Newbie with a problem

[mattb1983]

Hi all I've been keeping freshwater tanks for many years mainly planted but have decided to take the plunge into reef keeping with a 125ltr jewel Rio with

an internal filter with floss,carbon and gfo
A 165w Chinese black box full spectrum reef light
2x 3000lph powerheads
150w heater
HOB refugium (nothing in at the moment but will have Chaeto)
22kg of live rock (not live yet was dry)

After doing allot of research over the last year or so I've got a plan of what I want and a reasonable (or so I thought) idea of how to get there and ran into a stumbling block at the first hurdle

The sand I purchased was too fine and the flow I'm running is making the water cloudy and moving the sanded I have seen some aragonite sand on eBay that I want and have a choice of 2-3mm or 6-8mm I'm wanting something that will stay in place but will also allow for sand sifters in the future

Just as an afterthought the tank has no livestock of any kind and I don't plan on cycling it until I have all the hardware and Scape sorted properly

Many thanks for any input and happy reefing all

 

[Misled]

How long has it been set up? The sand should settle over a short period of time.

 

[mattb1983]

How long has it been set up? The sand should settle over a short period of time.

Been set up about 2 weeks so far but I was cheap and silly so I brought playsand (was told it would be ok) but I have a feeling it's causing the cloudiness, I can't imagine it would be an algae bloom as I've nothing in it to produce ammonia

 

[Misled]

I've never used play sand, but I've seen others that have, so I really can't say anything about it. If you want to change it, now would be the time.

 

[mattb1983]

I've never used play sand, but I've seen others that have, so I really can't say anything about it. If you want to change it, now would be the time.

I've just ordered a bag of 2-3mm white aragonite sand so I'm hoping that might work a bit better going to spend a bit of time trying to get the powerhead placement right as well and maybe a hang on back skimmer

 

[kharmaguru]

Hi all I've been keeping freshwater tanks for many years mainly planted but have decided to take the plunge into reef keeping with a 125ltr jewel Rio with

an internal filter with floss,carbon and gfo
A 165w Chinese black box full spectrum reef light
2x 3000lph powerheads
150w heater
HOB refugium (nothing in at the moment but will have Chaeto)
22kg of live rock (not live yet was dry)

After doing allot of research over the last year or so I've got a plan of what I want and a reasonable (or so I thought) idea of how to get there and ran into a stumbling block at the first hurdle

The sand I purchased was too fine and the flow I'm running is making the water cloudy and moving the sanded I have seen some aragonite sand on eBay that I want and have a choice of 2-3mm or 6-8mm I'm wanting something that will stay in place but will also allow for sand sifters in the future

Just as an afterthought the tank has no livestock of any kind and I don't plan on cycling it until I have all the hardware and Scape sorted properly

Many thanks for any input and happy reefing all

Juwel, you must be in Europe. They carried the Juwel tanks here in Canada in the 90's but I haven't seen one in a long time. Beautiful tanks.

 

[mattb1983]

Juwel, you must be in Europe. They carried the Juwel tanks here in Canada in the 90's but I haven't seen one in a long time. Beautiful tanks.

Yes in the UK mate jewel are still one of the Major players over here when it comes to all in one systems it's them or fluval really

 

[Reefing102]

2-3mm grain should be fine. One thing to keep in mind is to rinse it well (essentially rinse until clear to minimize cloudiness). Then it’s all about powerhead/wavemaker placement. I generally point my powerheads toward the surface to give surface agitation.

 

[Idech]

Lots of people buy special grade aragonite and it’s 1.0-2.0 mm. It’s good for sand sifters, wrasses etc. and won’t blow with the pumps.

CaribSea Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand Dry Aragonite - 40lb

CaribSea Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand Dry Aragonite - 40lb ships from Toronto, Canada

aquariumdepot.ca

 

[mattb1983]

Thankyou all for the help I've ordered the coarser grade and will swap them out when they arrive and I've moved 1 of the powerheads lower but pointing more upwards and onto the rock to disperse the flow and the other pretty much making waves on the surface

 

[candaceridlbaer12]

Welcome!

 

[mattb1983]

Thanks all just an update I moved the wavemaker to create disturbance at the surface and replaced the sand a few days ago and the water is now crystal clear