# CRYSTAL CLEAR Water



## mikesbales (Aug 13, 2004)

I've got a 75 gallon with an XP3 filter. I've got no live plants, and only one fish. My water isnt by any means murky, just a little milky compared to some i've seen. How is it that some people manage to get perfectly clear water. I do water changes at least once a week but it still doesnt give me that clear as glass look. Any Suggestions?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

mikesbales said:


> I've got a 75 gallon with an XP3 filter. I've got no live plants, and only one fish. My water isnt by any means murky, just a little milky compared to some i've seen. How is it that some people manage to get perfectly clear water. I do water changes at least once a week but it still doesnt give me that clear as glass look. Any Suggestions?


Up filtration and w/c
buy a uv sterilizer
best option would be a diotom filter. They cost about 100$ but can be used one every week or so to polish water crystal clear and to remove free floating parisites. The cood thign is they dont run continuosly to be effective so one filter can be moved between as many tanks as you have.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

i run a wet/dry and a magnum 250 on my 75 and my water is always crystal clear, the wet/dry takes care of all my bio filtration and the magnum takes care of the mech filtration and water polishing. the magnum is perfectly suited for mech filtration and water polishing, although it's not the best filter for bio. they can be set up with the micron cartridge all the time if you have an extra cartridge and you don't mind swapping them out for cleaning every few days, or you can just run it with the media cartridge packed with filter floss and the sponge on the outside of the cartridge if you want a bit less maintenance.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Try the microfiltration pads from Rena. They go in the very top bucket above all your other media. I've never had a problem with cloudy water since I started using them.
Also, this might sound stupid, but make sure the glass is clean. My tank occasionally gets a slimy buildup on the glass (I'm guessing it's algae since it's heaviest on the side nearest a window) that can make the water look cloudy if I don't clean it off periodically.


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## RBP7 (Oct 13, 2006)

i go way over board with filtration. i have a 220gal tank with fx5 and 3 fluval 405's. 55gal waterchange every week religously. live plants.


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## mike123 (Jul 17, 2006)

i used a mag 250, it takes a ton of sh*t out of the water fast but that means that you have to clean it a lot.


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Get some of those white micro buffer pads that go in the xP3 filters. That's what I had in mine and it would buffer the water crystal clear.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

RBP7 said:


> i go way over board with filtration. i have a 220gal tank with fx5 and 3 fluval 405's. 55gal waterchange every week religously. live plants.


It's not a matter of how many filters you have, it's the media that matters. I'm currently filtering my 120 with (6) 6" Reds with only an XP4 (150 gph loaded w/ media), and my water's crystal because I use the microfiltration pads.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Piranha Dan said:


> i go way over board with filtration. i have a 220gal tank with fx5 and 3 fluval 405's. 55gal waterchange every week religously. live plants.


It's not a matter of how many filters you have, it's the media that matters. I'm currently filtering my 120 with (6) 6" Reds with only an XP4 (150 gph loaded w/ media), and my water's crystal because I use the microfiltration pads.
[/quote]

Im sure he is using decent media in the filters. Those are some heavy duty filters and with proper media they could easily keep a 220 clean.

On my 30g i use a penguin 200 with a cartrige, a littly pack of ac bio media and abag of eheim substrat pro along with an ac 200gph i think (its the old system of model names so im not sure what it would be in the new model names) with a ac pad and lava rock


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## Ahmed (Jun 23, 2007)

I have 4 filters running a combined filteration of around 6000 GPH on my 200G tank. And I am still experiencing cloudy waters.

But one thing did come to my attention from one of the members posts... is to check the glass. If your goass is slimy, it will make your water look cloudy.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Ahmed said:


> I have 4 filters running a combined filteration of around 6000 GPH on my 200G tank. And I am still experiencing cloudy waters.
> 
> But one thing did come to my attention from one of the members posts... is to check the glass. If your goass is slimy, it will make your water look cloudy.


 600 or 6000gph?
if it is 600gph that is plenty and it would lead me to beleive you dont have very good media. If its 600gph you should up the filtration to bigger filters since one big filter is better then a bunch or tiny filters.


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## Ahmed (Jun 23, 2007)

sean-820 said:


> I have 4 filters running a combined filteration of around 6000 GPH on my 200G tank. And I am still experiencing cloudy waters.
> 
> But one thing did come to my attention from one of the members posts... is to check the glass. If your goass is slimy, it will make your water look cloudy.


 600 or 6000gph?
if it is 600gph that is plenty and it would lead me to beleive you dont have very good media. If its 600gph you should up the filtration to bigger filters since one big filter is better then a bunch or tiny filters.
[/quote]

Oooops, I meant 6000 liters. Cause each filter does 1500!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I read your other topic so it seems that all of the bacteria was killed off when you cleaned your filters at once. So it is reestablishing.


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## tigerdat (Sep 5, 2003)

I have an XP3 on my 100 gallon tank, it works fine 0 ammonia 0 nitrite although nitrates build up because I feed a lot. When you clean your filter just rinse the filter pads in a bucket with tank water, not tap water. Cloudy water is usually a indication that the tank is not cycled.


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## jsadlersos (Mar 11, 2008)

Marineland Magnum filters have awsome water polishing capability, plus they're pretty cheap considering other filters on the market.....lots of utilites as well


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## angeli697 (Jul 5, 2007)

mikesbales said:


> I've got a 75 gallon with an XP3 filter. I've got no live plants, and only one fish. My water isnt by any means murky, just a little milky compared to some i've seen. How is it that some people manage to get perfectly clear water. I do water changes at least once a week but it still doesnt give me that clear as glass look. Any Suggestions?


do you have well water? cuz thats the same way my water gets wen it floods.


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## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

angeli697 said:


> I've got a 75 gallon with an XP3 filter. I've got no live plants, and only one fish. My water isnt by any means murky, just a little milky compared to some i've seen. How is it that some people manage to get perfectly clear water. I do water changes at least once a week but it still doesnt give me that clear as glass look. Any Suggestions?


do you have well water? cuz thats the same way my water gets wen it floods.
[/quote]
I use the xp2 on my 75. Crystal clean and no problems. I change my water once a week and thats it. I would say you have a different problem. rena's kick butt.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

sean-820 said:


> Marineland Magnum filters have awsome water polishing capability, plus they're pretty cheap considering other filters on the market.....lots of utilites as well


The best when it comes to polishing water....


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## Ahmed (Jun 23, 2007)

mike123 said:


> i used a mag 250, it takes a ton of sh*t out of the water fast but that means that you have to clean it a lot.


Woohoo... more filter bacteria!


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## sick fish man (Mar 21, 2006)

mabe your filter stirs up the bottom of tank a little. Do you have sand?


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