Help w/ Red Sea Coral Pro

[Teke Left]

Newbie here,

So I finally got my new tank filled with water, somehow my Red Sea Coral Pro that I ordered got shipped to the wrong place so I patiently waited for 2 weeks for it to arrive

Then I noticed it said to not mix in warm water & not to mix long, soooo I unplugged my heaters for a day to let the water cool off. The next day I added the salt to my tank (a 75 gal) with around 50 gallons in it, adding slowly as possible. It started cloudy then within about an hour my water was clear!

I then checked my salinity then turned the heaters back on. Around a hour later I turned the powerheads off, then added my live sand by lowering the bags into the bottom then cutting a slit & releasing it out slowly, the tank clouded up rather much but I thought it wasn’t too bad nowhere near as bad as it would’ve been if I dumped directly in, Turned powerheads back on & went to bed.

I woke up to find the tank VERY cloudy more than when I had first laid down. I was thinking it was the sand but with a deeper look I believe it is precipitation, this is over around an 8 hour period, so my questions are

When will it clear?

Will it clear?

Also I had big plans on going to pick up some LR within the next 2 days to get the cycle going, if it isn’t clear is it okay to still add the LR?

Any advice would be appreciated, also I cant wrap my mind around the thought that it tells you to mix for X amount of time then to stop, if I wasn’t starting a new tank & added to a tank isn’t that would it would be doing essentially in the tank,, mixing?

 

[Mr Hughes]

Be patient. You added live sand so your cycle is starting. You probably are just having a bacterial bloom. I’ve had the new tank cloudiness as well and it subsided after a few days, maybe a week.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Likely just sand dust. Did the sand come with a clarifier? Or bio magnet ?
Myself , I'd swish the heck out of the sand and double check it's all mixed and the salinity is good. Don't sweat the dust.
Once your salinity is good , Inhigjly reccomend using a scale to weight the salt for mixing. Comes out perfect almost every time. The instructions are on the box. I belive it's 730 grams for five gallons.
And I'm pretty sure room temp is just fine for mixing. Actually better as salinity changes with temp. So 78 is the general rule

I used to mix it in my garage all year. With no heater or cooling or care really and never had an issue.

 

[Teke Left]

Thanks for the replies! But yes it came with clarifying liquid I added as well, didn’t help much though lol. So would I be fine to add the LR if it’s still very cloudy in say 2 days?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It's a Bactria and like all good things in Reefing takes time yea.

And yea. You'll be fine putting rock in.

If it's still bad in two days call us. Lol. You my have gotten the wrong sand. (Oolite).

 

[Teke Left]

As long as I can add my LR this weekend I’ll be alright looking at the cloudiness, & I didn’t get oolite I went with fiji pink & the special grade mix,,, it took days to decide what type to choose lol.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Hahaha. You're good to go then.

 

[Jlentz]

Put a sock in it will take most of the fines out. I always wash sand first. It settles out a lot faster.

 

[Teke Left]

Put a sock in what?

 

[rkpetersen]

Do you have any mechanical filtration? Filter socks in the sump, filter floss in the overflow, anything like that. Can help quite a bit to clear up your water.

 

[Jlentz]

Put a sock in what?

In the sump, on the drain pipe. Mechanical filtration will clear it up.

Also kill the powerheads for a bit. That’ll help too. It should clear up overnight.

 

[randy4083]

You should have put your rock in before you put your sand in because the sand helps hold your rock in place

 

[rkpetersen]

Another reason to put rock in before sand - That sand can become pretty compact, but later, burrowing critters like pistol shrimp and some fish might work it loose enough to cause a cave-in, potentially collapsing a rock right on them.

 

[Teke Left]

Thanks for all the replies! My water was crystal clear the next day... could’ve been the filter sock could’ve just settled.. either way it’s good, I got my rock today as well & I have a seemingly dumb question....
I’m using some “dead” live rock (from my first attempt at a reefing a few years ago) & live rock that I got today, but the question is do the rocks need to be touching? I ended up with one side LR & one side Dead rock ..

Also after all my fuss about cloudiness i added more sand around my rocks, it didn’t appear I had enough.. so I’m currently cloudy again... with no worries that is lol

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thanks for all the replies! My water was crystal clear the next day... could’ve been the filter sock could’ve just settled.. either way it’s good, I got my rock today as well & I have a seemingly dumb question....
I’m using some “dead” live rock (from my first attempt at a reefing a few years ago) & live rock that I got today, but the question is do the rocks need to be touching? I ended up with one side LR & one side Dead rock ..

Also after all my fuss about cloudiness i added more sand around my rocks, it didn’t appear I had enough.. so I’m currently cloudy again... with no worries that is lol

Just look at it and scape it. Ya got time. If you decide to drill and glue, ya got time for that too.

Eventually it'll be covered with coral any way.