particles in water

[Black Hair Algae]

Ok; here is my latest issue. I am running out of patience (an idea) of what to do about the constant floating "particles" in the water.

I have a magnum 350 with microcartridge on already and a eheim 2028 PRO II with floss, tons of floss, just floss really...

And I also have a eheim 2229 wet/dry running for bio.

My tank is planted with 3 swords, 2 amazon swords, 3 small swords (not sure which type), some Cabomba, some water wisteria, some bacoba, some java moss and a few others...some dyi CO2 running also and have 4X96W Compact fluo. Nothing seems to be rotting.

My latest readings were 28C, PH 6.4, 0.00 ammonia & nitrite and only 5 Nitrate (forget the exact scale measurement)

So with all the above........no matter how carefull I am at feeding time, which is twice a day, small amounts that get eaten all in 5 min or less, I still see a significant increase in particles floating freely around in there, either white or light brown.......less when I haven't feed them for a while but still, constantly enough there to drive me bunkers!

I understand that a planted tank with 4 large pieces of malaysian driftwood (lfs bought) and a fish population a little on the heavy side will mean a near impossibility of getting the perfect clear water but still, this is, in my opinion, too much particles anyhow....

I apologize for the rant but I am at a loss here and if anyone can think/recommend/suggestion ANYTHING I haven't though of, however wild, please do so!

Thanks a bunch!

[PaleoFishGirl]

Diatom filter.

[Aquaviewer]

My guess is that you have fine particulate matter and detritus (fish waste, plant bits, uneaten food) that is building up among your plants etc...  This stuff probably gets stirred up at feeding time with all the fish activity.  I would suggest you get some detritivours in there to help break that stuff down.  Good choices in a planted tank are various shrimp sp. and MTS.  If you have a large particle size subsrate you may never get rid of the fine particulate matter as your substrate baterial load may not be able to build up sufficiently to complete the decomposition process and the fine particulate get trapped there too.

I have heavily panted tanks with lots of wood, CO2 etc and the shrimp and snails are constantly working the substrate and climing in all the nooks  consuming all the fine particulate, bacteria in the substrate take care of the rest. 

[KLKelly]

Well water or city water?

I have particles in my well water after its aerated.

I also cart city water for my small tanks - the only tank that has particles is the 10 gallon planted with tahitian moon sand - no c02 and just an AC20 on it.  There seems to be constantly tiny particles that look whitish floating around.  I think the two tiny gobies in there (1" long) might stir tiny amounts of the sand up.

[babblefish1960]

The only way to avoid stuff in the water, is to have nothing living, and that includes the water, so relax, try a diatom if it really bugs you, and get more detritivours as aquaviewer suggested.

[succinctfish]

I would agree with pfg and Aquaviewer, diatom filtering really clears up the water column, and you can never have too many little critters cleaning up!
But I would also encourage you to become friends with your particulate matter
Natural water systems are rarely clear, it's part of living in an ecosystem.  If there is nothing unhealthy floating around, all the inhabitants are hale and happy, why not relax and enjoy your successful ecosystem?

[PoisonJello]

by any chance are those little particles just tiny air bubbles cause it sounds like you have lots of filtration on the tank already, my tank looks like it has tiny particles but its actually just air bubbles..there is a bubbler near my powerhead so the bubbles get sucked in and turn into tiny bubble