Maintaining a large sandbed?

[MikeP471612]

I thought I would post here for this. My tank is 190g and I have 200lbs of sand. The sand is yard-right Caribbean sand. It is fine sand but I don't know what size. I have seeded it with live sand from the smaller tank I took down when this one finally got going. It has been running for over a month and all water parameters are good. What I have put in for CUC is the usual hermits and snails but here is my main question...after the third week the water has gone cloudy. I can see particles floating around throughout the tank. This started just after I added a pistol shrimp and a diamond goby. Is the tank cloudy because of them stirring up the sand too much? It doesn't seem to be clearing up. I think these are typical additions to a tank. Does anyone out there have a similar set up? This cloudiness is driving me nuts, is it coincidence that the tank went cloudy around the same time the shrimp and goby went in? Is this normal for a new tank with a sandbed? It's just been a while and I would have thought that it would have settled out by now.

Any input would be great.

 

[VultureCP]

Mike: did you wash the sand before you put it into the tank? If not it might be working out all the dust, this will be quite annoying but should eventually be filtered out or settle.

-Chuck

 

[carman9941]

try running a filter sock

 

[MikeP471612]

Yeah, in all the excitement if forgot to rinse the sand. You think it will work itself out? I did put a filter sock on and I have been cleaning it every other day I just haven't seen any improvement yet.

 

[Lincutis]

It just takes time. My shrimp and gogies stir it up from time to time but that passes overnight. Once it clears throught the filter sock change it or wash it and you will be fine.

Keep an eye on the sock so that it does not clog up and just let the cloudy water rise out of the top.