fine sand on top of DSB/live rock

S

slimtim260

New member
last night i added a 6"DSB to my tank. it made the tank really cloudy and when it settled all the LR had a layer of what looks like fine particles of sand and the top 1/8" of the dsb has the same stuff. i tried to syphon out the fine stuff but just made it cloudy again. i know when it settles it will be the same way it was the first time. how do you guys get rid of this stuff ? i used playsand from home deopt that is distributed by old castle. i put the lobster,shrimp,and crabs back in the tank last night and theyre all dead. so nothing is in the tank now. i know when this settles if i put anything in the tank it wont take much with the fine particles to have another sand storm. what shoudl i do ?
 
well all you can really do is keep blowing it off with a powerhead and keep making it cloudy till it all works throught the filter.

In your filter you should have that really fine cotton filter pad stuff and carbon, lots of both, but be sure to keep rinsing it out and in a few sandstorms and in a few days your tank will be clean, it will take a few days so dont worry.

This a familiar site....



 
Once the sand gets "coated" with bacteria it will not be nearly as touchy. Once SD sand is established it really doesnt cloud at all even when disturbed slightly. Give it time, it will get much better.
 
i havent tested it yet to see. the only thing in there now is live rock. i assume it did because the lobster, emerald crabs, and peppermint shrimp all died with a quickness. i did add cycle though to help it out. there was some water from the tank i left in as well to help keep all the bacteria that was in the tank.im about to go to the pet store to get some of the padding. my roomie talked to 2 diffrent LFS's and they told him that the sand might ahve been bleached and no telling what other things were in the sand and trying t omake it sound like it was a stupid thing to do. they also mentioned to him that they sell a 20# bag $15 or something close to that.
 
how lon gdo you guys think it will take for the DSB t obecome live ? id hate to start adding fish if the DSB isnt ready. what about adding critters ?
 
if you have a hangon filter. take out youryour pads either set, and add some pantyhose over them.

basically go steal an old set of clean pantyhose from your woman, cut the feet out and slide them over the pads.
This way you get a much much smaller screen to filter the sand out. after a day or so youll end with a dsb inside your filter lol. i did at least.
 
i dont think the sand had bleach because i can see some bugs crawling around on the sand. if the sand had bleach on it then they would have been took out as well.
 
i tested the water tonight of all the paramaters i tested (ph,ammonia,nitrate,nitrite,) the ammonia is at .5 and the nitrates are higher then that id say 20-40 ppm. the ph and nitrites are fine. i did find a dead snial in the tank. when i first added the sand and did a water change when i put everything back in the tank everything died accept for a small hermit crab. 2 peppermint shrimp are MIA. i put everythig accept the lobster in the sump and the lobster got a big bowl of water to sit in. i forgot the snail was in the tank. so obviously it is in somewhat of a cycle. but the hermit crab is still alive and kicking. ive heared of putting damsels in a tank to help speed up a cycle but can i do anything to help the DSB get the bacteriea up and running it needs ?
 
hermits can live through world war 3. Dont expect to loose him lol. The shrimp though arent as hardy. Since youve already got ammonia going, theres no need to add any fish. just wait out the cycle now.

I woudnt add anymore snails until you start to get an algae outbreak, which should first be diatoms. I didnt use my lights during cycle, so I never got my initial diatom outbreak or any other algae for that matter.
 
the peppermint shrimp are MIA. i know i put them in the sump but theyre not there now. not unless they climed up in the bio balls for some reason.
 
update

update

i tested the water tonight. ammonia is at .25ppm and the nitrates are in the 20-40 ppm range.honestly that is no higher then they were when fish were in the tank with the 1-2" of crushed coral. im thinking about trying to find some critters tommrow for the DSB. i also added the last of the cycle (there wasnt that much to begin with) and some prime. but i have a problem now. i did not notice any of the "bugs" on the sand or LR. is there anything that i can do short of buying another piece of live rock to get any of these back in the tank ? im considering buying some live sand from the LFS as well. help please.
 
They most likely died off during the cycle. They will come back. If your really that worried there no life, you could get some sand from local reefers to boost your dsb.
 
im just tired of looking at the rock. when the lobster was around he hid all day and thats all thats been in the tank with the exception of the peppermint shrimp ( they hid too ) and a few emerald crabs. i want to get some fish back in there. but with the tank cycling/DSB getting "alive" i dont know how long ill end up waiting.
 
back to the question of how long should i expect the sand to take before it gets "alive" to the point to where i can add some critters for the sand until i decide on what fish im gonna add. i noticed the nitrates really dropped close to 50 % (was 60-80ppm now its 20-40ppm)but the ammonia is steady at .25. keep im mind i have 50 lbs+ of LR. if i decide to buy some sand to seed the DSB how much would be enough? im thinking of getting 1#. if i get some sand to seed my DSB how much will it shorten the process? here are my paratamers as of last time i tested. ill test again tommrow

salanity 1.022 (need to get up a little my LFS keeps it at 23 and another keeps it at 24 and i forgot what the 3rd one keeps it at)
nitrites 0
nitrates 20-40 ppm
ammonia .25ppm
Ph 8.4

if the ammonia decides to drop and hurries up with cycling ill keep an eye on it for another week or so and hopefully the sand will be up and going by then.
 
i have added some prime to the tank as well. thats just because my lfs was closed so i had to get H20 from a RO machine at a grocery store. thats what water was sued when i did the 20 gallon change and added the dsb o begin with. will that mess it up at all ?
 
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