Very Cloudy Water After Sand and Rock

[David Haldane]

Hi All,

I have a 57 gallon DT and a 20 gallon sump I recently (last 3 days) filled with water, Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand, and Nature's Ocean Natural Coral Aquarium Base Rock. I noticed the rock was a bit dusty and chalky and gave it a few rinses before putting it in the tank, but probably could have done better. I did not rinse the sand per the instructions on the bag. I had a bit of water in the bottom of my tank (due to having to make multiple batches of salt water) when I added my sand and rock and experienced a lot of cloudiness after the addition. I then added the packets of clarifier which seemed to precipitate down a 1-2mm thick light-white film which I then worked on moving with a turkey baster in order to suck it down my overflow to filter in my sump (100micron felt sock and filter floss in my baffles). When I came home today, the water was fairly clear, but I decided to move some rock around which clouded the water considerably. I then decided to stir the sand with my hands a bit in order to kick up remaining dust. I notice a fine particulate which is in my sump. It seems to be passing through the 100um felt sock and some of it is being picked up by my protein skimmer. The amount of cloud is the same as it was before it settled over the past 2 days.

My TLDR question is "What in the heck is going on and is this normal?" If normal, how in the world do you work on the rock and sand in your DT without a dust storm? In hindsight I should probably have rinsed the sand and power washed the rock. Any help and tips for recovery would be much appreciated.

 

[James M]

Welcome to reef2reef !!
That’s normal with brand new tank but Fiji pink sand normally creates dust storms. Let the sand completely settle and then work on the rocks

 

[TheEngineer]

Welcome to R2R!

As mentioned, that’s normal. You can run a filter sock and it will help pull those fine particles out.

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

pull it and rerinse if you want it done right.

It can still cloud later, if a rock falls:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-stirred-up.544852/#post-5723623

to rinse that sand doesn't strip its bacteria. it should say on the bag to rinse. to not rinse it only asks for problems I guarantee you, that's why we have a 20 page thread on how to handle sand when its new, and when it ages, and when it causes massive cyano outbreaks. Its not that initial clouding wont lessen when the particles gain some bioslicks and adhere/its that any time you clean, rearrange, a notable cloud still forms and in the case of that tank above a big cloud can form, all by not initially rinsing. part of being ready to battle cyano, or dinos, tank wreckers, is having a cloudless bed so you aren't hesitant to access the whole tank.

being cloudless goes hand in hand with being invader free in the long run, we show.

 

[David Haldane]

I am currently rinsing my sand by the cup. The amount of rinsing required to clarify the sand is unreal... probably 10-15 minutes of mixing per cup in a 1-gallon pitcher... Is this normal?! Maybe I should just buy some non-dusty sand?

 

[brandon429]

No it’s perfect, I use this sand. Of twenty pages in our rinse thread 18 are on this sand we know it every way and sideways

We tap rinse clean, the ro water rinse to evacuate then into the tank

Long story short, brief tap water can’t kill any bac it’s not enough dwell time, but unlimited tap is how we make sure to thoroughly rinse bags of the stuff. W saltwater we’d run out half cloud

The hardest part to believe is that tap rinsing doesn’t completely strip the sand of bacteria, it doesn’t. Ask any college microbiology prof if high surface area grains are as easily sterilized water only. We show that pre rinsing beats non rinsing always

 

[David Haldane]

Do you have some residual cloud after rinsing?

 

[David Haldane]

Update - Rinsed all my sand using tap water which is fed through a water softener. I then gave each batch a rinse in RO water and deposited it into a bucket of saltwater. When I added the sand back to the tank there was a bit of cloud from some remaining dust, but still much less than what existed prior. I ran the pumps overnight with a 100um felt sock and fresh filter floss in the baffles. This morning the water was much clearer. I aggressively stirred the sand bed and did not see any increase in cloudy water. After reviewing many posts about rinsing sand and the hypothetical disturbance of bacteria I can't see any well proven argument for either side, however, I suppose that scenario is a large part of the hobby. Being a clean freak, the benefit of not being locked in to dirtying your tank any time you want to work on it outweighs any disturbance in supposed starting bacterial population. I can pick up some LR to help start my bacterial population out. Makes me question whether sand marketed as no-rinse is sand laden with fine silt which would be unusable otherwise.

 

[David Haldane]

Also, thank you all for your input! I appreciate it!

 

[lapin]

Do you have some residual cloud after rinsing?

I rinse all sand before adding to a tank. You might get a bit of cloud depending on how many fines are left after being rinsed. Im on rainwater so I have no chemicals in my water. I pour sand in a 5 gallon bucket and rinse away with a hose while stirring with my hand. I use Reefflakes Sand it is pretty clean to start with.

 

[brandon429]

El bump, the bump to remind us that pre rinsing sand didn’t cause an issue