very cloudy water from southdown sand

[chrali]

I am in the proccess of moving my whole tank and I had a few bags of southdown sand from about 2 years ago that I am using. I emptied the bags into the tank and filled it with water. I was not too carefull so it got very cloudy. It is two days later and the water is still not clear. Did I need to rinse the sand first or is it just going to take a little more time to let the dust settle?

 

[r00onmac]

rinsing would have reduced the coudiness but i rinsed my southdown for an hour and my tank was still cloudy for 4 days...

so in short:
give it some time...

 

[nemonick84]

What kind of filtration are you running and how much flow do you have? Running a canister filter or HOB filter with polyfibre pads or other types of mechanical media will help quite a bit. Also, make sure you have adequate flow so that the suspended sand particles are moved around to allow for proper filtration. If you've already addressed these concerns then I'd say just give it a couple more days.
Nick

 

[chrali]

As of right now I have no filtration going. I only have the sand and half the tank filled with water and no pumps running. I was planning on filling half the tank with new salt water and when everything settled I was going to bring my rock, coral, livestock and the water everything is in now to fill the rest of the tank and start running my pumps. If this sounds a$$ backwards I would be happy to have some other suggestions. This is the only time I have ever tried to move this tank. Thanks!

 

[r00onmac]

when you pour more water in it will kick up sand, so you might as well do it now...

 

[nemonick84]

I'd suggest filling the rest of the tank first and running some kind of filtration on it for at least a couple days before you place anything in it. Also, get your powerheads in place and up and running. Set up a holding tank for your corals and fish in the meantime. You don't want to add anything to the new tank until you've tested the water - and you won't get accurate test results until everything's settled. The only thing I'd add at this point (once the tank's been filled/ salt mixed) is the liverock.

 

[chrali]

As of right now, most of my liverock has coral on it. Would it be ok to fill the whole tank with fresh salt water and then just add everything once it tests out ok?

 

[nemonick84]

I'd imagine so. Put as much of the LR in without coral on it as you can. Make sure you add some of the old water as well to give your bacteria population a little jump start. Then, once the water clears and everything tests ok, reintroduce the fish/inverts - watch for signs of stress. If everyone seems ok after another 10-12 hours, I'd say you've got the greenlight to go ahead with the corals. Just make sure you monitor everything carefully over the following week.