Ohhhhh yea i messed up!

[kcobain111]

ok i added sand the first time and it was fine i didn't rinse it out and everything was ok....then i just added 30lbs of marine sand and i didn't wash it out....the tank is now a cloud of chalk..i called the LFS who didn't tell me to rinse it out and they said to filter it out...but i let it filter and when i moved a rock more dusty cloud maker stuff came out of the sand just from moving one rock slowly...what should i do?....wait it out and keep cleaning the filter?
start over!!!!
Anything i can do to fix this?
i took half the water out

 

[teresaq]

Just keep filtering it. It will settle down.

 

[willie_6]

Yeah just wait it out. When I first added my sand it took almost a day and half to settle down. It looks bad, but it will improve.

 

[mombostic]

I rinsed mine and it still clouded up my water for almost a whole day, and if I do any energetic rock moving, it still stirs up some sediment.

 

[angelofish]

Just leave it. Theres really nothing to fix.Eventually bacteria will grab onto the sand particles and weigh them down. I wouldnt run the filter. You'll just be cleaning it over and over again.

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by Angelofish
Just leave it. Theres really nothing to fix.Eventually bacteria will grab onto the sand particles and weigh them down. .
Absolutly correct.
You guys that had cloudy tanks for a day should have watched my cycle, with new dry Yardright sand and base rock, it was cloudy for two weeks or more.

 

[1journeyman]

"with new dry Yardright sand and base rock, it was cloudy for two weeks or more"
Odd. I added 600 Lbs of Southdown to my new tank. I slowly poured the water in onto a plate I put on the bottom of the tank. I never had a sandstorm.

 

[scottwol27]

My tanks was cloudy for 2 days....and i was going nuts....but it all settled out and my tnak is awsome now...Just a the end of its cyling time...so just give it time and it should be ok...
U know that saying that goes "all good things take time"
^ use that technique for the cyling period too...to be too anxious
...and use cocktail shrimp.. :jumping:

 

[dmc888]

I guess it would depend what size the grains of sand are.
I bought some very fine sand for my fuge and it was clouded atleast a week with no water movement.
But If i stuck my hand in there it would cloud it easily for a day.
I threw a big shrimp in there to cycle it.
Its fine now 3 weeks later.

 

[dmc888]

I have fine grain sand in the fuge, medium in my 55,and large in my 29g.
The medium grain size is my favorite.