re: dusty water

Question
QUESTION: I haven't really checked the Fluval hoses but I get good pressure coming out, and it doesn't seem like an issue... I could try and get some of the Kent clarifier if you think that would help...  the Tetra brand didn't work at all.  This is just insane to me.  I've put a lot of work into maintaining this tank and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...

ANSWER: This is really baffling... I have done this for years and exhausted all of my ideas about what could be going on.  I will be at the aquarium tomorrow and will ask around... someone will come up with something... dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks so much!  hopefully we can come up with something

Answer
Hi Rob:  So we talked your tank over for a while today at work today... One suggestion was that:

Perhaps the two filters were causing only segments of the tank to filter but not actually filtering the entire tank... This would occur if the two filters created something like this  0 == 0 where each 0 is a segment of water that circulated on one end of the tank and the == would be water that is not circulated as often as each of the 0... It could happen... but I kept asking...

Someone else thought that if you were feeding flake food... that you could try to cut back and see if the water clears at all. The thought was that the particles in the water had to come from some place could it be food?  ... It could happen... but I kept asking.

My boss suggested using KENT clarifier product to see if the particles would clot with that agent as opposed to the Tetra brand.  It is possible that you have a "bad" bottle of clarifier and that switching would eliminate that possibility.  She also thought that if you were using a carbon filter that maybe the carbon was leaking or that some of the carbon was so small that it was being washed through the filter media and being deposited into your tank... That too is a possibility....

What do you think????  I know when my tanks get as yours is... that it is because I need to clean the gravel or the canister filter... or sometimes both.  I also tend to over feed my fish and find myself cleaning up left-overs quite often.  There have been times when I felt that products I have purchased did not work according to the manufacturers label.... So in my experiences all of these may be a possibility... Let me know what you think... and I will continue to find answers...   dave