What is the secret to clear aquarium water?
There's really no secret. Let me explain
So you see first of all if you state that there's a secret to clear aquarium water, you're also
Insinuating that there's only one contributing factor as to the clarity issues that you're having when that's simply just not the case
You see there's a massive amount of things that can cause water clarity issues for you
And what I want to do is instead of come up with this magical way that clear everybody's aquarium
Which is simply not going to [happen] I would much rather help you understand what's going on with your tank, so in today's video
We're going to look at when you're having water clarity issues. What is it? You're actually looking at
What's causing it? And then we'll look at some of the ways that you can fix it, so let's get started
The first one we're going to look at is actually green water and what you're looking at is microscopic
Free-floating algae, it's really just that simple
Unfortunately, this is one [of] the most unsightly types of clarity issues
You can have in your [aquarium] and a lot of people panic and look for quick fixes, but [first] let's understand
What's causing it for the most part when this happens? It's due to excessive light and/or
excessive nutrients
You'll see this being a problem for tanks that are literally in direct sunlight either from a window and or ponds that have [direct] sunlight
Beaming down on them you'll also tend to see this in tanks that are heavily populated
So the reasoning for this is simple the free-floating
microscopic algae is simply getting more than it needs to survive now free-floating algae is present in any aquarium with the nitrogen cycle and
[light] source present meaning that there's nitrate and a white luckily most of us have a good balance with these and will never incur
Excessive algae for those of you that are let's talk about short term and long term
Fixes short term the fastest way to get rid of microscopic
Free-floating algae has got to be a mass of water change obviously if you change out all that water it's going to be gone
however within a few days
it's going to be completely back if you don't to anything so another short-term fix would be to add in a
Ultraviolet Sterilizer this will not only take care of the issue
But it will keep the free floating algae gone out of your tank most likely forever
But then ultraviolet sterilizer is more so of a band-aid at this point. So we need to look at Long-term
Fixes now since we already know why the algae is there and we know that it's a living organism
[we] know we can kill it
I'm not a fan of using chemicals to treat simple things like this
And I wouldn't advise anybody to do so so I'm going to stay away from those completely
Within this video the first thing you want to do is look at your lighting is your photo period Simply too long
Or do you have direct sunlight hitting the tank these are the two first things?
I would change I would also then start looking at the nutrients in the tank
Obviously these nutrients are coming from your fish and one of the simplest things you can do to decrease
Nutrients is to decrease feeding you also might need to consider your stocking levels perhaps
You simply have the tank stock too much while you're at it consider your maintenance as well as your water change schedule perhaps
You're simply not doing enough the overall goal here is to starve off the algae while finding a balance for the aquarium that works
right for its location
If free-floating algae is always something that you're struggling with my suggestion would to keep that UV sterilizer on it
These are [hands-down] one of the best ways [to] treat free-floating algae the next clarity issue. That is a very popular one is
milky what I mean by melky is imagine you have a
tank of water
And you literally pour it a bit of milk into it the color that it turns is what I'm speaking on what you're actually
seeing is a
Bacterial bloom these are very common and newly established
Tanks And/or tanks that were simply [cleaned] too much and have gone through [a] shock
That shock being an influx of the bio load you've probably killed off a massive amount of Bacteria
[perhaps] you also added in too many fish at once and your current bio
Load was not able to handle it now while it doesn't look very good
These can also be very [dangerous] as well because your tank is trying to
Establish itself again a [short-term] fix for this would be water changing you're not only diluting the color that's causing clarity
But you're also diluting ammonia in the tank which will be better for the fish now although I mentioned I don't like to add
Chemicals and or additives there are media out there that could help deal with ammonia
So I suggest adding a bit of your favorite type [of] media design to deal with ammonia into your filter
Now the long term fix is something people don't like to hear and essentially it is weight your tank needs time to establish
itself with time proper stocking and proper filtration
The tank will clear itself in the meantime just stay up on your water changes [and] monitor the quality of it again
We're looking to find balance here
Maybe you need to increase the amount of media within your filtration and or lower your stocking levels
The next type of Clarity issue that I see that is [a] popular one is
When your tank is a tea or Amber color what you're seeing here is
Tannins now tannins are fusia leaf from wood and or bog wood
[especially], but what are tannins well tannins are actually a yellowish or brownish organic substance found in many plants [and/or]?
Trees now the purpose of these tannins are to protect the trees and plants that they're founded
From predators because the tannins actually have a bitter taste [however] when you submerge [that] log
Or leaf or whatever it may be in the water these tannins leach out and in turn
It turns the water colors as well as makes
Acidic so although that sounds bad is really not that bad in fact not enough tannins are really leached out of [a] piece of wood
to make a
Massive impact on the perimeters of your tank it just doesn't look good for a lot of people tannins are not that bad
They do look make the tanks look a little bit more [natural] and they do
Make the water a little bit more acidic which can be beneficial depending on the type of fish you're keeping the short term fixes for
This is really simple take the wood out and boil it and or soak it in a container until all the tannins have leached out
You can also add things to your filter like activated carbon
Which will absorb those tannins now obviously those are the fastest ways to do it however the long term?
simply time and water changes
Over time tannins are going to continue to leak Joe and your water changes are going to remove them with enough time
You're simply not going to have any more tannins in the tank personally
I like to boil them in water as much as I can [and] then add them into the tank and
Naturally remove the tannins that way another clarity issue is particles in the [water] meaning that when you look in the tank
It's simply not clear because there's a lot of something float in it what you're looking at could be really anything
For the most part it's uneaten food Fish waste perhaps
it's
pieces of plants and or wood that are breaking off the causes here are really simple you're
Overfeeding or you have to simply have hassey fish and of course you might just have poor husbandry
Meaning that you're not taking care of the tank as much as you say you were
Short term fixes for these are actually pretty simple once again
Water changes and/or use some polishers in your tank really simple one would be to use a water bottle
Polisher like [I've] shown you how to do in many videos before
Or perhaps if you want to do some surface skimming whatever the case may be we have all kinds of projects that we've shown you
Have to polish your water some long term fixes or some considerations that you need to make are the food that you're feeding
perhaps the food that you're feeding simply breaks up too much for the fish that you're feeding and
Or perhaps it has too many color additives and those are leaching out into the water every time you feed it
Sometimes switching your foods can improve water clarity personally for me
I notice a big difference when I'm feeding pellets compared to feeding homemade food [I]
Noticed that when I feed the homemade food my water clarity is
Considerably better that doesn't mean it's going to be the same for you
But it does tell me that sometimes the type of foods can have an impact on your water clarity perhaps you also don't have enough
mechanical filtration which is
Responsible for removing all the particles from the water you might not have enough and or it just might not be
efficient enough and one thing a lot of people forget to consider is the
circulation of the tank how well the water is being circulated and the
To the filter giving it a chance to do what it's there to do
Personally I like to add a couple of air stones here. They're simply to add a little bit more
Circulation powerheads work really well as well the key here is
Observation though you want to try placement throughout the tank and move them [around] until you find the sweet spots meaning that
Meaning that you find the spot in your tank that you place this extra circulation
and there's no more dead spots you might also want to consider your
Stocking you might have simply stopped too many fish for that tank
And it's causing the tank to always stay cloudy the last thing is a hazy
Tank now hazy means that it's almost gray [and/or] it's clear, and it's not one of the others
But it's just foggy slightly now. This is a tricky one [because] it could be a number of things
Some popular items that I have found is it could be substrate and/or decorations
Perhaps your substrate was never rinsed thoroughly and or well
And it's continuously being stored stirred up and causing clarity issues Perhaps some of the decorations [may] [be] they're fake are
[leaching] some of the paint off and causing clarity issues what I like to do is slowly remove
one decoration or the other and see if things improve again
This is something that takes time
Because you can't just remove it and expect results tomorrow you have to wait a few days to even over a week
So I think I covered some of the more popular reasons your tank might be cloudy
And I hope this gave you a better understanding
Of all of them now that you know some general information as to what's causing them. You are better suited to act on that
[I] guess the point that I'm [trying] to get across is the secret [to] water clarity is
Understanding what the problem is in the first place and knowing what to do which was the whole point of this video?
I definitely am enjoying talking about all of this water though, so perhaps next week
I give you my thoughts and ideas on water perimeters. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section below once again
That's been this week's topic of the week. I hope you guys enjoyed it
If not come back next week, and I'll have something different for you
you