Guess who forgot to clean their new sand...

[BigDave]

Yup. This guy.

Any recommendations on how to get it all out of the water column? Do I just wait for it to settle? I only have a protein skimmer and a reactor with activated carbon running right now.

I have a spare phosban reactor and a way of plumbing it in. I thought about filling it with cotton balls and hooking it up to see if it will help. Basically a small mechanical filter.

Here's a picture because I know people like pictures.

 

[billdogg]

If you happen to have a spare canister filter, stuff it full of pillow stuffing (way cheaper than "fish filter" and exactly the same stuff) Run it for a day or so, change it out, and repeat. It will take a few days for things to settle down. Carbon won't do squat except get clogged up. If all you have is a couple reactors, then stuff them full and change them out more frequently.

 

[BigDave]

oh. I do have a ca reactor. It's cracked on the bottom, but that shouldn't matter for this. I think I'll hook that up somehow.

Thanks for the idea on the pillow stuffing. Didn't think about that stuff.

 

[gone fishin]

Personally I would pull the carbon out and put the floss in. good luck

 

[BigDave]

I'll do that too.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

 

[ali1]

Sand is one of those things you can rinse allday and the tank will still look like that. It will settle over 24-48hours. Throw some powerheads in there to get the circulation going. Wouldnt waste any more dollars on filter media or extra steps.

 

[Ou8me2]

Yep, I definitely would use the Poly-Fil as you can get a very large bag for like 3.50 at Walmart. After it starts to clear you will have to stir the sand bed to get the other debris that settled in the sand since you didn't wash it.

 

[PirateToast]

As long as youve got flow going from sump to dt, it should settle pretty quick.

 

[Ztous]

I made this mistake once. Stir it up a few times and let your sponges and filters pull it out a few times or it will get cloudy every time you touch the sand.

 

[rockworm]

As long as youve got flow going from sump to dt, it should settle pretty quick.

Sand is one of those things you can rinse allday and the tank will still look like that. It will settle over 24-48hours. Throw some powerheads in there to get the circulation going. Wouldnt waste any more dollars on filter media or extra steps.

I agree with both of these comments. I have set up a number of tanks over the years and do not worry about the little milk storm. In a couple days it will have settled completely and as the tank matures the bacteria and micro fauna will attach and keep it from flying around.

The only thing this does is delays the process by a couple days. Focus on proceeding with the tank cycle and just let the dust settle.

 

[JMorris271]

Are you going to leave the dirty sand in the tank or get it out now to wash so it won't be an issue later on. I mean you meant to wash it in the first place?

 

[Ou8me2]

If the sand was that dirty then even when the sand settles it will still have lots of dirt and debris in the sand. You'll need to stir the sand bed up several times till it get's clean. It's going to take several days and I washed my poly-fil about every 12 hours and not to mention you'll have a dirty scum on the glass and in the sump.

 

[LQT]

I agree with letting it settle on its own. It always does. Back in the day when DSB's were in vogue, I used to use unrinsed super fine Southdown Playsand in my tanks. It would always look like that. After 3 days of letting it settle on its own, it'd be crystal clear again.

 

[2smokes]

It will settle, but to be honest ,i would change the sand with somme aragonite all same zise(White marble sand as big as suggar crystals).Even an ocelaris clown fish or a damsel can disturb this sand and the dust will settle on your corals preventing them to get enough light and force them to clean themselves .For a a DSB,this is good sand because you want fine sand ,but in the display i think it will cause you problems.If you plan to keep wrasses that likes to bury in the sand every night or sand sifting gobyes or a pistol shrimp plus goby ,then you will have dust in the water column continuously.

 

[LQT]

While I agree with using a coarser aragonite sand and currently use Caribbean special grade myself, I ran a 5" fine grain Southdown DSB in a DT for 6 years with none of these dust in the water column issues everyone speaks of. My water was always crystal clear. As the tank matures, a biofilm develops. Bacteria and microfauna keep everything nice and settled. The big drawback I found with using fine sand was having to be extra careful with power head placement and flow. Placed wrong and you'd build big sand dunes in your DT over time!

 

[BigDave]

I used Caribsea Aragonite.

When I setup my first tank (a long time ago), I didn't know to clean the sand first. You're right in that it did settle over some time. I was just hoping to help it along a little this time with some mechanical filtration.

At this point, I'm not sure I'll get anything on there. I'm busy tonight and tomorrow and Wednesday we leave for Thanksgiving and won't be back til Friday. It'll probably all be settled by then.

Once settled, I never had a problem with it last time either.

I have the pumps going. Even this morning, you could already tell it has settled some.

I also know that once I get the rock in there, it'll settle easier as right now some of the returns from the wave maker keep hitting the top of the sand where rock will be.

 

[ali1]

There you go. Every morning, it becomes less cloudy. Wipe the glass with a magnet and your back in business. This is one of those things where its the least important task to worry about in a reef environment.

 

[mgreenough]

I did the same with caribsea specialgrade over the weekend. Did not wash it and tank had same appearence. I had my return and powerheads running with a floss filled filter sock in the sump. Also ran my skimmer that caught some of the fines as well. I stirred the sand daily as well to release more fines.

Went from this

To this in 4 days

Skimmer shot

 

[Flaring Afro]

Are you going to leave the dirty sand in the tank or get it out now to wash so it won't be an issue later on. I mean you meant to wash it in the first place?

If the sand was that dirty then even when the sand settles it will still have lots of dirt and debris in the sand. You'll need to stir the sand bed up several times till it get's clean. It's going to take several days and I washed my poly-fil about every 12 hours and not to mention you'll have a dirty scum on the glass and in the sump.

It's not that it's dirty, it's just the finer sand that stays in the water column more easily. Once it settles there should be nothing to worry about.

 

[VegasMike]

Filter sock, skimmer and patience. The last being the most important.