Sharks, Newbies.....anyone : I NEED HELP: LS added to tank, water wont clear

[@knight]

I added 100 LBS of Southdown sand (rinsed) to a 30 Gal tang then a 20 LB bag of Natures Ocean LS. That was 3 days ago. I have an emperor 400 running and my water is not clearing up.
Any tips or suggestions? O knew my water would look cloudy for a while, but i explected it to settle down by now. Ive got the LR scheduled to be delivered Tues by 10:30. I am afraid to add LR to the tank while its still cloudy from sand particles, cuz ive heard they will suffocate the rock.
HELP???
[ June 11, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]

 

[burnnspy]

Did you rinse the SD for 12 hours?, because it takes for ever to get the powder from such fine grain gravel.
I wouldn't use the stuff in my reef, I feel it is too fine a gravel for use in the plenum systems I prefer.
BurnNSpy

 

[@knight]

BurNSpy,
umm, whoops!, no, I didnt rise it for that long.
What should I do???
#$
CheLives,
I tried to change the filter media and it doubled the cloudyness of my water.
#$
Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! Won't this stuff settle to the bottom???
The SD is on bottom and ther is about 1/4" of LS on top of it.
What should I do?????
[ June 10, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]

 

[@knight]

BurNSpy, you can say "I told you so" if you'd like.
I should have listened, but thought id take the cheaper way out.

 

[up north hermit]

@knight,
Wait it out. It will clear. I'm not sure why it is so cloudy, I don't know how you added it.
I put 130 lbs of ESV oolitic in my 40, UNRINSED, and it was clear within 12 hours. I had some base rock in place and poured the saltwater in very slowly over the rock. Maybe that helped.
But rest assured, it will settle eventually. It really won't affect your rock, you'll be fine to add it by Tuesday. You can always use a turkey baster to blow off the rock if necessary.
HTH
Hermit

 

[@knight]

i rinsed it out twice in a 5 gal bucket and then put it wet with tapwater into the tank
then i filled it, not so gently.
i then smoothed out the sandbed and let it set. after about 5 hrs, i turned the emperor 400 on.
its now been a few days and its still as cloudy as it was before. the emp.400 has 2 carbon/filter material inserts on each side. the skimmer is off.

 

[i3luedragon]

I say if it still is cloudy then turn the skimmer on. Skimmers should help to remove floating materials that the bubbles cary and help to polish your water. Adding LR shouldn't make it more cloudy, unless the rock is uncured or not of excellent quality.

 

[@knight]

ok, its been 4 days now
water is cloudy as ever. boy was that a mistake!
i tried to gain even more mech. filtration by putting a t-shirt sleeve around the filter carts.
NO luck 'tall.
i did rinse some debris from the filters, but its not really helping.
Any tips or tricks or word from the wise old sharks?

 

[beth]

A skimmer is designed to remove organic debris, not sand particles.....Drastic solution: Stop the filtration and drain off all the water [yeah you'll get die-off from the LS]. Have new batch of salt water ready to go. Let the particles settle, then add new salt water in very gently so that you don't get it all stirred up again.
How cloudy is it anyway?
The movement of the ciruculating water is keeping the minute particles suspended in the water--in the absense of water, the particles will go to the floor of your substrate.
If you want to add a bit more LS afterward, then do it once this situation gets under control.

 

[@knight]

beth, its so cloudy that I cant see my hand 2" from the tank.
i tried a 20% change and it really did no good.
there is a thin layer of soot over the LS.
think I should wait this out a couple days or should I 86 the water thats in there and go at it again?
I was wanting to avoid going out to get more water, as the US open is happening 2 blocks away from me and I want to avoid traffic.
do you thing adding a LOT of carbon might help?

 

[tangs_in_pacifica]

Crude Filter Kludge
Requires:
- 1 bucket or old tank
- 1 Powerhead
- Clean Towel, sponge, etc. (no soaps or chemicals)
- 1 5/8 inch or appropriate-sized hose
Try making a DIY sump and overflow. Rig your system so that the water drains out of your tank and through the towels/sponge. You'll want to experiment with the "filter" to find a material than can capture the silt. Depending on how well you've built the overflow, you may have to attend the homemade sump, during operation. Just let the water drain through the "filter", thereby collecting all of the unwanted silt. This could even be as crude as using a syphon hose that drains through the sponge/rags and emptying the clean water back into the tank. I think you'll be able to judge the efficacy of this fairly quickly (i.e. dirty water into the "filter" clean water out)
Just a crazt thought??? Keep us posted...

 

[nm reef]

I went thru same sort of situation during a ls addition that was planed out and it just went wrong..........wound up with a cloudy tank also.......I freaked.......but did keep my wits enough to add 2 additional filters that I had available..........changed the pads every few hours.....tank settled and began to clear in approximately 12 hours........left a layer of scum on top and removed it manually.........I'd wait it out.....sounds like all you have is the ls.....cloudy water and lr........I don't see what damage could be done by constant filtration....and wait....it should settle and clear

 

[30 hex]

its probably a no-no but i use stuff called crystal clear. Then i put poly fill in a whisper and just keep changing it. im sure i will get yelled at for using that stuff

 

[mr . salty]

Your water has not cleared yet because the particals are soo small they are passing right through your filter.Rags,sponges,or even carbon wont help much.What you need is a Finishing,or polishing filter.Your local fish store most likly has one they will rent to you for a day or two.That will clear things up.When done,you may want to carefully vaccume up that fine sludge on top of your sand bed.If left in,it will get stirred up and cause this cloud all over again.There is nothing that you did wrong here.And NOT OVER RINSING your sand is actually a GOOD thing.Those extra fine particals that are burried in your sand bed will actually help in forming a very benafitial bio filter.(get that polishing filter)

 

[@knight]

Thank you all:
mr salty you were right, i went to my LFS and got the fiter material for one of the clarifeyers. Its almost like fabric stuffing.
I put it in and the water was clear in 4 hrs. I was amazed but it worked. The surprizing part was it was only. 2.29 for the package. (im cheap)
I got my LR shipment today. they packed it in seawater, but the box was stacked upside down and the water drained out. looked like it had been thru the mill a few times.
It has a foul smell and i can see a lot of cool critters that I would have liked, theres a baby conch, and a few crabs and clams that didnt make it. But theyre reshipping me 20 lbs and charging it to FedEX.
Wonder if It'l just cycle out?

 

[mr . salty]

That foul smell is from the dieoff.That rock will need to be recured before you can put it in an established tank.But if you are cycling your tank,I would go ahead and use it.The dieoff will cause an amonia spike and get the cycle going. If your tank is established,or already cycled,you can put the "bad rock" in a bucket of saltwater with a powerhead for a few weeks.When the ammo,and nitrites drop,it is ready for your tank.Although it is unfortunate that this rock was killed in shipping,It is now "FREE ROCK". I wish I had that kind of "bad luck".

 

[landmeier]

If you guys really saw what happenes to your packages... I work for a very large shipping company(I will not name it so I don't get fired) I unload the packages. Oh boy. We are not very nice and we work as fast as we can so some of the packages end up all over the place. Hey, come on now, you wouldn't be extremely careful with every package when you are unloading over 1200 of them in a 4 hour shift. Even worse are the loaders, they are supoosed to put the heavy packages on the bottom but the heaviest packages are often found on top of the less sturdy, lighter ones, granted a lot of the damage happens while the packages are riding in the semi. For a hint to anyone who uses these shipping companies NEVER write "fragile" or "glass" on the box. sorry this is a little off the topic but I just thought you should know.