First hard lesson learned...

Mikee002

Mikee002

Member
After my water was added and salt mixed, I added my live sand. I didn't want to rinse my sand since it was live, and it looked like it was fairly larger particles. It took 2 days to settle and the whole top layer is fines. I turned the powerheads on and it instantly clouded. Now I have to empty the tank, remove all the sand and rinse it...
 
It will clear up on its own. I just added sand to my 32G BioCube and after a day it is crystal clear even with powerheads on.
 
It'll clear. When dust gets kicked up, it'll circulate until bacterial growth on particulate begins to 'glue' it back down.
 
jpcemc said:
It will clear up on its own. I just added sand to my 32G BioCube and after a day it is crystal clear even with powerheads on.
Click to expand...

Yea, I feel like I'm always going to be battling dust storms if I don't take care of the problem now. Trust me, is rather not though, lol.
 
Yep, you didn't do anything wrong, and live sand you don't generally want to rinse (If it's in fact live.) I've rinsed dry aragonite 3-4 times before putting it in the tank and it still came out cloudy. You just have to run your filtration and let it settle.
 
Mikee002 said:
Yea, I feel like I'm always going to be battling dust storms if I don't take care of the problem now. Trust me, is rather not though, lol.
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Your call, but I personally wouldn't mess with it. It will settle down, trust me. It just takes some time.
 
I did the same recently (a few weeks ago) and it cleared up in a day or two, just let it settle. You might have to give the glass a bit of a wipe down but that's it, that's all I had to do once all the sediment had settled at least...
 
To help clear it up, you can use a old canister filter stuffed with filter floss (pillow stuffing from wallyworld). It will help get a lot of the very fine stuff out. Because it's a new tank, I'd keep stirring the sand about daily to allow the canister to get the bulk of it out. If you have access to one, a Diatom filter will clear it out in a couple hours. I have a Vortex XL that I use about twice a year for that purpose.
 
billdogg said:
To help clear it up, you can use a old canister filter stuffed with filter floss (pillow stuffing from wallyworld). It will help get a lot of the very fine stuff out. Because it's a new tank, I'd keep stirring the sand about daily to allow the canister to get the bulk of it out. If you have access to one, a Diatom filter will clear it out in a couple hours. I have a Vortex XL that I use about twice a year for that purpose.
Click to expand...

Thanks... I'll have to look through Craigslist to see if I can pick one up for cheap.
 
What kind of powerheads do you have and are they controllable? My sand is pretty fine and I can't turn my MP10 over about 50% with my koraila on too.

But like the others have said sand will eventually settle.
 
Goatonfly said:
What kind of powerheads do you have and are they controllable? My sand is pretty fine and I can't turn my MP10 over about 50% with my koraila on too.

But like the others have said sand will eventually settle.
Click to expand...

I have the jaebo pp-8. Even on the lowest setting it makes a sandstorm :/
 
Point them up towards the surface. You will improve oxygen exchange and at the very least, minimize the sandstorms
 
Turn the power head up towards the surface and get some filter floss. You will get it cleared up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'll do that. I also picked up a canister filter on OfferUp so I'll take billdoggs suggestion and clear up a lot of the fines that way.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
Filter floss and your lfs probably has some liquid stuff that causes sand and debris to bunch together which makes the filter more effective. Adding it can clear a tank in a couple hours.
 
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