blarg fine particles making me mad :(

[satx-94integraLS]

how can i rid my tank of fine particles? i have a seaclone 150 that skimms like crazy and a pengium 330 for mechanical. i have roughly 35-45lbs of live rock in my tank (29 gallon) and approx 30-40lbs live sand now. the small fine particles just WONT go away. i have a 170gph powerhead WITH foam on the intake, and STILL they just WONT go away. plz help. im plannin on turning my old 20tall into a sump or sump/fuge, depends on what felipe and ross say about it.. anywho, aside from a much bigger filter, is there anything i can buy, or any way i can modify my current filtration? also, there is a nasty film of gunk on the surface. i need an overflow box something awful. plz help!

[GaryP]

A sock filter on a sump or magnum 350 on your existing setup might be helpful.

[satx-94integraLS]

sock filter? no sump yet, but my 20 gallon is gonna be converted soon.would an overflow box help solve the problem for now? what can i do NOW with the gear i have to rid my tank (not totally) of the fine particle mess?

[GaryP]

I guess the question is what are the fine particles? Sand? Air bubbles? Something else?

[satx-94integraLS]

its not air bubbles. its like there is this film on the top of the water, and my pengiun 330 agitates it so that the particles sitting on the top make it back into the tank. the filter media i have isnt catching them, and ive put extra foam and filter floss in and nothing.i know its not sand, my powerhead isnt pointing down at all.

[GaryP]

OK, the stuff floating on the top of the tank is organic waste. Its primarily made up of oils and fats from food and fish waste. Your skimmer is probably sucking to deep to get it. Likewise the Penguin is pulling from to deep a level for it to be absorbed on the carbon filters.

You can try to turn of your pumps for a few minutes and float a paper towel on top of the water to blot it up. This is why most SW tanks have an overflow to skim the water off of the very surface of the tank. The organic waste is lighter then salt water and has a tendency to collect there.

[hobogato]

overflow box. that's what i would do. you could have the tank drilled, or build/buy a continuous syphon overflow to send the water to your sump (i know it isn't set up yet).

[JimD]

Skimm the surface with sheets of newspaper until its gone. Is this a recent development? Have you changed food lately?

[satx-94integraLS]

this has been an ongoing problem, no matter how much/little food i feed. im gonna try the newspaper thing in a few

[JimD]

What kinda food do you use?

[satx-94integraLS]

hikari krill on occasion, and frozen brine shrimp soaked in zoe. i dose phytoplankton and iodine and trace elements also.

[JimD]

Whats your current iodine level and why the trace elements? Just curious...

[satx-94integraLS]

iodine is probably minimal right now, im using kent tech-i which is time-released. tomorrow i dose that. everyone ive spoken with has said i should dose some trace elements, given the few corals i have.

[hammondegge]

it may help if you pour off extra juice from defrosted foods before feedings.

[JimD]

Im not a proponent of adding anything I dont test for, iodine and trace elements should remain stable with regular water changes, I have tanks full of corals of all kinds and dont dose either.. regardless, try using an airstone in front of a powerhead to agitate the surface film even more, seems to work, at least till you get an overflow or a surface skimmer. You can DIY one if you want.

[GaryP]

It's the Zoe. Its primarily HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids). Otherwise known as fish oil. That's probably what is forming the film on the surface.

The "particles" are actually droplets of oil.

[hobogato]

frozen brine shrimp soaked in zoe.

do you mean Zoecon? if so, this may be a major contributor. i add two drops this to my tank (125gal) once a week, and it has so much oil in it it shuts down my protein skimmer for a few hours. if this is what you are soaking your brine in, i wouldn't do it very often. have you tried mysis instead of brine - they are more nutritious and don't need to be soaked.

[GaryP]

Im not a proponent of adding anything I dont test for, iodine and trace elements should remain stable with regular water changes,

Jim, I agree 100% with this. That is until I found out that Oceanic supposedly doesn't add a lot of trace elements to their salt mix. From what I heard, their theory is that most people add trace metals and they didn't need to add it. I quit adding trace metals a while back for exactly the reason you mentioned until I heard about Oceanic. I broke down and bought a bottle of Kent Essential elements a while back until I could use up all of my Oceanic. I suppose I am the the latest in a long line of folks caught up in this debate. I went out and bought a bucket of IO yesterday. I just got through with a water change in my SPS tank. I'll be dripping calcium tonight. :)

P.S. Guess which are the most expensive ingredients in salt mix? You got it, the trace metals, so I doubt the only reason they didn't add them was because they were already being added by reefers. There is definitely a profit motive here.

[hobogato]

gary- you beat me to it :)

[satx-94integraLS]

so then i wouldnt need to dose trace elements or iodine?

[JimD]

lol, I shoulda said, "water changes using a salt mix that is known to have these essentials", like,,,, REEF CHRYSTALS! lol, Here we go!

[GaryP]

Not if you are doing frequent water changes with a salt that contains trace elements such as IO or Kent. It also depends on what is in the tank too. A tank without a lot of SPS is not going to use up many of the trace metals.

A tank your size with the type of equipment you have on it should be getting weekly, or at least biweekly, 10-15% water changes.

[satx-94integraLS]

well, i use instant ocean right now, but ill switch to another brand if it saved me from having to dose trace elements...

[GaryP]

read my edit above.

IO is fine. I'll try to dig out an article containing analyses of a couple of the common salt brands.

[satx-94integraLS]

alrite, what about oceanic salt mix? i have half a bottle of that stuff left also.

[GaryP]

Here is the article I mentioned above:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2004/feature.htm

[satx-94integraLS]

o.O oceanic salt mix is better than IO... and i get it a lil cheaper at work... looks like i may be switching for now :D