Floating sand particles?

[pontiac]

Hey guys, I have had my tank up and going for just about three weeks now and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on getting the fine floating particles of sand from floating on the surface? I have tried the net method, but no luck.

 

[TWallace]

I had that problem after I set my tank up. I solved it by cutting up a fine grade sponge and wrapping it around the intakes of my two powerheads. The sponges soaked up the floating debris in about two days. Remember to remove the sponges after, they'll get clogged and drastically slow down your powerhead. You may need to remove them and rinse them out once a day while you're trying to clear up the tank, too.

 

[pk1]

Give your tank some time. Once the sand gets coated with bacteria and such, it should drop out of the water column. If it's new sand "dust" a skimmer should do it, and a few filter pads, or micron filter socks also. HTH

Patrick

 

[pontiac]

Thanks, I"ll give that a try. For right now while I'm breaking it in, I have two aquaclear 4000 pwerheads, a red sea prism skimmer, and a rena xp3 canister, with about three inches of sand and 100 pound of rock. I know I should have gone with a sump, but money was a factor and the xp was a good price. As soon as cash allows I can get my live sand and about 200 more pounds of rock. I"ll give this canister a try for now and see what happens.

 

[frags4u]

yes sponges work great main thing is to keep sand out of pumps it will really tear up magnets in pumps and cause lose of power or ruin pump

 

[NCreefwannabe]

Your skimmer should be pulling it out. Mines took care of the top sand in hours. I had a nice tan sludge in the cup the next morning lol.