new tank question

[widdlebiddy]

I set my tank up with sand and water 3 days ago. I used tap with dechlorinated drops. I knew the water was going to be cloudy because of the sand but I thought it would have cleared up by now. I turned my filter and powerhead off when I put the sand in and kept it off. The water turned really nasty looking on top and looked like a bunch of crystallized salt on top and around the rim of my tank. SO...I turned my filter and powerhead on about an hour ago hoping that it will make it clear up, so far nothing. There is salt build up on my tank walls and still particles of sand floating. I am running a aquaclear filter with carbon and a aquaclear 70. Any suggestions on what would help? My salinity is high 1.028, waiting to go get some RO tomorrow as well as a test kit. Do you think if i did a water change it wuold help? Any hlep would be appreciated, going to ls tommorrow. oh yeah its a 55 gallon if that helps

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by widdlebiddy
I set my tank up with sand and water 3 days ago. I used tap with dechlorinated drops. I knew the water was going to be cloudy because of the sand but I thought it would have cleared up by now. I turned my filter and powerhead off when I put the sand in and kept it off. The water turned really nasty looking on top and looked like a bunch of crystallized salt on top and around the rim of my tank. SO...I turned my filter and powerhead on about an hour ago hoping that it will make it clear up, so far nothing. There is salt build up on my tank walls and still particles of sand floating. I am running a aquaclear filter with carbon and a aquaclear 70. Any suggestions on what would help? My salinity is high 1.028, waiting to go get some RO tomorrow as well as a test kit. Do you think if i did a water change it wuold help? Any hlep would be appreciated, going to ls tommorrow. oh yeah its a 55 gallon if that helps
I would not worry at all if you just turned on your filter an hour ago. Was it live sand or plain? The cloudyness might take a day or two to clear with the filter running.

 

[f14peter]

Presuming it's non-LS, did you rinse it before putting it in? When I rinsed mine, the run-off was like mud. But when I put it in the tank, there was little to no "Dust".
If it is just sand dust, then it will either settle down or be filtered out, although that would probably take more than an hour.

 

[northreef]

Mine did the same, I ran a canister filter with a sponge and floss and it cleared in about 48 hours...

 

[whackamole]

hate to steal the thread but i just did the same and im getting the same results as him but i bought live sand. so whats the diffrence

 

[rykna]

I have LS, and same thing happened. When I put the 80 to 100 lbs of brand new LS it took almost 2 days to completely clear up.
This experience was with my 1st tank, a 55 gallon. Since then I have been using cycled LS and the water clears within the hour. When using brand new LS,(imho) there are tons of tiny sediment particles. Even with the best filtration system, especially using new filter floss, it takes time to build up a "wall" of the bigger seditments to start catching the itsty bisty tiney tiny particles;hence then its takes a while to collect all those minescule particals.

When I got the 45 gallon from a friend I added another 20 lb bag of LS. After 3 weeks, I am still getting "sand dusting" from time to time on the live rock.
Look forward to seeing pics

 

[widdlebiddy]

thanks to all that responded. Tank is crystal clear! I ran the filter all night and woke up to voila, beauty. I just added some base rock, which broke me, so whenever i get enough money to actually put some more stuff in there and when ever it gets done cycling i will definatley put pics up. Thanks again guys and gals! :cheer: