Ok, more detail. The tank has been planted for about one year. The
particules look like very tiny, pinhead sized brown-ish things. There are
some plant particules floating around, but not very many. It just looks
like suspended brown-ish sand, but somewhat smaller than a sand particle. I
can't really be more exact than that.

When I did my last water change a week ago (about 50%), about 2 days before
that, I performed maintenance on my Eheim. I removed a tray of the ceramic
tubes and put in two bags of carbon for 3 days. Then I took the carbon out
and put back in some new ceramic tubes as well as rinse the sponges out in
some aquarium water in a bucket. My filter containers from the Eheim sat
out about 15 minutes without being in water while I did everything. The
other two trays contain the old ceramic tubes and coarse rock substrate.

Also during this same 2 - 3 day time period, I removed 2 bunches of bunch
plant from the tank.

Do you think I messed up the biological bacteria and this is being caused
from that? I do not have many snails to speak of anymore tanks to the 6
Clown Loaches.

Should I just turn off the micron filter and let the tank run normally for
several days and see what happens?

Thanks,
Jesse


"kush" wrote in message
...
Jesse, can you describe the particulates a little more? Are we talking
about decaying plant matter or bacteria?

How recently was the tank planted? The reason I ask is because frequently
(usually?) when I've planted out a new tank I planted some plants that
didn't take well - I remember one tank in particular where I had six
bunches
of didipls diandra and six bunches of foxtail fril which, for reasons
never
determined (maybe snails?), over the course of two months just
deteriorated
and disintegrated. The overall effect was similar to what you are
describing. Assuming that it's not snails which are causing the problem,
they would probably be the most effective at cleaning it up.

If it's bacterial, periodic use of the micron filter is probably
interfering
with getting the biologic filter established. Add two teaspoons per
gallon
of A.C.T., clench your teeth, and turn off the micron filter. Only use it
when you have company coming.

There are several liquid products available which supposedly cause small
particulate to "clump" together and be more effectively filtered out
(mechanically). The brand names escape me but your LFS can direct you, I'm
sure.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

SlimFlem wrote in message
news:SoiR9.543957$WL3.146175@rwcrnsc54...
OK guys, please see if you have any ideas about this. Starting about a
week
ago, my tank water is filled with particules when I wake up in the
morning.
It looks like you took a stick and ran it through the Florite and
released
all kinds of crap. I use a Magnum 350 Micron filter cartridge during
the
day and its back to normal. But the next morning, bam!, the same thing.
I
don't understand. Do you think either the Clown Loaches, Brochis
Splendens,
or Whiptail catfish could be doing this during the night? I see them
rooting around during the day and stirring up a little stuff, but
nothing
to
the extent of what I get in the morning.

I have vacumed the Florite pretty good over 1/2 of my tank during the
last
water change, but I cannot vacum certain parts because of plant tickets
or
driftwood. Does anyone have Florite and any of these fish that may be
causing something like this?

My normal filter is an Ehiem 2028 Pro with 2 trays of ceramic tubes and
one
tray of the course rock substrate. My tank has never done this before.
Do
you think maybe I should alter the contents of the filter? Maybe
replace
the 2 sponge layers? I rinsed them out during the last water change
about
a
week ago. It just seems like this stuff is not being sucked in by the
filter or either it's too much for the filter to handle or either its
passing through the filter somehow.

Any ideas, please?!?!?

thanks,
jesse