs me about 2-3 dollars per month at most.
 
What is your fish population?

Also, I personally think that it's a good idea to do atleast 50% weekly water changes on any FW tank, regardless of fish poulation or what your nitrate reading tells you.
 
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