dusty sand

[jeffsdesigns]

Ok..I recently hooked up my old 38 gallon tank of mine for my Mom.
I added 60 pounds of live agranite (sugar size) sand to the tank.
I did all this 4 days ago and its still cloudy.
I am using a Skiltzer 400 skimmer and added about 20 pounds of live rock.
This tank is gonna be a fish only tank.

Any ideas how to get the dustyness to go away in the ank?
I figured it would have been gone after 2 days.

Jeff

 

[ReefLion]

If you have a spare cannister sitting around, hook that up for a day or two and you should be fine. You may have to clean the media in the middle of that. Otherwise trust gravity. It will work eventually.

Tim

 

[Len]

Sorta pointless post, but just wanted to second ReefLion's statement. If you really want it to go away fast, a diatom filter will clear up the tank in a few hours. Filter floss works too, as mentioned. Or just give gravity time to work.

 

[Palmetto]

The sugarsize sand will continue to cloud every time you disturb it until it gets a good coating of bacteria on it, which seems to take from 2 weeks to 2 months. It does get better, though.

I add live Fiji sand as an overcoating to control the dust and add wonderful sand life to my Caribsea sugarsized and my Southdown beds.

 

[Anonymous]

It seems that I recall people saying that you should throw in a piece of dead shrimp in there, to help kick-start the bacteria. I never done this, I just recall people making this suggestion before.

Louey

 

[Palmetto]

What I have done instead of a big piece of stinky shrimp is to feed the tank with frozen brine. (even if there is nothing to eat it) Then, you get tiny stinky pieces that disappear instead of some big rotten piece you have to remove.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

how about live rock? I'm having the same problem and just added my first batch of live rock. Approximately how long til the dust settles?

 

[Nelliereefster]

With the sugar sand, it takes awhile. In time, the bio-film will form on the sand and sorta "glue" it together. Settling will take days, weeks. Also, as critters stir things up from time to time, the LR will get dusted.

A turkey baster blast or two cleans the rock. In sugar sanded tanks, I've noticed a waterbourne particulate "count" continuously for many months after setting up the tank. It just takes time.