Help with water clarity using Triton method

[Rockymountainreefer]

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone had any tips on improving water clarity while using the Triton method and carbon dosing. My tank always looks like a milkshake and I'm not sure how to improve it without disrupting the nutrient balance. I run higher end nutrient levels 10-15ppm no3 and carbon dose with NOPOX. I only need advice on improving water clarity as all of my corals are thriving in the parameters I have set. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks and happy reefing!

 

[Jvalle]

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone had any tips on improving water clarity while using the Triton method and carbon dosing. My tank always looks like a milkshake and I'm not sure how to improve it without disrupting the nutrient balance. I run higher end nutrient levels 10-15ppm no3 and carbon dose with NOPOX. I only need advice on improving water clarity as all of my corals are thriving in the parameters I have set. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks and happy reefing!

hi can u post a pic so we can see how cloudy? thx

 

[Kryptonian]

Need to pinpoint what's making your water look like a milkshake.. Does it look more like microbubbles or cloudiness? Microbubbles would be produced by your equipment and cloudiness could be an ionic imbalance... Need more information to know what's going on.

 

[Jvalle]

I know Trition advises against mechanical filtration but I would put a filter sock or floss for a day uintil it clears up and see from there. You can even run a filter flow in your overflow or anywhere water flows through for a few hours and see if that helps.

Long-term, you might want to look at the flow rate through your sump. It's possible that the water is moving through your refugium too fast, and that's where you're getting the suspended particles.

 

[Jvalle]

*filter floss

 

[Rockymountainreefer]

hi can u post a pic so we can see how cloudy? thx

Need to pinpoint what's making your water look like a milkshake.. Does it look more like microbubbles or cloudiness? Microbubbles would be produced by your equipment and cloudiness could be an ionic imbalance... Need more information to know what's going on.

There is a bit of micro bubbles but I don't believe that's it at all. I've run NOPOX for years and over that time I noticed that with higher nutrient levels the water becomes very cloudy with beneficial bacterial colonies working to export the nutrients (not an unhealthy sign) and I never use to have this problem when running low nutrients because the bacterial colonies lay more dormant when there is not as big of a work load for them. The only solution I've seen that helps is water changes but being that I run Triton I prefer to never do them to maintain the balance of my bioload.

 

[Rockymountainreefer]

*filter floss

I think a filter floss would be a good try at a natural solution, but it's hard to say because it's not detritus particles it's bacteria. I may put it to the test.