Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No pix of this, but aquarium had cloudy water.
I have an aquarium (2.4*0.45*0.45M) with a GB and a large biofilter as a sump in a flood and drain configuration. I have ~60, 10 - 25mm and 10 75mm Tilapia in the tank and the nutrient levels are stable at 7.5, <5,<0.25 and ~40 . I have just planted some mint to rapidly reduce the nitrates. I will deal with the mint later! (my cross to bear?)

What can I do to clarify the aquarium water. It looks good expect for the cloudiness.

Tony

(edited typo in title 11:39 WDST 30/1/08)

What colour is the cloudiness?

Is this a newly put together system Tony....

i.e. what media did you use for the growbed... did you wash it ...

and/or was the bio-filter cartirdge clean?

Tony,

If it is just very fine solids build up...

I used to polish my aquarium water by using layers of foam rubber sponge material and dacron fibre. Just let the outlet from the pump flow through a small bed of this stuff.

Doubt the tank has become stable yet, have the temps risen? Would just add more air at this point. Probably needs buffering but not that good at that.
Cloudy as in opaque or pearly?

Its perhaps just the natural cloudiness you get with a newly established tank..kinda white and misty looking?

Looking at the nutrient levels, 7.5, <5,<0.25 and ~40, i`m assuming the PH is 7.5, if ammonia is the 2nd figure, how much less than 5 is it?

i had this cloudiness when i first set up my first aquarium. I think the technical explaination is a bloom in bacterias (not ours ) as the water parameters settle. you will wake up one morning and it will be crystal clear.

Tell me more. My readings are very similar (7.5, 1.2, 0.1, 75) and my water is still grass green after two months, despite shading. My fish and plants (including mint) are thriving. Why is the mint your "cross to bear"?

I think cos it goes crazy and roots grow all through your piping... Can't think of any other downsides.
Odd that your water is still so green synapto. Mine was the deep green you mention, but cleared up in less than 3 weeks. Do you have duckweed? I think that was a big factor in shading the water and stripping it of nutrients.

Ring me tomorrow ...

Easy to fiX!

I am improving the clarity of my smaller system with a simple "bucket filter" filtering my bypass water. You may want to try something similar. I'm not sure how efficient this is but it certainly appears to be working. It's just a bucket with holes at the bottom filled with (from the bottom)

coral
scrunched up shade cloth
charcoal
bidden (i thinks it's spelt like that)
I suppose foam rubber could work just as well here.

Does anyone know if this filter (scaled up considerably) would work in a much bigger system? Could one use any charcoal or does it have to be this aquarium charcoal which is quite expensive?

im pretty sure it has to be activated carbon

heres a bit about activated carbon
http://www.eurocarb.com/applications.html

you might be able to get it cheaper if you buy water treatment stuff rather than aquarium stuff it will be pretty much the same i should think

You would be getting nutes out of the system with activated charcoal, it fills up with ions, we use them in aquaria to get the treatment out of the water, it is a chemical filter.
You could do a clarifier like they have at the UVI on the virgin islands. It is a cone with water going in on the side and swirling. The swirl gets the particles to go to the bottom where you have a drain and the clear water overflows in a pipe at the top. Check this drawing out, it is adapted to NFT.

so are we still talking particualte cloudy or are we talking white milky cloudy?

Steve: Pretty sure Tony hasn't clarified that for us yet... :-)

huh! For those of you who bag my humour: the use of clarified was not intended to be a pun - Still I found it sniggerworthy :-)