# Annoying bits all over tank grrrr. Eheim prob??



## Alastair (13 Jan 2012)

Right, finally decided to pop this post up after getting stupidly frustrated over the past few weeks with my water clarity. I've changed my fx5s to a pro3 2080 and pro 3e 2078. 2078 is filled with mech pro, bio mech and substrate pro, and the 2080 is filled with mech rings, Alfa grog some substrate pro and then seachem matrix. Both have the blue prefilter pads inside and floss as a final. 
Despite this, I can't for the life of me get rid of very small particles of detrious floating in the tank, I've got flow all over every bit of the tank, in a nice circular configuration, very small stocking and yet it just will not clear, I vac the substrate and plant leaves evey other day, doesn't stop, and have now gone to changing 50 percent twice a week? Which gives it crystal clear water for that day then bang it's back to the same again the day after. Why o beeping why is this happening. I've got two of the best filters on it, with more than enough mechanical filtration but it's not keeping my water clean. The tiny detrious is settling on some plant leaves and rapidly gets strands of algae off which I clear every other day. 

Any ideas anyone as I'm now at the point where I will just shut the lot down and give it a miss.   

Thanks guys n girls


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## hinch (13 Jan 2012)

too much flow perhaps not allowing it to settle into the substrate so when you vac it because its in the water column and not settled you can't vac it out?

wild guess work I have no idea though tbh usually floss pads clear it all out (even though I have a pet hate for floss pads)


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## Matt Warner (13 Jan 2012)

Hiya mate! Try not to lose your cool with it. I have many a time felt like throwing all my plants in the bin and giving it up. I have had BGA and BBa issues and it took me a good couple of months of trying different things to get rid of it completely.
Moving on to your problem. How often do you clean your filters out? Have you added anything to the tank recently which might of caused this?


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## Matt Warner (13 Jan 2012)

What kind of detritus are we talking about? Is it small fish waste, cloudiness r small hairs floating about?


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## Ian Holdich (13 Jan 2012)

one word...Purigen!

it deals well with stuff like this.


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## dw1305 (14 Jan 2012)

Hi all,
Because of the filtration you have, I don't see that it can be particles that the filter isn't capturing. My suspicion would be that it a chemical precipitate that is forming in the tank, when some of the dissolved ions in solution are interacting and coming out of solution. It might be calcium phosphate.

cheers Darrel


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## Alastair (14 Jan 2012)

dw1305 said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> Because of the filtration you have, I don't see that it can be particles that the filter isn't capturing. My suspicion would be that it a chemical precipitate that is forming in the tank, when some of the dissolved ions in solution are interacting and coming out of solution. It might be calcium phosphate.
> 
> cheers Darrel



Thanks darrel that does sound possible. Would that explain the white dry deposits above water lev too then? 
What is causing it then mate and how can I stop it as its very frustrating. 

Thanks 


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## dw1305 (15 Jan 2012)

Hi all,


> Would that explain the white dry deposits above water lev too then?


 Yes, it would, in that case it would be where the water has evaporated, less volume of water will mean that the ions will re-crystallise as "salts", leaving the marks. Just like the lime-scale on the shower glass, rim around the bath etc. 

Most salts are white, so it doesn't really help with which salt(s) form the deposits, but they come out of solution in order of solubility, least soluble first.

cheers Darrel


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## Alastair (15 Jan 2012)

dw1305 said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> 
> > Would that explain the white dry deposits above water lev too then?
> ...



How do I go about stopping this then?? 
I'm only dosing the usual ei salts but this is getting frustrating having a cloudy look from a distance 


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## spyder (15 Jan 2012)

I've had the deposits above the water line in the past. I put it down to the Mag Sulphate as the dose is quite high. I've halved it and have less deposits and no change in plant health. If your using the full whack you may have a fair bit in your tap too. For me that was around 10tsp in 125l over 4 weeks.


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## dY6kvDZ9 (11 Dec 2012)

Did you try and reduce the mag sulphate? I was wondering how you got on with it as I'm having a similar problem.


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## roadmaster (11 Dec 2012)

Was all the biological media rinsed well before placing it in the filter?


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## DTL (24 Dec 2012)

I had a similar problem. Since I live in a very soft water area, I have to push up KH and GH when doing water changes. I found that reducing the GH from 8 to 6 by reducing both the Mag Sulphate and Calcium Chloride adds, and reducing my EI dosage by about 20% did away with the cloudiness issue with no problems to the plants


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## Antipofish (24 Dec 2012)

I second what Ian has said.  Purigen will make all the difference.  If you dont want to buy that in the first instance then you can buy Seachem "clarity" which acts as a 'flocculant' and will make the fine particles clump together more and then your filter floss can take it out.  If you think about it, the particles are probably only 1 micron and the filter floss will not stop particles that small.  The Purigen will, or flocculate it and then the floss can  

Let us know what you choose to do and how you get on as its always good for people reading this kind of thread to know if the suggestions they read were used and/or succeeded


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## freelanderuk (23 Feb 2013)

Any update on this Alastair, I am using 2 2080's on my tank and removed the substrat pro media from the trays below the pre filter and filled with filter floss to try and remedy this,but I think its my brittle nose cat fish digging in the cat litter substrate causing the bits in the water


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