I am setting up a new 36 gallon saltwater tank. I also have an established 55 gallon saltwater tank. I bought 10 pounds of fine gravel and 20 pounds of live sand. Last night I filled up the tank 1/3 of the way and added the gravel. The water became very cloudy. I thought it was just because the gravel as unsettled. I filled up the tank the rest of the way added the salt, conditioner, and turned the filter on. I decided I would wait for it to clear up before putting in the live sand. I looked before I went to bed and it was still very cloudy. I couldn't even see the back of the tank. When I got up this morning nothing had changed. I realized that I hadn't rinsed the gravel so I emptied the tank, scooped out the gravel, put the gravel into a bucket and rinsed it for well over 30 minutes before the water became clear. I then hosed out the tank and cleaned it. Then I filled the tank 1/3 of the way up again and added the rinsed gravel. At this point the water was a little cloudy but nothing compared to what it had been. After this I added the 20 pounds of live sand and filled the tank the rest of the way up. The tank has again become very cloudy, almost as bad as the night before. In the bag of live sand came a little pouch of water clearer or something and I added that. I did not add the salt in case I have to drain the tank again. Does anyone know why it is so cloudy? I didn't have this problem when I set up my 55 gallon. Should I put the filter on or wait to see if it settles down and clears? ~Thanks in advance.
Cloudy Tank!!
- Thread starter tierbett
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moulton712
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It will settle.
ethridge78
Valuable Member
It should clear up over night once all the sand has settled it will do it faster if you shut off your pumps for a little while.
juggalogentry
Active Member
let it be, let it be, let it be, sing these words of wisdom, let it be.. lol sorry my dad used to always sing that song to me when i would get a little impatient.. it will settle, in a day or two. the finer the sand, the longer itll take, if you use your filter it will clear faster but will also clog your equip
tierbett
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I read something that said the live sand will start disintegrating from sitting in the fresh water and that this could be the cause of all of the cloudiness. Does this sound like a possibility? I also read that I could put a sock on the outflow of the filter and this could help clear some of the very fine sediments out.
Xbreakxitxdownx
Active Member
The cloudiness will go away my sock filter took most of the gunk out of the water it was a merky film.
saltyfish
Active Member
I used the same substrate in one of my previous tanks and the fine particles settled after about 5 days. I had the main pump running the whole time. After the cloud settled, I had a very fine dusting covering everything. Nothing bad, it will all settle out. You could use a fine filter sock to speed up the process.
tierbett
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Should I put the salt into the tank? I know what was in the sand to make it live is probably dead by now so does it matter when I put the salt in? Also, once the sand settles won't a cloud form every time something touched the sand bed?
Slm222
Active Member
It will only slightly cloud. Yes the substrate is now dead. You can add salt whenever. I would do it sooner rather than later to get the cycle started depending on when you want to add livestock.
Slm222
Active Member
I have Fiji pink and special grade Agra alive in mine. It will eventually work itself out. Make sure to put a filter sock or filter floss in, spending on your set up, and run your return pump. That will catch all the floating particles that don't settle
tierbett
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Do I have to wait for the cloudiness to clear before adding love rock? I don't have the filter on right now so there is no water flow in the tank and I be leave live rock would need the water flow.
tierbett
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I realized it is olite which I read is one of the most fine sands sold. Would it be worth it to save this sand and deal with the cloudiness whenever something touches the bottom, or should I drain the tank and start over with larger grain live sand and put it in after the salt is mixed in to keep the organisms in the sand alive? Any thoughts?
Redseadragon
Community Member
skimmer+water change+UV filter for good measure will make your water crystal.
