my water has been cloudy for 5 days now! pleze help!

[platinum75]

please someone give me some advice...
I have had freshwater tanks for years..I had piranhas but sold that setup so I could buy a 75 gallon tank. I wanted to try the saltwater world this time. I had no problem setting up a 10 gallon saltwater tank for my brother last year.
but when I tried to do the same for my new 75 gallon tank it turned out like **** !
this is what I did: I put 2 bags of coral in the tank and added a bag of reef sand. then I filled up the tank with water from my garden hose.
the water looked so milky that I had to empty it out and wash the coral and refill the tank.
after refilling the tank, I added a bag of live coral and then mixed the salt into the water.
the salt is mixed pretty well. there is just a very very fine layer of salt at the bottom.
the water was starting to clear, but i adjusted the bubble wand and touched the sand just a LITTLE bit and the whole tank looks like milk again!
the tank has been running for 5 days with 2 filters that cycle the tank 5 times an hour . is it normal for the water to still be really cloudy??

 

[krusk]

it will be cloudy
you can add more liverock, it's help

 

[mr . salty]

I see a few problems here..First when using Crushed coral(CC) you MUST rince it abiout 100 times till the water runs out clear(or as close as possible).Then you mixed sand and CC.This is generally not done.The sand will eventually sink to the bottom and all you will see is the CC.Third you added LIVE CORAL,Then mixed the salt??? This most likly killed the bacteria and any other life that was in this live coral.And the bubble wand should be taken out,bubbles and saltwater do not mix well.When these bubbles rise and pop,they spray salt all over your hood and lights.( a real mess to clean)..And lastly,although your filter will probably be ok,it is usually reccomended that the filter have a flow rate equal to 10 times the tanks volume per hour...All this said,,,How do you clear the water???If you can you should rince the filter element(or pad) every couple of hours.It would also help If you could add some micro filter pads(polishing pads) to the filter.If all else fails,and the water will not clear up in a few more days,you may need to remove the substrate and do a real good rinsing to get rid of the powder that is in there...

 

[kris]

That dang cc--you can rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse some more--eventually it does get cleared up but for awhile every time you touch the bottom of your tank it will cloud. Diatom filters are great for this purpose they "polish" the water--works on all clouds. PLEASE note this filter is not to be used on a continous basis!! Hook it up let it run till it's done it's job, an hour give or take-then disconnect it I agree that the bubble wand should go. thats ashame you did not know to not mix the saltwater in the tank, cause yeh you probably did kill off most of what was alive, live and learn though, it's not the end of the world--just don't count on it too much to help cycle--cause it won't. Anyway I think I'm starting to ramble, sorry
Good Luck

 

[exoticaquatic]

I had the same exact set up, went from piranhas to saltwater with s 75 gallon,white sand on the bottom, but instead of crushed coral i used shells, filled mine up with a garden hose,the water started out milky but cleared by morning, i have a enhiem professional 2 series canister filter with media, it works great, oh another thing i did was put water clear in it while it was still freshwater

 

[exoticaquatic]

I had the same exact set up, went from piranhas to saltwater with s 75 gallon,white sand on the bottom, but instead of crushed coral i used shells, filled mine up with a garden hose,the water started out milky but cleared by morning, i have a enhiem professional 2 series canister filter with media, it works great, oh another thing i did was put water clear in it while it was still freshwater, i knew the garden hose water is poor quality, and carries alot of bacteria, then i mixed the salt.

 

[hockeyplyr]

I agree with mr. salty I use cc and when I started my tank I spent two days rinsing my substrate before I even put water into tank. And when starting new tank you should mix saltwater then put in tank. I let mine run a week before intro of starter fish. you ned to get nitro cycle going before you just dump any life forms in tank. When tank is established if viss is stil low a prizm protien skimer is great. I put one in my 55 gal tank and its amazing you cant believe the crap it removes from water.