Water doesn't seem crystal clear when the Radion is on

Jason R

Jason R

New member
One thing I have been noticing on my tank recently is that when my Radion Gen 3 is on my water doesn't look as clear as it does when the LED is off. It almost has a very mild haze to it. My tank is 36" x 36: x 18" so I know that there could be some depth effect. My tank walls are Starphire glass. I ONLY use RO/DI water and my parameters are always great. I am running BioPellets, Seachem SeaGel, a skimmer, and a filter sock.

Here is my tank:
View attachment 3286

I don't have a picture on hand of the tank when the Radion is off and it is only under room lights. It is as clear as glass when the lights are off.

I am wondering why I can't get it to be clear like this:
View attachment 3287

Would the clear mesh top be that much of a diffusor?

Could it be caused by to much flow pointed at the front of the tank?
 
Have you tried taking off the mesh, and cleaning glass inside and out, Also what settings do you use on the radons, try easing up on the whites, how close are your lights to the top of your tank? Your water flow would not afect your water clarity unless you are sturing up your sand bed and it is sticking to the walls. Carbon does polish your water, it might help.
 
Last edited:
You're running biopellets and likely experiencing a bacterial bloom. What BP reactor? more info on your BP setup please.

Other possible causes:
Fine sand - What sand you have?
Micro-bubbles
Algae buildup on glass
 
Last edited:
I really like the way carbon makes my water look. I used to run carbon in a reactor, but now I just use it passively in a bag.

I started dosing MicroBacter 7 a couple of weeks ago to deal with my cyano/diatoms, and OMG, that stuff makes your water crystal clear. I'm not sure if it's helping with my cyano/diatoms, but I like the way my water looks.
 
Most likely something on the glass, could be a bacterial bloom but more likely diatoms or sand dust. What skimmer do you run? Any kind of mechanical filtration? How long has tank been running with current sand and do you vacuum sand at water changes?
 
SkullV said:
Most likely something on the glass, could be a bacterial bloom but more likely diatoms or sand dust. What skimmer do you run? Any kind of mechanical filtration? How long has tank been running with current sand and do you vacuum sand at water changes?
Click to expand...

+1

Quality LEDs are grow monsters.

Remember every time you feed your fish you're feeding Algae, Bacteria and Diatoms.

Bill
 
You didn't answer te rest of the questions, skimmer size, biopellet amount/method, tank/sandbed age, etc. can't give an opinion without info!
 
I'm using Pink Fiji sand. It isn't the fine grain oolitic stuff.

I clean the glass with a magnet float.

What strikes me as odd is when the lights are off it is crystal clear. I would think if it were sand or algae it would still seem cloudy with the lights off.

I have a filter sock, a Skimz SM-161 skimmer, a BioChurn 90 Internal bio pellet reactor, and a BRS reactor running SeaGel which is a combination of MatrixCarbon and PhosGuard.

I have a 4 inch MarinePure Ceramic BioMedia plate handling biological filtration in the middle chamber.

Everything is running in an e-shopps r-200 refugium though I am not running it as a refugium because of the bio pellets.
 
If its clear with the lights off then its mostly likely in the water column. A bacterial bloom isn't out of the question, but with that Skimz skimmer you shouldn't have that issue. Where do you have the output of the biopellet reactor? Try to put it as close to the skimmer intake as possible. Do you see any microbubbles floating around?
 
Originally the Biochurn and Skimmer were in the middle chamber of the refugium but I moved the skimmer into the first chamber to make room for the 4" plate. The Biochurn is in the middle chamber still. My alkalinity was at 11 so I actually have turned off the BioChurn until I can get the alkalinity near 7.
 
Jason R said:
Originally the Biochurn and Skimmer were in the middle chamber of the refugium but I moved the skimmer into the first chamber to make room for the 4" plate. The Biochurn is in the middle chamber still. My alkalinity was at 11 so I actually have turned off the BioChurn until I can get the alkalinity near 7.
Click to expand...

Have you tested your magnesium and calcium lately? If your alk is that high there is a good chance your parameters are very out of balance. What you may be seeing is actually calcium precipitate. Magnesium's main job in a reef is to allow calcium and alkalinity to saturate properly and proportionally.
 
That calcium is pretty low, I can definitely see precipitate being the issue. Get your Mg up to 1280-1380, calcium up to 400-500, and alk down a bit and see if things clear up. Are you dosing?
 
I don't have a doser set up at this point but I have been slowly manually adding calc and magnesium to try and sort this out. I have been spacing the Mag and calc out an hour or more because of concerns about precipitate.

Part of the problem is I have been using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. I finally tested the ALK on a fresh batch of saltwater (using RO/DI water) and it was at 11. I am going to switch to a different brand with lower alk because of the burnt tip issue with alk and biopellets.
 
The 11 alk is fine in the reef crystals if you aren't doing huge water changes. Especially if you are manually dosing, just don't dose on that day. The issue with Mag/Calc mixing to precipitate is not yoru issue. The issue is that you don't have enough mag to keep calc/alk saturated properly. It takes a TON of magnesium to raise the level to the proper level, once it's there though, maintaining is easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top