new tank... extremely cloudy

[kittykitty]

I just set up my 55 gallon tank last night.. I have a Fluval 404 connected to it and that is the only filtration for now. I put 40 pounds of live sand in, and then 20 pounds of aragonite reef substrate, and the aragonite made the water extremely cloudy. It is opaque. I figured it might clear out, and this morning it looked slightly more clear, but it still looks pretty bad. Even if it does clear out all the way, when i move the sand around in the bottom, a cloud of dirt stirs up. What should I do?
Thanks.

 

[h2oengr]

I've never seen anything work better for clearing up a tank than activated carbon or zeolite. I just moved my 55-gallon and it only took about 3 hours for the carbon to clear it up. You may just need to hang some in a sock or filter bag in the back of your filter. I've been using two bio-wheel overflow filters (Penguin, I think is the brand) for 2 years now with great success. Good luck!

 

[kittykitty]

My fluval 404 came with little satchets of carbon that go in the canister.. is that the same thing?

 

[acez28]

when i used aragonite i ran into the same thing. i ended up pulling mine back out and rinsing it a little first.

 

[brianrish]

Don't worry about the cloudiness. I am also in the process of setting up a tank, and it took mine about a week to clear up.
It's probably better just to leave it alone.
You don't want to start going crazy trying to fix something that will fix itself.
Even the dust clouds from the sand when you disturb the water will go away on its own as everything settles and gets happy!
Remember patience is key in this hobby.

 

[toddpolish]

yeah, wait it out. it may take up to 7-10 days to clear, but don't worry...it will clear up.

 

[kittykitty]

Thank you! I was under the impression at first that I did something wrong and I was almost ready to dump it all and start again.

 

[eeldarb21]

i set up my 55 gallon and it only took about 3 hours to clear also......... i used 40 lbs of agg and 40 lbs of live sand.. makes a 5 inch bed. my question to you is did u rinse the sand very throughly before adding it? you have to rinse it very well before.

 

[poiboy]

I setup my girlfriends 55 with about 50lbs sand and rinsed really well, tank cleared up in 8 hours.
(BABY STEPS)