fishrule
Member
First question I have is, what type of sand did you add to your tank? Was it live sand or salt water tank sand from your LFS? I used to clean fresh water tanks for Dr. offices. I moved a 75 gallon tank for one of the doctors because he had it in front of a window which was causing the Acrylic to yellow and algae like you wouldn't believe. He also had red lava rock like gravel and wanted me to replace it with anything white.
I bought what looked like large grains of sand (smaller than gravel, but not sand) It was a Crushed Coral based sand that I found at petsmart. I washed the "Sand" for 4 days before I put it in the DT and setup 3 QT tanks for his fish while the tank cycled. No matter how many times I washed the "Sand" it always turned the wash away water very milky white. I let the tank run for a week and the water never stopped being cloudy. (No water changes and 5 canister filter changes) I took the "Sand" out and washed it again over a 6 hour process. I then ran the tank for another week. Nothing helped, even water changes and filter changes. I drained the tank and replaced all the "Sand" with a very bright white gravel. The tank was crystal clear from day one after that.
I noticed you mentioned the sand you added was very fine. If it was a very fine grade of silica sand, it would also cause problems in your tank as the fine grade silica has sand particles so small, they will always float around in your water column.
My suggestion would be to setup a fresh QT (10 gallon) and move all your live goods to it. Also setup a 20 or 30 gallon tup to put your rock in. Then I would remove all your sand and water and start fresh. Move all your rock back in until the cycle is over then add your live goods.
Just my 2 cents...
I bought what looked like large grains of sand (smaller than gravel, but not sand) It was a Crushed Coral based sand that I found at petsmart. I washed the "Sand" for 4 days before I put it in the DT and setup 3 QT tanks for his fish while the tank cycled. No matter how many times I washed the "Sand" it always turned the wash away water very milky white. I let the tank run for a week and the water never stopped being cloudy. (No water changes and 5 canister filter changes) I took the "Sand" out and washed it again over a 6 hour process. I then ran the tank for another week. Nothing helped, even water changes and filter changes. I drained the tank and replaced all the "Sand" with a very bright white gravel. The tank was crystal clear from day one after that.
I noticed you mentioned the sand you added was very fine. If it was a very fine grade of silica sand, it would also cause problems in your tank as the fine grade silica has sand particles so small, they will always float around in your water column.
My suggestion would be to setup a fresh QT (10 gallon) and move all your live goods to it. Also setup a 20 or 30 gallon tup to put your rock in. Then I would remove all your sand and water and start fresh. Move all your rock back in until the cycle is over then add your live goods.
Just my 2 cents...
