Cloudy water

andy51632

andy51632

Member
Last night I mix my first batch of saltwater. I filled my 75 gallon tank with RO water. Installed three small powerheads and two heaters. Followed the mixing instruction on the five gallon bucket of Instant Ocean. I could not do it by weight so I did it by measuring cup. 1/2 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water. I put it all in a new five gallon bucket I bought and dump it in the tank. I had some aragonite sand in the bottom of the tank(about a 1" worth) I did not rinse the sand, it said it could be added unrinsed. Anyway my water is cloudy and it has been about 24 hrs. Will this clear up? I have live rock and sand coming tomorrow will the cloudy water hurt any thing? Using refractometer(first time using) my sp. gravity is 1.022. Temp is 76
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Cloudy water is perfectly normal and will go away once your tank matures a little and you start running a skimmer.
 
salt newbee

salt newbee

Member
Man that sounds familiar. I did the same thing last weekend and my tank is finally starting to completely clear up now, but that was only after days of stiring up the sand to get the salt that did not disolve out of it.
Just keep mixing your tank and keep your pump running. It will eventually dissolve.
The advice others here have given me is get a new garbage can and make it your water/salt mixing tub to avoid any no dissolving issues in the future.
 
andy51632

andy51632

Member
Thanks for the response. Was worried about some of the salt not mixing up because it was in the sand. I get my live rock and sand tomorrow as long as my specific gravity(whats the abb. for this) is above 1.022 I should be fine right?
 
rudezuk

rudezuk

Member
Most fish and corals live in water above 1.022,
Check with your LFS (where you may buy some of your fish and corals), most of there tanks will probably be around 1.025.
HTH
Shane
 
andy51632

andy51632

Member
Okay if my SG(duh, thanks) is 1.022 and I want to get it to 1.025 how much more salt should I add? Tank is 75 gallon. Is there any way to estimate how much to add? The tank has RO, salt and aragonite sand in it until tomorrow when I get my live rock and sand.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by rudezuk
Most fish and corals live in water above 1.022,
Check with your LFS (where you may buy some of your fish and corals), most of there tanks will probably be around 1.025.
HTH
Shane
Yep
1.025 is preffered for any tank containing inverts of anykind.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by andy51632
Okay if my SG(duh, thanks) is 1.022 and I want to get it to 1.025 how much more salt should I add? Tank is 75 gallon. Is there any way to estimate how much to add? The tank has RO, salt and aragonite sand in it until tomorrow when I get my live rock and sand.
Add salt slowly and wait for it to disolve before testing (24 hrs). Also, you do know that it is ONLY ok to mix salt in the tank while nothing is in it right? If you just set up the tank then don't worry about how high your SG is for inverts yet. You have about 4-6 weeks before the tank is safe to add any live stock. Are you going to cycle with live rock?
 
rudezuk

rudezuk

Member
Originally Posted by andy51632
Okay if my SG(duh, thanks) is 1.022 and I want to get it to 1.025 how much more salt should I add? Tank is 75 gallon. Is there any way to estimate how much to add? The tank has RO, salt and aragonite sand in it until tomorrow when I get my live rock and sand.
If you do have anything in there..
I would mix your new water for your water changes at 1.025...
Do your 10-20% water changes, and slowly acclimate your reef/fish to the new level.
IMO going slow will work out the best!
"I was once told, the only things that happen fast in a saltwater tank are bad things"
 
andy51632

andy51632

Member
Yes I am using live rock to cycle the tank. No I won't have anything in there until my tank cycles. Do I need to worry about more die off on my live rock if I change the SG slowly over the next 4-6 weeks?
 
f14peter

f14peter

Member
Don't know if this is fact, or just my perception . . .
Seems to me like salt disolves quicker/better the slower it's put in. Looks like more of a tendency for some undisolved salt to collect in areas where there's less flow when a bunch is put in at once.
While it took a while, I did the initial mix in our tank and just took a 4-cup measuring cupload at a time and sprinkled it all over the surface. True, the water was cloudy for a while, but I recall it clearing up pretty quickly, about a day IIRC.
When mixing other batches (5g, 16g, 24g, etc), depending upon how big a hurry I'm in, sometimes I'll pour the salt in quickly, sometimes the sprinkling method. Seems like it takes longer to clear when I do a quick-pour.
Again, maybe perception.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top