Dust!

[hnf2k]

ok i know you keep telling me it takes time for my sand bed to settle. but my tank has been set up for a few months now and it still looks horrible. i can see dust sitting on top of the water. i can see through my tank perfectly, but my water just looks horrible. are you sure this is normal?

 

[slothy]

u need to get some current up on the top of the water (via powerhead)... and say bye bye oil slick looking thing

 

[hnf2k]

no camera. the water is perfectly clear in the sense that it isnt milky. you can see each individual dust particle. so in that sense the water is clear. but it's not crystal clear because of all the dust.

 

[gwtank]

If what you are describing is the problem I had (and I think it is) I solved it by getting a skimmer... now the water is crystal clear, no more particles floating about... but it looks like you have a skimmer in your setup. Is it functioning properly? Perhaps that is the issue... just my two cents tho. Good luck
-GTW

 

[cap'n pete]

You shouldn't have any build up on the surface with an overflow box (which I assume you have since you list an amiracle sump). What return pump are you using? A 120 gallon tank should have a pump pushing 1200 gph IMO. Try using some ativated carbon for a few days.

 

[hnf2k]

yes, im pretty sure it is suspended southdown. the stuff sucks. and yet it's the same stuff i just set up my mantis tank with, boy wont that be a mess when he starts to dig in a 10 gallon tank. i dont have any powerheads going now. just the built in overflows and the return.

 

[hnf2k]

also, i know im pushing less than i should, but i dont want to turn my powerheads on because wont that just have the dust circulate more rather than have it go into my overflow box.

 

[cap'n pete]

Yes, the powerheads will just circulate it around. Get some mechanical and carbon sheets (HBH) makes then that you can cut to size and put them on the sump. This should clear it up within a few days as long as the return pump has enough ummph to circulate the water in the display. What size is the return pump again? (you know I'm just going to keep asking )

 

[broomer5]

If you know for sure it's very small dust particles - then some mechanical filtration is in order.
If you're not sure what they are - turn everything off in the tank for awhile, except the lighting and watch.
If they rise - they could be very small micro-bubbles of air.
Really small air bubbles sometimes look like particles of dust.
I'm always concerned when I read your posts regarding water quality HNF2K, which stems from the intial set up.
If it's bubbles - mechanical filtration will do squat.
If it's indeed dust - get some fine filter media as nolofinwe suggested. If you can throttle down on the return pump while you run the fine media - this may help keep the trickle plate in the w/d from running over.
Wish you luck

 

[krishj39]

There are products out there that help that stuff to settle down too. I use Pro-Clear Marine. It works like a charm. It doesn't harm anything either, its just a harmless polymer that causes the stuff to clump together and settle out of the water column. When I added my Quickcrete sand (worse than Southdown), it completely settled within a few hours after I added Pro Clear. You still need the mechanical filtration, however.
kris

 

[hnf2k]

lol, thanks for being concerned on my water quality. while you are reading my post. get this. since my tank has been set up. i have yet to do a water change using saltwater. my salinity levels keeps rising and every 2 weeks it goes up about 3-4 points (1.023 - 1.026). is this gonna stop once all the salt has been dissolved? or is it something more?

 

[jackdp]

All your salt should've been dissolved about 24hrs after you put it into solution. I don't what this "salt under substrate is", but if your salinity keeps rising and your not topping off with freshwater then the rise could be from evaporation.

 

[hnf2k]

yes that is me nolo. aren't i lucky?

 

[hnf2k]

that's what im doing. but this raise in salinity will stop in time?

 

[hnf2k]

ok. so you dont think that the salt mixed with the sand and now that my sand raises the salinity? like that my sand is now hyper-saline(if that's the term you would use).

 

[broomer5]

Maybe you could take a turkey baster jab it down into the sandbed, pull a water sample ( several from different parts of the bed ) and test it.
If you try this, you'd probably want to squirt the samples into another small clean cup/container, make sure all the small cloudy sand particles settle out .... then just decant or use the baster again to pull "just the water" to your hydrometer or refractometer.
See what the salinity is in your sandbed.
Just make sure you're measuring the water, and not the other tiny solids that are down there.
Just an idea ...