Bad sand...

[sunshinegrl]

I setup my 12G Nano cube w/ 15 lbs of Arag-Alive. The sand cleared within a day. For my 28G nanoCube I used CarribSea Live Sand and besides the 4 day cloud of water, a soot like film is now on every surface within the tank, including sump area, on the heater, on the return pumps, etc) I am so upset! I want to just remove everything, clean the tank and start over (with a better sand of course)! Any advice on how to proceed? Very frustrated FOrtunately the 12G is coming along nicely. It has 12lbs of LR, 15lbs of LS (Arag-Alive) and is cycling nicely.

 

[yankeereefer]

next time try using filter floss in one of your chambers to trap the "floaties" - it'll clear a lot sooner than 4 days.

You can also try putting the sand down in your empty tank. Put the plastic bag (from sand) on top of it. Put an empty flower vase on top of the plastic and begin filling saltwater into the vase letting it spill over and out. This results in virtually cloud free water from the git go.

 

[mnml]

+1 for the plastic bag technique. works like a charm.

 

[MayoBoy]

Put a few pieces of live rock in there to get some bacteria growing. Once the sand gets a bacteria film on it, it will behave much better.

 

[seapug]

Or better yet, buy the dry sand, put in a bucket and flush it with a garden hose. I recently did it with sugar fine sand (usually the worst kind) and had perfectly clear water within a couple hours. The tap water nasties caused no problems and a week later the sand was teeming with critters from the live rock. Don't waste money on bagged "live" sand.

 

[g-man83]

Got to agree What you buy as "live sand" is little more than Wet beach sand and nothing more. Next time if your gonna spend that kind of money see if your lfs sells real "live sand" out of a tank or vat not a bag

 

[sunshinegrl]

To all interested, I was so frustrated with the sand mess, I decided to start from scratch. I spent last night emptying and removing the sand and trying to get the sand film out of teh sump areas. I plan to refill today, with the Arag-Alive sand instead. Wish me luck...