Something like dust in water

borman

Prolific Poster
Dec 29, 2007
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Zaporozhye, Ukraine
Hello. I suddenly face with some strange thing in my tank
Its like very small fine-dyspersated dust in all water column. My canister Atman 1200 can not filter it.
Its really small -from 1 meter off tank you cant see it, but when you close to front glass - its looked really ugly.
Plant and fish feeling good.
After water changing - all the same
What can it be - may be its some kind of algae

Tank 125*50*50
Light -6 t8*36 wt
CO2 3 ppm
NPK+Micro+Fe dayly

Thanks in advance
 

Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
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South Florida
Hi,

What kind of substrate are you using? Could it be disturbed by your fish? Is the tank recently cycled, or is it mature?

Can you post a picture or two?

Is it ANY better after the WC, or no difference at all?

How much water are you changing and at what frequency?

Could you please also provide some more details about your tank and setup?

The more information you can provide is always better.
 

borman

Prolific Poster
Dec 29, 2007
58
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6
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Zaporozhye, Ukraine
Hi Gerryd

Im use simple 2-3 mm gravel without any additions (like ada etc)
Actually due to very low size of this "dust" i cant post it.
Actually right after WC during may be 20 min its better (slightly) but then everything is repeating once again
Actually tank is 4 month and after first start i didnot see this dust. Ok may be 20 days ago I restart my canister - due to electricity brake down for 1 day but as I said even when i start the tank I did not see it.
It can not be fishes - cause I have only guppy and shrimps.
I change 70% every week

More detail about tank.

125*50*50
Light: 6 t8 *36. lighting shedue
8-00 - 10-00 2*36
10-00-13-00 6*36
13-00-14-00 dark time
14-00-18-00 6*36
18-00-20-00 2*36

CO2 - 3 buble per second
Ttemper 25
Filter - Canister Atman 1200 СF (1200 l/hour)
Dosing routine:
Dayly NPK (15:1)
Dayly Micro
Dayly Fe 0.2 mg/ml
 

abcemorse

Prolific Poster
Sep 8, 2008
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If it's whitish fine cloudiness it may be just cycling, especially after restarting filter. Give it a couple weeks, might clear on its own.
 

Panda

Guru Class Expert
Jun 14, 2008
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Puerto Rico
I have a question with your dosing schedule : is it OK to dose NPK and traces on the same day? I always believed that they should not be dosed together. Maybe within a few hours from each other.
 

Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
5,623
22
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South Florida
Hi Panda,

You are correct.

Trace and NPK should be dosed at least 4 hours apart..........if dosing on the same day.
 

borman

Prolific Poster
Dec 29, 2007
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Zaporozhye, Ukraine
Actually Im dosing such way (all together NPK+MICRO+FE all in solution) approx 1 year - and never before it cause such results - so I think this is not a reason
 

abcemorse

Prolific Poster
Sep 8, 2008
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Hmmmmm....almost looks like filter is loaded up. You may need to clean or replace the coarse filter media, although care should taken there to be sure you don't disturb your bacteria colonization. Other than that, I dunno. Doesn't look like bacteria bloom, seems like maybe filter isn't catching the coarse particles like it should.
 
N

nerbaneth

Guest
This is kind of a last resort option because it doesn't solve the root of the problem, but it might! I little while ago I had all my fish out of the tank and I used seachem clarifier. (use twice the normal dosage even though it is safe to use up to three) the normal dose did not work well enough for my tank.

Your 'Dust' will flock together and get caught in your filter.. all you need to do is clean out your filter(with a canister you could just backwash it) and do a 50% water change (just in case the polymer left something in the water) There will be white stuff on your plants for about a day, but algae eaters seem to love the stuff and eat it right up (and remained healthy)

Once again.. this is a last resort. I think many people on this forum might disagree with me about using flocculating agents, but it worked and my water is still crystal clear!

Sidenote: Flocking agents are supposed to be bad for fish to get in their gills. I think it is microscopic sticky stuff that all your 'dust' will stick to. If it gets in their gills before it has solidified with your 'dust' it could cause problems or stress. Just use it with no fish and do a water change (50% +) after you are done. Put a less expensive fish in and let him/her swim around for an hour or so before you decide to put discus or some kind of rare cichlid in.

Hope this was helpful,
Nerb