Optimizing filter for clear water!

What should I add to my filter to make the water clear? I currently have the carbon pads that came with my filter, (they are suuuuper old and need to be changed) the bio wheels (it's a penguin) and the polyfil as suggested by mattgirl, but I am just wondering if the lack of fresh carbon is why it's so cloudy? Will the water clear up when I get more carbon? Also can I use the aqua clear brand in mine? They look like they are the same size and my local Walmart only has the aquaclear. Please help, I miss my beautiful clear aquarium!

 

I know carbon cartridges when left in a tank for too long they begin to just leech everything back into the water- perhaps that's what happened?

 

I know carbon cartridges when left in a tank for too long they begin to just leech everything back into the water- perhaps that's what happened?

Hm maybe, I should have changed them a while ago but never got around to it.

 

Carbon is only used to remove medications or smells from the water. You do not need it at all.

 

Toss the carbon and add an extra sponge or poly in it's place...

Carbon is unnecessary unless trying to remove medications or odors. When I buy new filter's I save the included carbon for emergencies and fill the unused space with a bag of bio balls, crushed coral or something else more useful than carbon..

 

fill the unused space with a bag of bio balls, crushed coral or something else more useful than carbon..

Just an FYI for you. Bio balls or any plastic media should not be used in a static filter. They are only used on large moving bed or wet/dry filters. They harbor very little bacteria. For example 1 Liter of Matrix has the same surface area of 170 Liters of bio balls.

 

You can have a clear water with mechanical (sponges mostly) and bio media together. Chemical filtration (carbon) is a special filtration and members above have explained it very well. So if you have properly arranged mechanical filtration and enough bio media (ceramic rings, seachem matrix, etc) you will get a crystal clear water eventually. Line up your mechanical filtration material from coarse to fine.
Example; coarse sponge-->medium sponge-->fine sponge-->fine polishing pad-->biological filtration media-->return to tank.
Finally, it is always a good thing to cover your intake head with a coarse sponge for pre-filtration.

 

Thanks! I'll try to get my hands on this stuff!

 

Just an FYI for you. Bio balls or any plastic media should not be used in a static filter. They are only used on large moving bed or wet/dry filters. They harbor very little bacteria. For example 1 Liter of Matrix has the same surface area of 170 Liters of bio balls.

Oops I used the wrong term, I meant "ceramic rings" or "bio rings", or whatever they're called, but I think you know what I mean.

But no definitely not bio balls, they're way too big and wouldn't make sense to fill the void in an average sized HOB filter. I buy small media bags and fill them with the rings or crushed coral and use that in place of the carbon.

You should however contact Marineland since I know my Canister filter definitely came with 1 tray full of those black plastic "bio balls"