Help!!! Any advice or comments would be very helpful!

[jussery17]

so we recently just set up a 75 gallon tank and have already mixed the water with the salt to a specific gravity of 1.022...the tempterature is a stable 75 degrees and we just added "live sand" yesterday and it was very cloudy..well today I went to work and came home thinking most of it would have settled and it did but anytime I touch the sand at all it just clouds right back up! I'm getting love rock tomorrow and I have two questions, will getting the live rock aid in helping the little particles in the sand that causes it to be cloudy bind to whatever it binds to so it will settle and not cloud up every time I look at it lol? And this is my very first fowlr tank and I want to make sure I do everything right so when we get fish they will flourish and so I can learn as much as I can about the cycle and how to do it correctly...mainly for fish but I also have another 75 gallon that I will be making a reef tank but need help with this sand issue...anyone?

 

[jussery17]

Right now I have a HOB filter with just clear filter pads in it also a fluval 405 going but may turn one or both off but need some advice on what to do

 

[2quills]

You may want to get some better filter pads designed to catch ultra fine particals.

Clarifier products can help bind the finer particals into larger ones so they can sink or be picked up by your current filter media.

Or you can wait it out and let bacteria do the work for you by coating the particals in a bio film but it may take a while.

 

[jussery17]

Well I have 2 filter pads that are larger and just added some aerobic pads that are behind the filters already in there...I've read that the small particles are better to have and some also just want to get rid of them...thanks for the help, hopefully will help clear it up...either way I'm going to have to play the waiting game due to having to cycle my tank...I'm adding live rock tomorrow and was curious if I have to do the dead shrimp cycling or what do you think?

 

[2quills]

Fine grain sand is good for biological filtration. The ultra fine dust that comes with it is just a nuisance in the beginning.

Some people use raw shrimp to kick off the nitrogen cycle. I find it better to ghost feed the tank in preparation for adding fish. Once the tank can handle the break down of foods before fish go in then it will be safer for them once they are added.

 

[jay0705]

The cloud will clear lol. It can take some time but it will happen. The cycle is a different story. No real time frame bc each tank is different. I do it the same as you and quills tho. Live rock and a small amount of food to ghost feed. Now depending how fast you want it to cycle, the more rock you add the more bacteria that is added. The more bacteria the faster it breaks down the nasty stuff. However its not cheap. Most folks use a mix of base and live rock.

 

[lmforbis]

Same here I ghost feed and use some love rock.
This is going to worsen the cloudy issue but the rock needs to be on the glas not on the sand. Usually I recommend rock then sand. You can push the sand over to one side then the other while you get the rock in but the cloudy will come back. Not a big deal it will settle eventually.
I'd recommend ditching the canister and just use the HOB once your rock is in you will have plenty of filtration. Canisters are more trouble than they are worth.

 

[beaslbob]

Sand will settle down as it matures.

FWIW I would add macro algae in a refugium which could be just a simple partition.

my .02

 

[jussery17]

Ok great thanks for all the good info! Unfortunately I don't have too much money to spend to buy the 112.5 pounds of live rock I need but I'm going straight to the LFS after work to get the live rock that's purple (been sprayed with the beneficial bacteria) also I'm going to get a Tidal 110 power filter! Very excited about that! Will that be enough filtration? And when the sand eventually does settle in time when I add more things to the bottom it wouldn't cloud up again right? And ghost feeding can I use flakes that I have for my old freshwater tank? Or should I buy some different food to ghost feed the tank? That canister filter has given me problems since day one with leaking! I was only using it to help filter thru the beginning phases! Pain in the butt! Thanks for he info and pics will be coming soon...with more questions lol..I'll be setting up another 75gallon I have only for reefs so I know I'll have questions! Thanks a lot!

 

[jay0705]

Love the tidal. The sprayed purple is iffy. Its honestly more a selling gimic.

 

[lmforbis]

You might just order 30 - 50 pounds or so of pukani dry rock from bulk reef supply then purchase a couple rices of nice live rock with real coraline on it. The dry rock is under $4 per pound. Pukani is lighter than many of the others so you get a lot more for your money. Shipping is always free.

 

[jussery17]

I will def order the pukani for the reef tank but I'm so eager to get that live rock in the guy said the sprayed is great for beneficial bacteria...what makes it iffy? Just curious since I don't know much about it....so the tidal is good huh?

 

[lmforbis]

It isn't live rock firstly. The purple color is just that a colored coating. It isn't live bacteria. It is pretty pricy for what is essentially color coated dead rock.

Beware of info given to you by fish stores.

 

[jay0705]

Agreed

 

[jussery17]

Well in that case than I need to buy some live rock out of an stablished tank there at the fish store? It would surely be alive?!

 

[jay0705]

If the tank has fish make sure there healthy. The rock can transfer nasty stuff from the tank. Ideally live rock is kept in a tank by itself. Some do keep fish in there too tho.

 

[jussery17]

Ok so just got home and I have my tidal 110, a saltwater master test kit, a big bottle of ONE AND ONLY bacteria and some ammonia drops, the rock is in the tank and was curious if I need to have my media bag in the filter now or wait until I get fish?

 

[jay0705]

Media now, its where the bacteria will colonize. Now i would hold off on the ammonia. Give it a few days and test your water. The rock should start the cycle

 

[jussery17]

Wait I thought the ammonia is what gets it all started?

 

[jay0705]

It is. Generally you will get some die off from your live rock. Dead = ammonia