Cannot get the water clean

So i have had this new tank for a few weeks, and i have been hoping it would clear up. My tank water is just not clear or clean! my filters are cycled, they have been running for months. I have a 240 on an 8' footprint instead of a 120 on a 6' footprint. My two filters are a rena xp3 and xp4. They are hooked to an overflow. My problem is i have crap floating in the water! chunks of.. i dont even know, fish waste of some sort. This stuff is not making it into the overflow, i cannot run my fan or it stirs up even more off the sand. the fish movement and filter output stir up enough already. The only difference is i have a sand substrate instead of gravel, and at this point i am seriously considering removing the sand and going bare bottom or putting in gravel to trap this stuff. are there any other better options?!

As far as water changes, ive been doing 10-25% at least once per week. I did two in the last week hoping it would help but i cannot see any difference.

oh, and i have less bioload than i did in the 120.

10-25% weekly is just not enough in my opinion and the poopies may be from lack of gravel vacs. i reccomend at least 50% weekly with an additional 10% gravel vac weekly. o? my 240 i do two 50% changes and one 20% gravel vac weekly.

wow, I disagree big time with fishman.... I think that is waaaaay too much water changeing for a newer tank.... You have a sump, and a canister filter right?? Thats what I had in my tank, never had a problem, but of course my fish dont poop nearly as much or as large as yours.... if I was in your situation I would just vacume the sand once a week....

I just re-read the post... your dont have a sump running??? Ok, I would run the sump with the overflow... and use a regular intake with a long extension that reaches the sand with the canister filters...

There are no cutouts for a regular intake/return for the canister filters.

Also, i cannot use a sump because i have toddlers, but why would a canister filter be so different than a sump for keeping the water clean?

I could (if i have to) buy another canister filter and just drop the intake/output in the top of the tank, but it would be right in the middle not against an edge.

Today i think i will take out all the black moon sand and replace it with the larger gravel i had, my 120 was always clean...

My previous larger tanks always had a sump with an overflow... (that kinda got the high floating debri) and a canister filter with its intake near the bottom (usually pulled all the lower stuff to it)... Ive never had a problem at all....

So you have an overflow but no holes drilled?? If thats the case, I just would use the normal canisters intake and set it up to near the bottom... and maybe the middle with the second one.... dont put them in the overflow.

I have my first larger tank running (110gal) and this is the first one I am only using a sump with overflow... Hope it works, now you got me worried... although I do have a 1350gph pump that really blows stuff around that tank... was thinking it was too much. lol

The problem is i dont have a place on this tank to hang a normal intake, it is an acrylic with no holes in the top except for the two square access holes in the middle. I dont know what it would look like to hang an intake down in the middle of the tank.

WTB GLASS TANK!

buy a hole saw drill holes in the top where you want the intake and out. on acrylic tanks drilling is super easy. then you can have them in the back of the tank like on glass tanks

Until you have witnessed for yourself the difference in water quality and clarity, between a canister and a wet/dry, you will never understand. Maybe you can try using a large sponge filter in a back corner of the tank with a large power head on it. It has worked well for me.

my issue is the chunks of crap are just not making it into the overflow. I would MUCH prefer a wet/dry(i used to have one) but I am not going to get one until my kids are older.

the sponge idea is GREAT! I will try that asap.

I liked the drilling holes idea! thats what I was going to suggest.

Is drilling holes while it is full of water safe?

I have a hole saw, i think its 1 inch, maybe 1.25 inches. Maybe I can bribe one of you guys to come drill some holes for me

Ill definitely buy a 3rd canister filter if that will fix my problem.

Im sure you could think of a clever way to not get acrylic dust in the water.... and Im sure a couple drops wont kill the fish if it were to fall in. I would come out there, wanted to see your tanks anyway, but your too far... and I just dont have the time to make a 3 hour round trip ride to drill a couple holes.... if its not taken care of next time Im up there, I will gladly help

i have a canister filter running up and over the lip of my acrylic tank. its an FX5, came with clips that you use to force the hose the bend to a short radius 180. i put them on the lip of the opening and suction cupped the intake as low as i could to the back panel. it created a strange P shape but made it easier to hide the intake behind my rocks.

if you decide to replace your acrylic tank let me know, i need to replace mine.

Maybe i will go look at XP4s tonight.

how are the media buckets arranged in your canister filters?

I have 7 baskets, 3 of them are foam and 4 of them are ceramic noodles.

(it might be the other way around, but i would have to take it apart to check)

I sat and watched my tank for quite a while, none of the fish waste is actually making it up to the top of the tank, it just floats around at about half depth.




It sounds like I am going to need to buy another filter.

I think you just need to not use the overflow.... you dont neccessarily have to buy another filter... put the intake in the tank instead of the overflow by drilling. it will make a huge difference.

i wouldnt run out and get a new filter either , i would add a fine filter at the top of the filter media in the last basket of your filters. i would also do larger water changes. and try to re-think the water flow

I was afraid of that


I put some spare equipment up on CL, maybe i can fix this tonight with a 3rd filter. (more cant hurt!)

Jantilla, had been complaining about similar issues. The waste sitting on top of the sand and what not. He does lots of water changes.... but has not got what he has wanted from his set up yet. Almost sounds as if a mechanical filter of some sort is needed in the mix. Room for a HOB on yours?

I posted this way back when but it's still working fantastic!! It does help to have the background. There was also a thread on MFK I forget the gals name but she was using spa filter canisters (rainbow brand) for her 1500 gallon tank if not bigger.

Here is my home made filtration system I just came up with, so far it's working great. Basically similar to whats in some hot tubs. I wanted more mechanical filtration and will gain some bio as well.

All the parts.

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24 hr 115v circ pump 15 gal a min 900 an hour.

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Filter and filter fitting. Can be removed in seconds and replaced with new, then clean the dirty one it's 50 sq ft

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Hooked up and running in the bath tub to clean it out.

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Flow coming out, I had a air injector called a mazzi injector but it was to much air.

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Filter hiding behind the 3d background.

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So far really happy with the results. Water is crystal clear. I think for the average person a canister filter like a FX 5 would be more economical this was more less thinking outside the box. I am in the spa industry so parts for me were very cheap


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Well, i figured since i have two new fish coming, and a 3rd growing out in my planted tank that i might as well preemptively bite the bullet. So i got a magnum 350 and put in the air filter type insert for water polishing instead of the standard sponge. I had some extra filter pipe and some leftover pvc so its almost all plumbed in, im working on it now so it should be up and running tonight/tomorrow.

dang... you really wanted that 3rd canister filter... lol.... well let us know if it does the trick.

I figured i had the same filtration on my 120, and my bioload is going to increase a lot as these fish grow, so i might as well get another filter now. I overstock my tank to cut down on aggression, so i have to pay for the over-filteration too.

I went the 350 route and hated it. Give it time you will also.

What didn't you like?

Almost works to well. Constantly changing/cleaning the filter. Air in the canister can be a pain to get out. The cheap waterline connections. I just didn't like it.

Ive never thought about the maintenance of the polisher. It is funny that it it would almost work too well.

I hope it works as well as you say. It is a small canister compared to my other ones, so i wouldn't mind cleaning it once a week if it kept my water clear!

It seems like it would be easy to maintain.

it came with those super convenient valve/disconnects that i can put on the input/output tubes!

I shouldn't give it such a bad review. Overall I just didn't care for it. For the price you would think they could use some better components.

I agree some of the parts felt sort of cheap, and i FAR prefer the tubing that came with my Rena filters, but i really like the design on this one, this morning the polisher filter was covered in stuff!

You can easily change out tubing to the more flexible stuff.

well, its on there now
i just had to soak the ends in a little boiling water and clamp them down.