White film on sand-new tank

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Brandon91

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
11
Location
Louisville, KY
Just started a 75 gallon saltwater tank. I added 80 pounds of live sand after my water and my tank became really foggy. I let it settle and two days later it cleared. Now I have a small layer of white film on my sand. Is this ok? Should I syphon it out? Will it hurt fish when I put them in. I just added only 8 pounds of live rock. Will it hurt the rock? Any help would be nice and any advice would also be helpful. Thanks in advance. I'm new to saltwater tanks and am open to suggestions.
 
What type of film? Like a sheet almost? Spider web looking? How old is the tank? Close to cycling being finished? I had something similar I believe, and my snails cleared it right up. It didn't appear to do any damage to the LR. take a water sample in to check your levels and I don't see why sifting during your next water change would hurt, just don't siphon out all your sand because you need the bacteria to stay in it as well.
 
It's probably from the live sand if you didnt rinse it, which if you bothered to buy live sand you probably didn't. :) And nor should you have. It will settle in once your filtration kicks in. What kind of filter are you running and how many powerheads do you have?
 
It's like a thin sheet. No I did not rinse the LIVE sand the bag said no rinsing. Looks like I should have now. I just started cycling the live rock and live sand have been in the tank about a week. Added three damsels like two hours ago. I don't have any powerheads and probably won't get one for a while. I'm not going to put anything else in for a while. I'm running a canister filter. I'm planning on upgrading to something better soon. It's a marineland 300 I think. Seems to be working fine for now.
 
I might try the snails and syphoning. I can tell it will become annoying because the slightest movement and it clouds up.
 
You need powerheads to keep that film from forming on the sand, if you have waterflow then it will be mixed into the water and get sucked up by the filter.

I use a canister on my sw tank withno issues, just gotta maintain it a bit more frequently is all.

I'd be hesitant to add anymore living creatures to a cycling tank though, they might not survive it.
 
Yeah. I added my snails a few more weeks in. I lived with it for a few weeks and I survived. But I also had powerheads running as well
 
I will get a powerhead when I can afford to. For now I will have to be more careful when adding water :) thanks
 
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