Sand clouded water.. 100% WC?

[BLUElobster99]

Ok so I've been cycling for about a week. I had about an inch of live sand and 30lbs of LR. Since I'm getting a mantis shrimp I wanted a deeper sand bed. So I added 40lbs of aragonite sand. I added it one cup at a time yet my water quickly turned to milk. How do I fix this? Should I do a 100% water change? Will my cycle re start if I change all the water?

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[Ziggy953]

Depending on what equipment you have handy a simple HOB filter with filter floss will clear the water up in a few hours. I wouldn't do a 100% PWC.

 

[Mebbid]

Depending on what equipment you have handy a simple HOB filter with filter floss will clear the water up in a few hours. I wouldn't do a 100% PWC.

+1 this is how id do it.

 

[Sniperhank]

I agree with the filter floss, but if you are cycling and there isn't anything in the tank what does it matter? Just let things settle on their own. This will give you time to adjust the powerhead(s) to a point where you are happy with them and the sand will settle where it wants to.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with the filter floss, but if you are cycling and there isn't anything in the tank what does it matter? Just let things settle on their own. This will give you time to adjust the powerhead(s) to a point where you are happy with them and the sand will settle where it wants to.

Good point. If the tank is empty its not going to hurt anything to allow time to settle the sand.

 

[jeffaquarius]

The cycle will not restart since you still have the original water and have not disturbed or washed the rocks. Changing water will surely restart it. If you did not flushed or cleaned the additional sand then I would recommend same thing as Ziggy with filter floss, no carbon on filter and no skimmer. Light is not even necessary while cycling.

 

[Sniperhank]

The water has nothing to do with the cycle. A total restart would be if the bacteria that has already been building up died off, which is in the rocks and sand. The only thing a water change is doing is lessening the ammonia source.


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[jeffaquarius]

Without water you can not have a cycle. So why do you think water has nothing to do with it? BB from rocks gets the nutrients from water and bb can exist anywhere and mostly in wet objects. If you change water you lost your nutrients, ammonia and what have you. It may not be a total restart but it will surely slow it down.

 

[Mebbid]

A 100% water change doesn't kill the bacteria, doesn't remove any significant portion of the bacteria, and it doesn't remove any of the filter media. Removing ammonia is not the same as removing bacteria so it's not restarting the cycle at all.

 

[jeffaquarius]

On a dry rock do you think there are already bacteria on it? So where do you think the bb first starts?

 

[Mebbid]

On a dry rock do you think there are already bacteria on it? So where do you think the bb first starts?

From the bacteria thats constantly raining down on every surface of your home. But I fail to see how that's related to a water change.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Cycling a tank you start without bacteria. You add water to it and bacteria are in water. Sure you don't kill the bacteria in rocks but you fail to think that you don't have bacteria yet in your rocks.

 

[Mebbid]

Cycling a tank you start without bacteria. You add water to it and bacteria are in water. Sure you don't kill the bacteria in rocks but you fail to think that you don't have bacteria yet in your rocks.

Bacteria have to travel a short time through water to get to the rock in which it lives, but again 99% of bacteria lives on the rock and filter media. Thats a fact that cannot be argued against and is the reason for me saying "a water change doesn't remove a significant portion of bacteria"

 

[jeffaquarius]

I agree with what you are saying but you have to understand that the OP has just started a tank to cycle. You are assuming that he has a matured tank with rocks already full of bb which is not the case.

 

[smithpants94]

BLUElobster, is your rock live rock or did you buy it dry?


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[Mebbid]

I agree with what you are saying but you have to understand that the OP has just started a tank to cycle. You are assuming that he has a matured tank with rocks already full of bb which is not the case.

Just because a tank is cycling doesn't mean the bacteria have chosen a new place to live. They are still going to reside primarily in the rocks.

 

[jeffaquarius]

It seems you are missing the point that I'm trying to make. When I said "restart cycling" when water is replaced 100% I only mean partial restart which I also said previously. When you do that you loose the nutrients or ammonia to feed on bacteria. That means regeneration of BB will stall until the nutrients are back to where it was before.

 

[Mebbid]

It seems you are missing the point that I'm trying to make. When I said "restart cycling" when water is replaced 100% I only mean partial restart which I also said previously. When you do that you loose the nutrients or ammonia to feed on bacteria. That means regeneration of BB will stall until the nutrients are back to where it was before.

The fun thing is, you need to say exactly what you mean. Both myself and hank read your statement as a 100% restart which is exactly how it's worded. Following that with the ability to search the forum on Google and its spreading bad information

I could make a statement like "water changes kill fish" which is technically true assuming there is a huge difference in water parameters between old and new water. But taken at face value it means "a water change will kill your fish"