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Additional Filtration

1K views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  Absntmind 
#1 ·
I am having an issue and not sure what rout to take. I currently have small white particles floating in my water, as well as what appears to be planaria on the glass. Last, my driftwood suddenly has some white areas and seems to be starting to rot out of nowhere....when it rains... Other than that, parameters are all fine, water is clear, fish and plants appear healthy.

As for planaria, I know I have been overfeeding. That I have stopped as of last night. As for the wood rotting, I have no idea why it would happen so sudden (Malaysian drift wood). I wouldn't care so much yet it's only a few months old and i have some java ferns attached which I started from "babies" lol.

Now I know I have multiple issues in play, I am tackling one problem at a time. So first on the agenda (aside from less food), it seems my canister filter is not picking up all the particles. I have floss as well as sponges and biomedia, but there are still thousands of sand sized white specs floating around. I am thinking about adding a second filter, maybe one I can either "use as needed" or even possibly keep permanently for mechanical filtration as long as it doesn't add much to the water current.

I would be happy with a cheap way to at least filter/clean the water now even if by hand. I hate to drain too much as I have some new oto's in there and I understand they are sensitive to water parameters.

Note: I did a 50% water change the other day and no improvement. I will be stepping up the water changes until this clears. 55 gallon medium planted tank, fluval 406 canister filter, sand substrate, weekly 30% water changes.
 
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#2 ·
Well, it seems I found an idea which might work and thought I would share. After finding filters such as the Vortex D-1 Diatom Filter I figured that would fit the bill. A temporary filter to use as needed or as an emergency backup. Though being on a budget and not being sold local I won't be buying oe for a few weeks yet. So in the meantime I searched for DIY versions and found a simple idea it appears many have used for polishing, cleaning debri, or even green water outbreaks.

Just buy a cheap powerhead (with standard 3/4 connections), a 3/4" plug, and a sediment filter for drinking water from walmart or home depot. You get the idea, just put the filter on the powerhead intake, plug the other hole if necessary, and run the output back into to tank. Now you have a quick way to filter your water all the way down to 0.5 microns if needed (I'm going to try 5 to start). All said and done the cost would be about $30 or less, as the most expensive part would be the powerhead. I found two packs of the filters for $7.

I will be giving this a try tonight, and if anyone cares, I'll post the results.
 
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