Rinsed sand cloudy water

[IMAGINEER]

I rinsed my 200# of Aragonite reef sand today 8-9 times . It still has my tank cloudy , should I turn off my pumps for it to settle or just roll with it for a few days ?

 

[WaterKeeper]

I'd turn them off. The fines can produce wear on the pump shaft and cause premature failures.

If you add some LS to the mix it will help settle things down as the bacteria that colonize the sand will help the fines to coalesce and settle. It does take time for that to happen however.

 

[alexb518]

Yeah, turn em' off. it's gonna take a couple days for it to clear up.

 

[returnofsid]

Also, if you have a cannister filter or diatom filter, set it up and run it for awhile. It'll filter out that fine sand that's floating around. A Magnum would work great. When I set up my tanks and end up with sand storms, I run either my HOB Magnum 250 or my Magnum 300 with the micron cartridges. Clears up any sand storm in an hour or two. While it's running, I also use a turkey baster to blow the sand that's settled on the rocks. Blow the sand back into the water column where it'll either settle or get sucked up and removed.

 

[Shagsbeard]

Just one of many lessons on being patient. It's likely the first, but it's one we all went through... 'cept for those bare bottom types.

Tanks are always going to be a work in progress... some of the steps taking months... some taking years.