start over??

[TRDfan]

Ive recently added some sand into my tank which i havnet washed out too well. Now i have quite abit of sand particles floating around when i have all my circulation going.

I got a 50 micron filter sock to try and clean up the water but it does not look like its helping at much (if at all). The sand particals or so small i cant seem to get them out. What is my options?? should i drain the tank out and start over?? the tank has been up and running for about 2 months now and been cycled only for about 3-4 weeks.

Advice?? thoughts??

 

[JokerWx13]

this happened to me with my fluorite for my plants. it was not a pretty sight :/ i couldnt see an inch into the tank. what i did was take the dusty water out, then add more dechlorinated water in until you could see to the other side of the tank. make sure the tap water has been dechlorinated or else you'll have to recycle all over again. this might take a lot of time to do btw o-o you could also drain the whole tank out but just make sure to not disturb the sand or else the sand will kick up more dust into the water

 

[EriksFish315]

Best thing to do would be drain the whole tank and replace with clean ro di water.

 

[don_chuwish]

How big a tank? What kind of sand?
I just got done doing what you're considering. After getting out everything but the sand & water I drained about 40% of the water into holding tubs (where the LR & critters were kept). I left the filter running (Fluval 305 canister) and stirred the heck out of the sand. With all the gunk still suspended I siphoned out 5G worth, then replaced it with 5G of salt water made from dechlorinated tap. Repeat. Stir stir stir, siphon, replace, repeat. 3 5G buckets worth. Then stirred some more and pushed all the sand to one side so I had bare glass in one corner. Siphoned off all the remaining water. Refill with RO/DI mix & the old water from the holding tubs.
I noticed that the cloudiness stirred up while refilling seemed to fade away a lot faster than the first time we filled it.

- D

 

[TRDfan]

How big a tank? What kind of sand?
I just got done doing what you're considering. After getting out everything but the sand & water I drained about 40% of the water into holding tubs (where the LR & critters were kept). I left the filter running (Fluval 305 canister) and stirred the heck out of the sand. With all the gunk still suspended I siphoned out 5G worth, then replaced it with 5G of salt water made from dechlorinated tap. Repeat. Stir stir stir, siphon, replace, repeat. 3 5G buckets worth. Then stirred some more and pushed all the sand to one side so I had bare glass in one corner. Siphoned off all the remaining water. Refill with RO/DI mix & the old water from the holding tubs.
I noticed that the cloudiness stirred up while refilling seemed to fade away a lot faster than the first time we filled it.

- D

THANK YOU!!!! excellent instructions!!! I was thinking of something similar but not as well thought out as this

BTW...tank is a 40 breeder and its a .75-1.25 grain sand (which is pretty standerd)

 

[don_chuwish]

NP, better to do it now than wish you had 6 months from now.

- D

 

[TRDfan]

thats what im thinking....better now than later

 

[carey]

How long has the tank been cloudy? It can take a week even for some sandstorms to die down. Thats totally not unheard of.

 

[TRDfan]

its going on its 3rd week now. Its not really a sand storm as it is sand particals flowing around (if that makes sense). Plus it completely clears out when all the circulation is turned off

I changed the circulation pump (1k gph) into the powerhead mode (250gph) and aimed them 2 the top and it still does not help

 

[mr_X]

I would just hook a canister filter to it and filter it out.

 

[EriksFish315]

Canister filter full of filter floss will do wonders.