HELP! Really Cloudy

[Serpentman]

I have seen similar posts but am concerned with the cloudiness I am experiencing. I am using about 3" of tropical playsand for my DSB. However, the tank is really cloudy, I mean REALLY cloudy and has been for 4 days. It looks to be clearly slowly but everytime I move something or slightly stir the bottom, BAM, its cloudy again. Also, when I turned on a PH, the current kicked up the bottom as well.

Will this ever settle down or should I investigate a new substrate?

 

[melosu58]

It should eventually settle. Try to point your PH up to surface so as to get good surface aggitation and help two things . One it will hopefully stay off your sand and two help prevent low PH in your tank. As someone mentioned in a previos thread you can also use a rock or glass to deflect water current also to prevent sand from blowing around

 

[austinsdad]

How much did you rinse it? If you didn't, you may have to consider stirring it up and siphoning water to remove it. Of course, you loose your salt water. That stuff can have a lot of dust in the beginning. I spent about 45 minutes rinsing FW on each bag of 50 lb arogonite dry sand to get a lot of that stuff out. Mine is still cloudy after 3 days. I didn't spend as much time on the first 2 bags.

 

[tecwzrd]

As austinsdad said most bagged sand should be rinsed well before adding to a tank. Especially bagged sand from HD or Lowes since these are not made for aquariums (although usually safe) and are extremely dusty.

Bagged CaribSea aragonite sand is a lot more expensive but usually has very little dust.

Also not running a ph while cloudy will only prolong it IME.

Since you just started I would use a siphon going over the entire sand bed and vacuum the dust out being careful not to siphon any sand into the tube.

 

[Serpentman]

Well, I decided to drain the tank at lunchtime and remove the sand. I rinsed it thoroughly (not fun as there is 150lbs of it) and put it back in. The tank is refilled and is cloudy but what I would deem "normal" cloudy. Before it was downright muddy. Don't know what I was thinking previously!