Pleeeeease advise

[gemini9]

I already have a thread about this (I'm really sorry I'm just a little freaked out). I removed my crushed coral little by little this week and today I added 20 pounds of live sand. My water is soooo cloudy I can't see anything. I was careful, but I couldn't prevent the cloudiness. I'm freaking out. Should I turn on my equipment? I know live rock needs some flow, but I understand it will settle if I leave things off right? But what about my live rock? Should I turn on my powerhead to keep flow through my rock? Or is it okay to keep everything off? HOB filter? On? Off? I'm so confused. I have 4 hermits and a damsel. I hope they will be alright. :sad:

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I would turn the equipment on. I have noticed that my tank cleared up quicker with the equipment on.

 

[tyler1503]

A HOB with filter wool in it will help as it's slow mechanical filtration.
If it's just cloudy you can turn on your powerheads, but it may take longer to settle. If there's grains of sand floating around, don't turn on our powerheads, you can really mess them up if you do.
I've left my pumps off for over 12 hours by accident and nothing seemed too phase by it, so it's no big deal to leave them off for a few hours.
Your hermits will have a feast on whatever is in the water column and the damsel is hardy enough to live through a nuclear blast, so you'll be ok

 

[erictorres0311]

i wouldn't worry about it you could run the hob filter get some flow going ... how long has it been off for any pix?

 

[tyler1503]

I would turn the equipment on. I have noticed that my tank cleared up quicker with the equipment on.

Interesting, I've found leaving pumps off helps it settle quicker.
I guess if your running a sump it would filter out quicker when it goes through the overflow. But no sump (this is where my experience has always been) will just keep all the crap suspended longer.

 

[gemini9]

Thanks all. The water settled over night, but left grey dust all over everything. I just attempted to clean the dust off the glass and equipment and stirred up allot more. Now, my tank is cloudy again. Is this a common occurrence with this sand? It seems to really cloud up easily. I don't want my tank to be cloudy every time I have to clean it. This leaves me afraid to get any sand sifters because if I get a goby, will my water always be cloudy? How can I keep this from happening? Am I doing something wrong? How can I keep this tank clean with all this cloudiness and dust? I am going to order another 10 pounds of sand and considering something thicker or cleaner. This sand is really muddy and filthy. :neutral:

 

[peterthegamer]

Try to have your power head away from the sand

 

[gemini9]

The powerhead is always pointed slightly upward toward the surface of the water so that's not the problem. It was clear until I tried to clean/wipe the dust off the sides of the glass, then it clouded up again. I stuck my finger in the sand to see how deep it was and that, too, stirred up allot of murkiness just in itself. A goby would really wreak havoc in there.

 

[tyler1503]

It should settle on its own eventually. Just how long that should take I don't know though, I don't imagine it would take too long.
You could try siphoning some of the cloudiness out when you do water changes.

 

[imay1280]

How coarse is your new sand? Did you rinse it prior to adding it to your tank? If not, you're going to need something to get the finest particles captured and removed from the system, or it will be constantly stirred whenever you or your livestock creates current near your substrate layers. I always just water hose through a 5 gallon bucket of sand at a time until the water flows clear and then leave it to dry before adding it in. If it's too late to go back, some sort of HOB with disposable, fine filtration media is going to be the best option.

It's true that it will settle out on its own, but it will always be on top of everything else and easily disturbed.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

 

[gemini9]

Thanks everyone. It settles on its own until I do something in the tank like move a rock... then the cloudiness comes back. I didnt rinse the sand because its live sand and some have advised me not to rinse it since its live. Grain size is .5 to 1.5 I believe. Its pink fiji from brs. I have a hob filter tho and it did pull some muck out bit when I removed tje filters to wash them out, chocolate milk poured out of them and back intp the tank lol

 

[imay1280]

You can try assembling a filter that sits lower than your DT so that you can control the return flow and filter it that way, or turn the HOB off completely first and then remove the whole unit from the back of the tank prior to removing the filters. There are some great DIY videos on YouTube from a guy calling himself something like "kingofdiy" or the like, and he shows some relatively cheap homemade canister filters made from pvc pipe that will suit your needs well. Even if you made and used one just long enough to get the fine particulate out, it'd be worth the minor investment IMO.

 

[gemini9]

I only have a DT at the moment. Bit I do have an extra extention ti extend my intake closer ti the bottom of the tank. I will turn off the filter and remove like you said. GOOD IDEA! kingofdiy eh? Ok ill look into him

 

[tyler1503]

The kingofdiy is a great channel. He has another one uruajoey that's pretty much the same (unless my memory's a bit fuzzy and it is the same channel).
He built a sump that sits above the DT out of an old plastic box that looked interesting and easy. Perhaps check out that video