Cloudy Tank!!!

[SPC]

Tony, this is normal with this substrate, it will probably take about a week to clear up but will become cloudy again if disturbed. Once it has been in there for a period of time it will become coated with bacteria which will help to keep it in place. I find it best to place my base pcs of rock on the substrate and my other rock on top of this at random, then come back and aquascape after the tank has cleared a bit, this may take a few tries before it is completed.
Steve

 

[jdeets]

If you can be patient, that is the best policy as the particles clouding the tank are the smallest ones and make great hosts for nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria.

If you're impatient or have time constraints, use a diatom filter. That would clear the water in a matter of hours.

When I upgraded from a 115 to a 180, I used 240# of unwashed SD. The tank was cloudy for a week and I only had 2 weeks after setup to move my old tank over because I had a time limit on trading the old tank in. I waited a week and the water was still milk and I was running out of time. The diatom filter cleared up the tank in 6 hours.

 

[2good2b2]

Did any of you pre-wash your aragonite sand before placing it in the aquarium. I having trouble clearing my tank up. I didn't wash mine so it been cloudy all day. Everytime I tried to do some aqua-scaping, it get all cloudy and i am force to stop. Was i suppose to wash the sand? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jeff Hood]

I ended up having to use a whole house particulate filter that I plumed in line with my protein skimmer. Worked great at removing the suspended particules durring the setup. The in and out holes were female threads so I put 1 inch hose barbes there and fit it inline with the skimmer. Much better over nite.

Jeff