Help tiny particles everywhere in water?

[roly01]

I recently began to notice small particle in my water of my 29 gal biocube, and I don't know what they are? My water itself looks crystal clear but when u look close u can see these little particles suspended everywhere in the water, they are not any type of cocopods nor micro bubbles it looks more like what you would see ur hermit crab lifting off your live rock just everywhere in the tank. I do regular Weekly water changes, my parameters are fine, I run filter floss and chemipure elite, and I think I began to notice this after I removed the sponge that goes at the bottom between the second and third chamber. I've also noticed an increase in purple coraline algae on my liverock and back wall, and also every few days I do have to clean the glass cuz I begin to get some thin brownish algae areas but nothing bad or out of the usual.

 

Tank inhabitants:

2 false clowns

2 fire fish

13 blue leg hermits

8 turbo snails

1 cleaner shrim

leather coral and green star polyps.

 

Also this tank was a transfer over from a 12 gal, I had for a while that was beautiful and had any problems, transfer went smooth with barely no spikes and within less then a week everything was normal the tank is about a month old now.

Anyone know what this is or have recomendations, I did a water change yesterday of 25% and still nothing also I don't dose anything. Any help would be aprecieated thanks.

[Amphiprion1]

Sounds like detritus. If you have enough things to consume it, both when it is deposited and when it is floating, there shouldn't be an issue. If not, you should consider using a sponge or some other mechanical medium and cleaning/replacing it regularly. Do you have any new animals that could be disturbing deposits? New pumps and/or flow configurations? Has a pump shifted without your knowledge? Overall, if you are satisfied with how your tank is doing, I wouldn't worry too much.

[roly01]

Nope everything has stayed pretty much the same, do you think I should add some more crabs/snails? Also the reason I removed the sponge was because I noticed it would cause nitrates to rise even while cleaning it every 5 days or so ,and when I removed it they went pretty much down to nothing. The flow hasn't changed either have the stock pump and a korila nano power head 240gph. I would love to figure this out because I put in so much time to it that it bothers me I have this problem. Thanks

[MusicISUnlimited]

I still have my sponge in and i have 0 nitrates. I have never heard of the sponge its self actually causing high nitrates if cleaned properly ? Maybe your bioload is just high.

[roly01]

Never said hi nitrates but with the sponge in it would cause me to get a reading of 10-15 ppm without it I get practically no reading. I'll try the sponge again and see if anything changes, how often did u clean yours? And I doubt it's the bioload as I had the same fish minus 1 in my 12 gal nano and never once had a problem.

[iglowce]

try to use filter sock. it makes my water crystal clear from all the micro bubbles from return pumps

[MusicISUnlimited]

every two weeks and i have actually an extremely high bioload for my size tank haha. I also have four sponges that i rotate in each time.

[roly01]

Ok rotating the sponges sounds like a good idea, I'm gonna try that hopefully it will help clear up the water. If anyone has any other suggestion I'm all ears..

[roly01]

Hey guys, Ive had the sponge in since yesterday morning and have yet to se any difference. I just can't seem to figure this out, anyone else have any suggestions please?

[Degener8]

it actually sounds more like micro bubbles to me .. fill the back chamber above the return elbow and turn off the protein skimmer if you have one. IF its micro bubbles you should see it clear up within an hour.. then its just determining what exactly they came from.

[SlowGoing]

I'm really glad you posted this, roly. I too, am having this same issue. I thought it was detritus, but my tank is practically a baby to be having that much free floating detritus.

 

I'll try to fill the back chamber and see what happens. I'm pretty sure it is already.

 

Usually this problem comes up after I switch filter floss.

[roly01]

I don't have a protein skimmer so that's not the issue, so I guess I'll try to fill it up to the elbow and see what result I get.. I also thought it was detritus but my tank is also pretty young and there's not enough live stock in there to cause that much for such long periods.

[MusicISUnlimited]

Ok rotating the sponges sounds like a good idea, I'm gonna try that hopefully it will help clear up the water. If anyone has any other suggestion I'm all ears..

 

 

Hey guys, Ive had the sponge in since yesterday morning and have yet to se any difference. I just can't seem to figure this out, anyone else have any suggestions please?

 

Sorry dude. Thought i`d help. How are the nitrates?

[NeosNano]

i know this is from left field...but what type of lighting do you have? did you recently change it? Some lighting can accentuate stuff in the water.

[Amphiprion1]

I thought it was detritus, but my tank is practically a baby to be having that much free floating detritus.

 

I'll try to fill the back chamber and see what happens. I'm pretty sure it is already.

 

Usually this problem comes up after I switch filter floss.

 

I think you'd be surprised at how much detritus even a new tank can generate. Mine generates lots and it is only a bit over 2 months old. As long as you have something to remove it, biological or not, then it should help keep the tank clearer. If circulation is good, you'll also see lots of free-floating detritus, as it is just a natural component of the tank. It also makes sense that you'll see more after changing it. Not only do you free up bits as you remove the floss, but newer floss also has larger gaps between filaments. Only as it gets clogged do these gaps become smaller, thereby giving you finer filtration.

[roly01]

I just filled the back up to the elbow but the lights are out now so I can't see if it has made a difference till tomorrow... And I thought the sponge might have helped since I began to notice after I removed but I haven't seen any difference but my nitrates are still at 0. For the question about the lights I have the stock pc lights ( not for long getting my LEDs Tuesday !!).. and I know no matter how old or big the tank is you will always have some small particles , but I can tell this isn't a normal amount my 12 gal nano cube never had anywhere near the amount I have now.