new to saltwalter aquarium have a question

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caseydavis

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
93
i started my saltwater tank monday 7-12-10 almost all the cloudiness is gone but when i put my hand in there to move the live rock it gets cloudy again but not real bad. I have some film on the glass that i keep having to scrub off. So my question is will it be cloudy like this when there is movement in the tank all the time or will this settle or go away? oh i used live sand as my bottom.

i wanna get this right saltwater tanks are so pretty and with patience and good maintance i know mine will be to. i cant wait!!!!!
 
It will eventually settle. Running a filter with some filter floss or pillow stuffing helps speed it up by actually removing the dust particles. You will probably see the water cloud up again once your cycle gets going, don't worry about it, it's just part of the cycle.
 
Yeah i agree with thom.. i used dry aragonite and i didn't even wash it out before i put it in my tank and my tank was crystal clear in under 2 days. You should be fine. Patience is a virtue.. ;)
 
thank you both i am so scared i might do something wrong so i didnt think it hurt to ask. and ZERO i am going to check into that aragonite tomorrow. is it ok to keep it in there like when i do get fish or do you have to take it out?
 
Zero is talking about dry aragonite sand. Some people use that instead of live sand....it will become live eventually and its cheaper. Since you already have the live sand, unless you need to add more, you won't need to get aragonite.

Do you have any powerheads in the tank? Water movement would definitely help it settle. I'm sure the cloudiness is from the live sand and the rock being put in the tank.
 
ok i googled it and saw crystals and rock like things so thats why i assumed it was that.

no i dont have the powerheads right now i did order them but they just havent came yet. i also order a protein skimmer figured it is worth a try for extra help.
 
LR and a skimmer is really all you need for good filtration. As mentioned above a good one or two PH`s will push the water around so your nitrifying bacteria can get the excessive nutrients. We have a great article about cycling in the SW articles section.
 
You are on the right track(y). just remember GO SLOW. don't put any fish in until you test 0 nitrate and 0 NH4. Take your time and you will be rewarded in the future. All the stuff you mentioned is a normal cycle. don't freak out when everything turns brown. that is normal too. It happens toward the end of your cycle
 
i am going to post some on here from day 1 to now. my lfs said wait til it clears and get a damsel (not sure if spelled right) so of course thats what i did.
 
ok i ordered 2 of these Hydor Koralia Nano Aquarium Pump 4.5 Watts so now I am just waiting for them to get here but i do for now have 2 hob filter on it one is a whisper 60 and the other is a little bit bigger than that. i thought my tank was a 25gal but took my bulb in to get one for the saltwater setup and he said at the least it had to be a 29 gal. my protein skimmer is the lee's skimmer
 
that is day one:confused: i dont have a whole tank shot right now but will get one soon:p

but i do wanna know what the red thing is in one of the picture and what the white thing is beside it and also in one of the picture is a brown thing somebody told me it wasnt reef safe and that pepperment shrimp eat it if it is small:confused:. i know yall can help yall are good:D
 

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I questioned that. I said i didnt wanna hurt it or kill it but he said your not gonna kill it. So him being the man that owns the pet store I done what he said. i did put 6 ghost shrimp in there also 3 of which are dead now.

So to correct this I did start a 5 gallon tank from this tank a few days after i started it for a qt if i need it. with that being said should i wait for an ammonia spike and take the little guy out and put in the small tank til reading right on the big tank. because the small tank is days behind the big one and the fish has been in the big one since friday the small tank only has live sand and a small live rock right now
 
ok thank you will do that now. i seen like 4 more small ones on another rock. so do you suggest after the cycle get the peppermint shrimp i heard they eat these.
 
If you can take the rock out just use a lighter and burn it off the rock. How many post on this do you have?
 
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