Tank Journal Archive

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Chasing Clarity.... And Minor Updates :)
OK, for the last couple of months I have been on the chase for tank clarity. I have never really been happy with how unclear the tank looked. Funnily enough, it comes up alight in pictures, but in person there is a distinct whiteness or milkiness to it that just shouldn't. The tank is low-iron glass front and sides and the water from the main tank makes its way over to my little tank (automated water change system passes through little tank before drain).

The last couple of months it had got to me, I had to sort this out. I started with the water, frantically chasing better water clarity. Tried a number of things, ozone, UV, ozone and UV, big water changes, constant little changes, carbon carbon and more carbon, mechanical filtration - you name it. Went through all of this before realising that my 130 litre tank gets its water from the big tank and is crystal clear....

(again, it doesn't really show in pics/video, but gives you an idea)

So! Turned pumps off and looked from the top down onto the tank. Crystal clear.... OK, must be the glass! Further inspection showed that there indeed was some sort of white build up on my glass even after a go over with a good brand magnet cleaner. Appears to be a lanth build-up (which is interesting as I have used only a few millilitres of the stuff over six months and again, that water is in the little tank and not bothered? Perhaps it clings to the low iron glass more easily?

This video shows the tank glass with tanks lights off. You can see the smudged white reflection on the glass against the ceiling light:

Loaned the same mag cleaner that I have off a friend, but hers has the blade built in. This instantly showed that there indeed was something on the glass. Was almost as if it was a "soft" or rubbery coating on the glass as the blade clearly showed where it had not cleaned yet:

This blade sort of did the trick, but took AGES. Like, I cleaned the glass for a combined 8 hours over a weekend and had almost 1/3rd of it done... Spoke the most knowledgeable reefer I know in Dave at Deer Park aquarium and he suggested a magfloat magnet cleaner with the blade attachment. A friend of mine has one of these, so gave it a shot. Useless.... Told Dave and he darted off out the back of the store and came back with a monster. Magfloat with blade suited for up to 20mm glass (my glass is 12mm). Said I could try it out before buying, if it worked, just pay for it. If it didn't, bring it back for no charge as he was going to use it at home anyway so wasn't worried about packaging (not sure you will find better service anywhere in this country!) OK, so using this huge magfloat smashed the lanth on the glass, took it off the entire tank in about 20mins. BEAST!

Great, the tank should be crystal clear again right!? Wrong.... I could see the glass was perfect now (especially when tank lights were off) but the tank still looked milky. Perhaps the lanth was in the water column now? I gave it a few days to clear, still no good. Tried a 250l water change, still no good. Tried Zeo Coral snow and zeozym each night for a week, no improvements :/ So, if it's not the glass or the water, what else could it be? I guess lighting? By luck, I moved my middle LED unit to the left to reach something in the tank. This made the left side of the tank extra white and the middle crystal clear....
(again, doesn't show as dramatically in the video, but gives you an idea)

Hmm, my LED's have been mounted waaaaay too close to the waters surface in order to fit them in the hood. Got me thinking that perhaps they are that close that they are getting some sort of weird refraction off the waters surface? So, off with the hood, dismantled the light rail and went about making some temporary chocks to mount these lights higher. In the mean time, I also picked up some handy halides at a good price (three units plus some spare ballasts/globes/ignitors etc. Just had to wire them up (this was kinda scary as with a ballast, igniter, capacitor and bulb holder, there are a few components to connect and I have never done it before. So double and tripple checked everything a few times on a temporary wiring job to see how we went:

That looked pretty cool, best try it on the tank!
IMG_4285.JPG

Anyway, back to the topic - having raised the led's, does appear to have helped. The tank is still not as clear as it should be, but I can live with it the way it is now (I was getting awfully close to packing it up...)

So, where did I get after all of this? Lighting has appeared to either make it better or just mask the problem better. Either way, will explore further. Oh, and halides are kinda cool! Will do a much nicer job of the electronics in a sealed box and look into mounting 2 of the 3 above the tank for a couple of hours boost each day in place of the T5's I have been using for that. Might have to make an enclosed hood to the ceiling and run some ventilation fans though.....

Hope you enjoyed the rants of a mad man!
Sam
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
Thanks for the story Sam :)

What does the tank look like with all the pumps turned off - this should reduce, if not eliminate, any refraction from the lights.
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Thanks for the story Sam :)

What does the tank look like with all the pumps turned off - this should reduce, if not eliminate, any refraction from the lights.
I'll have to check again now with the lights up, but didn't look any better when I did it before. I think the only reason why it looks better now is because the lights are higher, they get a more even spread which makes it less obvious (before you could see the beams of light from each unit)

Any suggestions???
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
I believe the issue is the Lanth. It is known to "stain" the glass.
I'm fairly sure the glass in clean now. The lanth (assuming it was the lanth) formed a rubbery coating that was very very difficult to remove. But with a blade and a ton of elbow grease - it appears to be off the glass now
 
E

ezza

Guest
Your tank is amazing! :worship

When I first started using lanth I noticed that coating too- a good scraper helps. I have to say, I sure wouldn't be rushing out for the wooden block one! That noise it makes while cleaning is ridiculous.
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
Your tank is amazing! :worship

When I first started using lanth I noticed that coating too- a good scraper helps. I have to say, I sure wouldn't be rushing out for the wooden block one! That noise it makes while cleaning is ridiculous.
only made that noise in spots where the coating was. I can use it again now and its silent, but it just wasn't strong enough to remove the coating