New tank, aragonite sand question.

[fenrizwolf]

Hello,
You may have seen my other thread about getting my tank going.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=
I got my sand yesterday from amazon, which took way longer than it was supposed to. Anyway, it is Carib Sea Ocean direct Caribbean live sand(Original grade). It states specifically "No rinse." Well I put it in my tank, and it was a cloudy mess as expected. I ran 2 powerheads with filter floss to quickly un-cloud the tank. Well after a few hours I smoothed out the sand along the bottom and it kicked up more silt and cloudiness into the tank than when I put it in! So I continued to clean filter floss and said screw it and turned on my canister to help get this cloudiness out of the water. My question is, whenever I do anything wont it just kick this cloudiness up all over again? How do I get these small particles out of the tank? Is this normal? Should I just keep stirring up and running my canister, cleaning it out intermittently? Thanks in advance. This site has been so helpful in getting my tank going.

 

[mcgyvr]

It will settle some but yes if you disturb the sand or run too much flow it ill cloud up again..
Its normal for that sand and yep just keep running/rinsing the filter.

Mine took about 2 weeks to finally clear/settle enough that its not clouding everything up again with any little movement.

 

[fenrizwolf]

It is great to hear that its normal. Thanks.

 

[Tylerasmus2014]

I am having this same problem. I checked all of the specifics and everything seems to be in order. But the sand particles are sticking to the walls of my tank and turning everything whitish. Should I just keep brushing the particles off before putting fish in the tank?

 

[fenrizwolf]

My wife told me my glass is covered in sand dust. I'm gonna wipe down the inside when I get home.

 

[mcgyvr]

I am having this same problem. I checked all of the specifics and everything seems to be in order. But the sand particles are sticking to the walls of my tank and turning everything whitish. Should I just keep brushing the particles off before putting fish in the tank?

yes.. BUT you mention "putting fish in the tank" like its something you are going to be doing soon...
Has the tank cycled fully?
Are you aware of how to cycle a fish tank?

 

[1jwampler]

+1 live sand doesn't make the tank ready for livestock.

Local maintenance guy taught me to fill and cycle tank then do 50% water change and use the used water to rinse the sand, this keeps the sand "alive" without the two weeks of cleaning the sand residue


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CStrickland]

Your sand will also get less dusty over time as bacteria grow on it. Usually live sand comes with a packet of some chemical that is supposed to do the same thing.

 

[Tylerasmus2014]

Yes I am fully aware of cycling my tank, I have been through the process with my 55 gallon, I upgraded to a 75 and wondering why the sand is doing this in the 75 when it didn't for the 55. I followed the exact instructions on the bag for adding the packet that the live sand came in. It's been cycling for just over a month now. I was just wondering why the sand particles continued to stick to the walls of the tank. I do plan on taking the fish I have from my 55 and putting them in my 75, just wanted to make sure that the sand particles won't harm them.

Also all of the specifications for nitrate, nitrite, salinity ect are right where they are supposed to be