Suspended particulates.

[John Hamilton]

I seem to have a lot of particulates in my water, I don't believe I over feed the fish. Right now all I have is a wet/dry sump and a protein skimmer. I was thinking of adding a mechanical filter, probably a canister, to clear up the water. Any suggestions? The tank is a 175 FOWLR.

[mickey57]

...............I have a freind whos water tested excellent.She put a canister on he 46gal and the water is crytsal clear......I am going to put two on my 180gal

[John Hamilton]

One more thing; I am going to run it, for maybe 12 hours a day, and since it's not my primary filter I was thinking that I do not need one rated for 175gl. Any thoughts? Really all that I am wanting to accomplish is polishing my H2O.

[Steven Pro]

If you turn it off, it could very well end up full of sulphur gas (rotten egg smell) and kill things when you turn it back on. If you get one, run it 24/7 or remove and clean when not in use.

[Reefland]

Instead of going for a canister, why not find a place suitable in your tank for some filter floss that you can change frequently, and cheaply?

[110galreef]

I use a whisper pak w/ carbon on a drip tray on my wet/dry. Just change the carbon and floss every week or so and works great!

[110galreef]

I had a Fluval 404 canister before in addition to the wet/dry....works great but got sick of cleaning it.

No longer have it, just use above mentioned setup!

[johnny gray]

what is filter floss
do you guys mean a sock/bag for carbon
could someone pm me in case i for get to lok at this post again
THANKS JOHNNY

[Reefland]

It could be any type of "cotton" material that water passes through. While the water is passing through the floss it helps to remove particulates and polish the water. I use pillow stuffing from Wal-Marts craft section.

[Papa Doug]

I also use the Walmart "filter floss". Cheap to use and chuck. My overflow drains into a tub which sits inside the sump. The skimmer draws water from here also, which gives it a better raw water feed, plus I can put floss there if desired.

[John Hamilton]

Well I think I have it figured out! I do a 25 gallon water change every week, but I need to change my filterpad more often as well. I have to admit that since I have had the tank I may have changed it 4 times.

[Reefland]

Thats good, you need to adjust your husbandry according to your tanks need.

[Qcks]

floss filters are probly the best way to polish the water column. short of that you'd need to put it through a sand bed.

Humans do this with drinking water for two reasons:

First the sand can be used as an ultra fine pourous material.

and

Second, we ad clumping adjents to our water to bind floating material. these aggragations stick to the silica in the sand.

[ReefManX]

Could I simply stuff filter floss between my sumps baffles or would this not work?

[romunov]

Some "reef snow" is perfectly natural. I don't bother with it.

[Qcks]

do you run lime water?

do you have a calcium reactor?

floss can help with particulates in the water, assuming you position the floss in an area of high flow, but if the particulates are the result of calcium precipitation, i don't know if that will be true.....

[Reefland]

Could I simply stuff filter floss between my sumps baffles or would this not work?

That would work just make sure it doesn't restrict the flow so much that water cannot pass at the volume it needs to.

[scooterman]

I use a 5 micron sock when doing a wc & siphoning blowing off rocks etc. While doing this I put the sock over the drain in the sump, also when I siphon for touch-ups, from the main tank I drain trough the sock back into the sump for polishing the water . I always remove the sock & hose it thoroughly outside then wash it later in the washer & then hang dry. I do not let the sock longer than several hours, you should see what it removes, that will make you think twice about using just floss filters.

[Reefland]

I think I need to figure out a decent way to get one in our system somewhere. I guess at the least it would be helpful to attach one to a siphon hose and let the water drain back into the system with the solids removed.

[Randy]

You could simply use a filter sock:
http://randystacye.com/diy_filter_sock.htm
I think they work best out of all mechanical filtration.

If you were determined to use a canister filter, I have a cheap extremely effective DIY Canister filter page there as well. If you have a sump I'd just use a filter sock though.

If you want to use "filter floss" just go to a local fabric store or even walmart, Joanne Fabrics, hobby loby, etc... and get some "poly fill sheet". It's dirt cheap and is the same thing.