I have a 40gallon freshwater tank with a pair fire mouths a pair rainbow chicilids a texas cichilid a pair clown loaches a bristlenose and a few peppered catfish. I only feed sparsely twice a day. I have a internal filter which cleans 650litres an hour, an external cannister which cleans 680 litres an hour. the medium includes ceramic rings and foam for pre filtering then 100 micron wool for finer mechanical filtering followed by good quality carbon finished with bio rings from Hagen. The internal is running various sized foam inserts. I siphon the gravel once a week and change 20% of the water. Now I have to admit my water is clear, but when I go to my local fish shop he has several tanks which are CRYSTAL CLEAR. Can anyone give me an idea of how this is achieved.
Crystal clear water?
- Thread starter glnnradf
- Start date
It's a matter of scale. Figure you have about 1 inch of fish per gallon--the LFS, on the other hand, has an about .2 inches of fish per gallon, and they usually have much more complex filters, in addition to performing more water changes (many pleaces change out 10% of the water every day). This results in much less waste settling into the system to feed bacteria and other common 'clouding' factors.
Try just cleaning your mechanical filters every other day instead of weekly--and you will see a huge improvement as well.
Try just cleaning your mechanical filters every other day instead of weekly--and you will see a huge improvement as well.
The fish you have, cichlids and loaches, are know to search the substrate and cause "dirt" to float around in the water.
The bristlenose pleco is a copious waste producer too.
Your filtration sound ok.
Totally crystal clear water can be achieved by diatom filtration, or another filter capable of filtering particles in the micron size range.
Bill in WI
The bristlenose pleco is a copious waste producer too.
Your filtration sound ok.
Totally crystal clear water can be achieved by diatom filtration, or another filter capable of filtering particles in the micron size range.
Bill in WI
I run a HOT magnum on my 55 with 1 green terror, 1 severum, 1 JD, 1 texas.....
I only use the micron cartridge and one water change per week...... the water stays cyrstal (as in you can't tell water is in the tank) clear.
I only use the micron cartridge and one water change per week...... the water stays cyrstal (as in you can't tell water is in the tank) clear.