sand cloud with fish and coral?

splix

New member
I had a 1/2 bag of live sand left over from when I did my main tank. It's been months since I've been running and so I have fish and coral (not a lot).
I thought it would be a good idea to add the rest of the sand to my refugium today. Boom, instant sand cloud. It's not pure milk white but it's hazy enough that you cant see long ways across the 6' tank, but you can see front to back.

Should I be worried about the fish? I've turned off the lights on the tank to try to maybe help calm them down.
 
I would run a filter sock to try to clear it up as soon as possible. It can be mildly irritating both corals and the gills of your fish.
 
I've got my filter sock along with my carbon reactor running. It's cleared up quite a bit since it started. I can see the live rock on the far side of the 6' view. I've not seen my goby or hovens wrasse since though, which is wierd.
 
While you probably should try to clean up, I always figured the ocean does the same thing when a storm goes by so the harm should be minimal.
 
If you run pads on your reactor be sure to clean them out good as they will also trap some of the sand dust.
 
They'll be fine. I had 'milky' water with fish many times and never had any issues. It will clear in few days.
 
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