Water Polishing ? crystal clear water

[wrc1045]

Hello all,

I have been fussing over my water. Don't give me wrong it is extremely clear, the fish are doing well and the water quality is great. My question is how to get the water PERFECTLY CLEAR. It does not have debris in it or not even slightly cloudy. It just doesn't seem perfect to me, sorry I am anal. So what or how does everyone do to polish the water. Do I use charcoal in my filters? Should I change that every week or two? Do I do gravel and water changes more often (once a week now)? Is it really neccessary to do water changes as much as twice a week with this much filtration? I would add more Eheim canister filters here if I needed it <but I think 4 canisters, 1 HOB and 2 295gph power heads would be way too much for my tank> I was also wondering if my lighting could be causing an issue <I doubt it though>

What is way to much current? The fish do move around alot, they never really stop swimming. They do have places to hide.

Please help, my OCD is keeping me up at night !
just kidding about that - but I would appreciate your input. Thanks

 

[jedoubblese]

running your water thru activated carbon works pretty well it takes out the yellowing agents in the water and clears it up nicely i think your just being to anal just enjoy your tank for a bit.

 

[Rbishop]

I think your filtration is fine, though I would probably switch to RUGF unless you have a sand substrate.

You should be able to get away with a once a week water change with that light of a bio load; use your nitrate level to track it.

I run at least one canister with just floss/carbon on all tanks and change the carbon weekly.

I also use a Vortex diatom 2-3 hrs weekly on each tank.

 

[aquarob]

Give Purigen by Seachem a try. Amazing results, easy to use. Look it up.

 

[roliva]

To 'polish' the water you need a micron filter. Filters using D.E. work the best such as the Vortex mentioned earlier.

 

[liv2padl]

What is way to much current? The fish do move around alot, they never really stop swimming

any environment which causes the fish to have to constantly 'swim' causes stress which will ultimately lead to disease and untimely death. while barbs are active 'swimmers', gourami are decidedly sedentary. it sounds like you've got far too much 'current' in your tank.

 

[meyerhaus]

Adding a H.O.T. Magnum with high-quality activated carbon has worked well for me in the past.

 

[loaches r cool]

For those of you running diatom filters I see the vortex freedom filter says its designed for continous operation? Anyone use it? I have been debating between UV and Diatom filters for water polishing.

 

[Dixon]

you could use polyfilter in some internal filters.
i run 2 internals and my water is crystal.