Help! Very mlky water will not clear.

[Nate'ness]

So I just setup our 220 w. 55g sump, I added 160lbs of CaribSea Caribbean Live Sand (sand first) it has been cycling nearly 48hrs and has barely gotten any clearer. It is cycling w. a MAG18 and 3000 gph of powerheads.

Should I turn all the 'electronics' off? Drain it and waste $40 worth of RO and $50 worth of salt? I added the 'bio-magnetic' packets this sand comes w/ separately.. hours apart.

 

[Brickyardgreg]

Give it a little more time. Maybe shut one of the powerheads off of both let everything settle and take it from there. You might have too much flow. What size sand grains do you have.

 

[Russter]

I would turn off your powerheads and just wait a couple more days. Also, you could try a filter sock on your overflow to help remove some of the fine particles floating around.

 

[Nate'ness]

Its standard grade, Ill have to configure some sort of filter as mentioned above, I really really do not want to have to waste all of the time and money on draining and refilling.. I only have 5 -5gal water jugs, it took foreveerrr to fill this thing.

 

[Russter]

Don't drain and refill, give it a week total to settle down.

 

[preef]

Just let it sit for a couple more days. It takes a long time to settle.

 

[Nate'ness]

Thanks for the advice, turning the skimmer on does wonders... but Im sure it will still take several days.

 

[Sharpie_]

keep an eye on that cup, it can fill very quickly. Also same goes with filter socks and floss.

 

[wickedfish]

Fine filter sock.

 

[sland]

Fine filter sock or hob filter works well, turn powerheads off etc to let everything settle, mine was cloudy for about 6 days total, then was ready to go.

 

[RyDub03]

I think the best advice is to use a filter sock and wait a couple days. No reason to run the skimmer.

 

[titoav15]

powerheads off, filter sock (beware you will change it quickly). Since its a new set up, its normal for this to happen. Like everyone is saying, give it some time and it will clear up