Cloudy water?

speakerfish

speakerfish

Member
Hello everyone I'm brand new to this so please bare with my newbie questions. I've just started my new saltwater tank and I'm learning as I go. I have a 20gl long tank with 20lbs LS (agrigate) and CC to fill in the rest. After mixing in the instant ocean salt to a level of aprox 1.027(recomended by the lfs) I added my CC which I cleaned first. My water is very cloudy, almost like a milky substance, the filter has been running all day and no sign of it clearing up. Will adding a powerhead help?Should I do a water change? Will that set back my cycling of my tank? I'm sure that I'll have more questions as I continue to build my tank, thanks and this is a great site!
 
yetex

yetex

Member
its usually not recommended to mix sand and cc. im not telling what to do at all but just saying what i have heard. the cloud should settle on its own just give it time.
 
speakerfish

speakerfish

Member
Really? Hmm, I was going to buy a another 20lbs bag of LS but the guy at the LFS told me to use the CC, said they do it in all of there tanks. Is it bad to mix the two? Poor reaction etc? Anyway thanks for the reply, I guess I'll just wait out the cloud.
 
musipilot

musipilot

Member
Wait out the cloud, it will go away.
As far as cc, it really depends on what you're keeping. I use only sand now...and wish I had in my oldest tank, which has a mixture of cc and sand similar to what you're describing. After a few months, the CC will work its way to the top, and you will not have any sand on the surface. I had to move horseshoe crabs to another tank because the cc was no good for them to burrow into.
If you do go with cc, get the smallest size you can, you'll be happy you did.
 
debbers

debbers

Member
My tank clouded up when I first started it and added some additional substrate (aragonite). It took a couple days for it to totally go away, and it's been crystal clear ever since.
 
speakerfish

speakerfish

Member
Cool, thanks. I figured that it would go away, its already starting to clear but something strange happend today. My PH dropped way low, yesterday it was 8.4 today its 7.8, is this natural durring cycling? Is it ok for my sand? My other levels are ok, slight Nitrate 5ppm all others are 0!
 
oceanjumper

oceanjumper

Member
I'm not sure why the pH dropped. It doesn't really matter for now. Once your tank is completely clear measure it again. You can adjust it then. If you used seasalt mix (which I think you did) the pH shoudl be ~8.2 to start with. Also, you don't have to measure yet your ammonium, nitrate and nitrates. Wait until your water is completely clear, the pH is fine and than add rocks (preferably Live Rocks). At that time you can add a dead shrimp or two to start the nitrogen cycle (I'm sure you heard/read about that). After a few weeks the ammonium & nitrite will be zero and it's time to add a fish (or two) and a few snails & hermits (do some research on what type of animals you like to have). Do not overload, be patient and use the time you otherwise would spend looking at the dead shrimp in your tank for research!
Welcome & Good luck!
 
debbers

debbers

Member
The pH in my tank did the same thing! My tank went through a hard cycle (as someone in here explained to me) in a very short time and my ammonia & nitrites stood at 0 for several days. My nitrate was at 5... but my pH was still low. I used Kent's Super Buffer dHk. But I'd suggest waiting until the end of your cycle to adjust... when you do a water change your salt mix may correct the problem.
 
speakerfish

speakerfish

Member
Well the water began to clear up but now its cloudy again...agghh. I moved the water arround a little and it shifted the sand causing it to cloud again. I'm thinking I didn't clean the coral enough? Is there a way I clean the sand coral mixture? Should I just empty the sand CC mix and start over?
 
gwtank

gwtank

Member
The same thing happened with my tank when I first set it up.. I get the feeling that no matter how well you clean the CC that cloud will appear! It took about two full days for my tank to clear up and the water has been like crystal ever since...
good luck and have fun setting up your tank :D
-GTW
 
debbers

debbers

Member
Speakerfish,
You don't need to start over! Every time you disturb anything in the tank it will cloud up... at first anyway. Be patient... the milk cloud will go away!
~D~
 
kevin j

kevin j

Member
I just set-up my 75 gallon last night :D and it
also got very cloudy and I put on my filter which
was already running in another tank and it cleared
up in a day so just hold on it will go away and good luck!:)
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
One good way to clear the tank when it clouds up like this is - don't look at the tank for a week.
It's amazing how a cloudy tank clears when we keep our hands off out it it.
This is very normal speakerfish - happens most everytime we set up a new tank with sand aragonite sand substrates.
After you cycle it - and the bacteria populations increase - many of the sandgrains will have a bacterial slime coating - and the sand tends to now cloud up as bad.
Even if it's disturbed by our maintenance or fish.
Until then - it'll cloud up anytime you or a fish stirs it up.
Nothing to get too worked up over - really.
 
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