# Crystal Clear Water



## FJP (Oct 31, 2009)

So how do you achieve this? 

I've seen videos of ADA taks on youtube where you can see across the room past multiple tanks. The water is absolutely crystal clear. 

Activated Carbon, Seachem Purigem, fine mechanical filtration, UV Sterilizer????


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## ashappard (Jun 3, 2006)

mechanical filtration, UV, purigen those all work pretty good in my experience. Even without a filter, you can have clear water if the aquarium is pretty stable. I personally stay away from carbon, it will mess with my dosing regime by stripping too much from the water that the plants need. I also run UV only when needed.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

ashappard said:


> Even without a filter, you can have clear water if the tank is pretty stable.


Yep. After two months of cloudy water in my first El Natural (no filter and VERY few water changes) the water is crystal clear (been 5 months now I think). It just takes time for things to age/accllimate/even out/adjust.....

-Dave


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## wi_blue (Apr 5, 2005)

Most tanks settle and clear out on there own, assuming there is not an bactirial/algae bloom. My latest setup needed a little help, though. I think because of the soil I used. So I simply added some Poly-fil (polyester stuffing for stuffed animals/pillows) to my filter to stop the debre slipping past my sponges.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

I'm a huge Purigen fan.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

My tanks get cloudy at water change time if I run the water in too fast. It stirs up the substrate. Other than that they are clear and I do not use...
Activated Carbon
Purigen
UV.

I do have polyester quilt batting in the filters. 

Cloudy water can have several causes:
Ammonia (dead fish, food rotting, cycle not complete)
Green water algae
pH issues
Substrate or decor decomposing
Someone added something to the tank (Cheerios, jello...)
Medication (Some cloud the water, some do not)
Air bubbles in the water
Heterotrophic bacteria (These are not the nitrifying species, but other good bacteria)


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

There are 2 ways to make the water so clear that it will appear that the fish are suspended in air. It will look as if there is no water at all.

Both approaches do the same thing - they remove very fine particles from the water. These fine particles are invisible to the human eye but because of physical and/or chemical reactions/effects they make the water appear not as clear as it could be.

1. Diatom filter
That's a mechanical way to remove the very fine particles from the water. It could be run 24/7 but diatom filters are not designed to be used that way. The diatom filter is used to "polish" the water to exceptional clarity and then be removed. The water will not stay "polished" unless your biological filter is working as it should be.

2. Biological filtration
The right way to remove the very fine particles from the water is through the biofilter. The biofilter is capable of "polishing" the water even better than the diatom filter. Water "polished" by a properly functioning biofilter has a very specific appearance. It looks "silky". You could say that it appears more viscous (thick). It's flow apears a little different than water that has not been cleaned well by the biofilter. 

Many aquarists have never seen water properly cleaned by their biofilter. The reason for that is the use of inferior biofilter materials and bad maintenance practices. A good biofilter establishes itself on a media that allows for uniterrupted water flow through it and at the same time provides for removal of old/weak/dead biofilter organisms. Note that I don't say "bacteria" - that's because the biofilter is not just bacteria but also other organisms. They all establish themselves slowly and disrupting that process leads to inferior biofiltration. Bad maintenance practices weaken the biofilter by disrupting the establishment (and natural "evolution") of these organisms that provide the biofiltration. Next time you pull out and squeeze your filter sponges remember that you are doing exactly that - wreaking havoc in a very complicated and fragile system.

All other forms of filtration - mechanical, chemical/physical (resins like Purigen), and UV are only replacements for the real deal - the biofilter. They should be used as a supplement to the biofilter - to help its function. Not as a substitute. 

We should note that UV sterilizers do an outstaning job supplementing a properly running biofilter. A UV sterilizer adds a tiny bit of extra "cleanliness" to the completely clear water. That effect is barely noticeable and could be seen only in water that is already completely clear. The difference could be seen only if the UV sterilizer is turned off for a few days. That being said I do believe that ADA's tanks do not make use of a UV sterilizer. It should be viewed as an insurance against bacteria/algae blooms and nothing more.

Resins like Purigen are definitely helpful but they take care of particles that the biofilter missed. Meaning that if the biofilter is working properly resins are not needed. In tanks that are almost perfectly (but not 100%) cleaned by the biofilter they make a visible difference and people fall in love with them. A better way to address that situation is to improve the biofilter performance.

You may think of properly biofiltered water as fresh mountain air. Every other way of water filtration would be equivalent to filtering stale stinky air using fabric filters, activated carbon, and air fresheners. They too work 

--Nikolay


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

Remember also that ADA uses high clarity glass. If you don't have a tank with high clarity glass, your water will never look as "clear" as the ADA photos.


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## FJP (Oct 31, 2009)

niko said:


> Many aquarists have never seen water properly cleaned by their biofilter. The reason for that is the use of inferior biofilter materials and bad maintenance practices. A good biofilter establishes itself on a media that allows for uniterrupted water flow through it and at the same time provides for removal of old/weak/dead biofilter organisms. Note that I don't say "bacteria" - that's because the biofilter is not just bacteria but also other organisms. They all establish themselves slowly and disrupting that process leads to inferior biofiltration. Bad maintenance practices weaken the biofilter by disrupting the establishment (and natural "evolution") of these organisms that provide the biofiltration. Next time you pull out and squeeze your filter sponges remember that you are doing exactly that - wreaking havoc in a very complicated and fragile system.
> 
> All other forms of filtration - mechanical, chemical/physical (resins like Purigen), and UV are only replacements for the real deal - the biofilter. They should be used as a supplement to the biofilter - to help its function. Not as a substitute.
> 
> --Nikolay


Nikolay,

What do you believe is the ideal substrate for a superior biofilter, or (a better question), what sort of filter media are _you _using?

How often do _you _clean your filter? From what you have said, I am thinking of cleaning my cannister filters in a different matter to what I normally do; letting them back flow (release water and debris from them) without touching any of the media or pads. I might then just replace the filter wool (fine pillow insulation stuff). Would this allow me to create an effective biofilter that would really get the water clear?


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## FJP (Oct 31, 2009)

DJKronik57 said:


> Remember also that ADA uses high clarity glass. If you don't have a tank with high clarity glass, your water will never look as "clear" as the ADA photos.


Indeed. I have read about special high quality glass that has a significantly lower iron content than normal glass that most aquariums are made from. The author states that it is apparantly clearer. I have not compared this low iron glass with normal glass side by side, so I cannot comment on the clairty differences between them. I wonder where acrylic fits in, in terms of clarity?

Low iron glass can easily be distinguished from normal glass by looking at the edge of the glass. Normal glass with a higher iron content has a green tinge to the edge whilst the special low iron glass is almost transparent, more or less opaque.

I would think that the clarity of the glass isn't just a result of the iron content but also a function of the thickness of the glass. My 6ft tank has been made from regular 16mm glass, double the thickness of smaller tanks that are made from 8mm glass.

My aim is to have the super duper clear water that you see in competition photos, ones where as Niko said: 'the fish appear to be suspended'. I can't change my tank, but I would like to take any measure I can to clear the water I have. [By the way, I am using rain water straight from my roof, not from the tap. The roof is just over a year old and is made from aluminum. I would think that the low mineral content of this water compared to the tap water would make it slightly clearer?]

Has anyone used the Seachem product "Clarity". It is a flocculating solution that basically attracts particles to it and clusters, so that it can then be trapped through mechanical filtration.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Clarity.html

Regards, Fraser.


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

I think biological filtration is the key, very good bio filtration the result is clear. I ordered the ADA filter and realized they were only using the product called Bio Rio. It is the white version of the vocanic rocks and it is very light weight. I though it did pretty good for them if that is all they have in the filter so I switch all my ehiem to that it have super result of it.


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

Here are some pic you can see the differences. That green side by side with the new lower iron glass is like a tinted window. But it next to the US tank and other ADA look alike tank it was not even close. I am an ADA rep. here in Seattle and I setup tank for shops and home, and ever since the new tank show up that all my green one just not going any where since all my client have the chance to compair them side by side. And I end up using them.


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## barbarossa4122 (Dec 31, 2009)

FJP said:


> So how do you achieve this?
> 
> I've seen videos of ADA taks on youtube where you can see across the room past multiple tanks. The water is absolutely crystal clear.
> 
> Activated Carbon, Seachem Purigem, fine mechanical filtration, UV Sterilizer????


I use all of the above with great success.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

niko said:


> There are 2 ways to make the water so clear that it will appear that the fish are suspended in air. It will look as if there is no water at all.
> 
> Both approaches do the same thing - they remove very fine particles from the water. These fine particles are invisible to the human eye but because of physical and/or chemical reactions/effects they make the water appear not as clear as it could be.
> 
> ...


I haven't used any of the high $ solutions. I like coarse sponges. Once they get coated in the biofilm, they seem to filter much better than the texture should allow. Also, you gotta keep the glass clean. I think snails help a lot with that.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

http://www.swisstropicals.com

Important things to remember:

- must have optimal flow through the sponge
- must have optimal volume per hour going through the sponge
- must not have to clean the filter

- must have optimal flow in the tank (volume per hour)

--Nikolay


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## Andyflower (Jan 4, 2010)

Actually you can have the words "spring water" on a bottle filled from a tap.

If you are using local water and it happens to be spring fed then it is spring water. You act like companies do not lie/ bend the truth. Some smaller towns have spring fed water supplies.


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

niko said:


> http://www.swisstropicals.com
> 
> Important things to remember:
> 
> ...


ah the good old matten filter. broke down and set up a tank to see how it works. it so simple in design, but efficient when you think about the square footage of surface area the sponge wall provides. pretty cheap as well (sponge and powerhead). you do lose tank space and the wall can be well ugly, but let mosses grow over it and all is good.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

Yeah, I've been eyeballing the poret foam for a few weeks now. I think the foam in my canister is junk. It plugs up so fast. Maybe replace everything in the canister with one of the powerhead style foams. 

I'd also like one for my bait tank. I've got some open cell pond stuff in a HOB there and it works well but the surface area isn't that large. 

I once ran one of the round prefilter things on a powerhead in a 55. It was a little small but it did work. It was cheap foam too though. The open cell is so much better.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

http://www.adaeuro.com/allestimento_eng.asp?all=4

Read the first paragraph right under the red header "Filtration System".

--Nikolay


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## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

I recently set up pressurized co2, and my water is cloudy from all the air bubbles. Will getting a better diffuser help this to improve the clarity?


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