Aquarium sand problems

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Mackloutz

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Messages
1
Location
Conneaut Lake, PA
I recently bought a 75 gallon aquarium with the works, stand, filter, everything, anyways I bought "play" sand and forgot to wash the sand and put it in the aquarium, then of course added the water. I set the filter up that night but did not turn it on. The water was like a milkshake so I decided to wait until morning to start the filter. The next morning I got the filter up and running and it has been running for about 6 hours now with no real significant change. I am concerned with the force of the outake valve because it is fairly great and it pushed all the dirt and debris to the front of the tank. I cannot see through the tank both ways(up, and sideways) so I'm concerned if I made a terrible mistake not washing the sand. I was thinking of getting 2 penguin filters to replace the magnum 350 filter that came with the tank but was wondering if it was normal to have that much debris from the first day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you put some filter floss (pillow batting) in the filter, or use some micro-level filtration it will clear it up eventually. It'll just take some time to get it all cleaned.

Also, adding a HOB filter, such as the penguins, in parallel with the 350 will make this go faster as well. Again, use some filter floss to really filter out the fine particles produced by the sand.

You can also consider doing a very large water change to get rid of the cloud - you may have to do it a few times but that will help as well.

moving this to the FW - getting started forum.
 
Changing the water a few times will take a lot of the could out. That must be a pretty powerful out take on the filter to puch sand around in a 75. Can you adjust the position of the outtake nozzle? If you do indeed want to get another filter then I would suggest going with an Aquaclear 110 (ac110 for short) they are really good filters. If you wanna stay with canisters then id suggest a fluval 405. Btw welcome to AA and post some pics when you get the tank up and running :)
 
Wait a day or two with the filter off and water calm, if possible, and most of the "dust" sand will settle on the top of the good sand and can be siphoned out via hose.
Have heard play sand is dirtier than other types -substrate or silica, might be better off cleaning it in tank if you are able to do so without making a huge mess.
 
If you go with the Penguin HOBs, use a prefilter. Sand grinds up impellers on those filters in a hurry.
 
yep, infact id shy away from marineland filters when sand is being used. You can try it but we dont want to see any "it's 2am in the freaking morning and my penguin was screaming and seized".lol.

yes it will wake you out of a deep dead sleep its so loud.
 
I second trying to do 1) a couple water changes and 2) let it sit for a couple days to let everything settle.

As you are new here, you should know that most will recommend a fishless cycle of the tank... and in doing so you won't have fish for the next several weeks anyway, so that will give time for the sand to settle.

The other option is to totally get rid of the play sand and buy pool filter sand. I've heard it is larger and settles more readily. I myself also have play sand but I cleaned it for close to 2 hours before putting it into my tank...
 
I did almost the same thing... did not wash the sand good enough..
I did two large water changes and used a 24 in gravel cleaner to get the dust out of the sand.. I was clear in a few days
note the long gravel cleaner alows the sand to settel out of the tube.

I use this to clean my sand now and it works great.
 
I really like the search feature the question I had and the answers were all pretty much taken care of by this thread.

I prerinsed "half inch deep in a 10g" amount of play sand in a bucket for twenty minutes and had the water running clear from the bucket, but the tank has that thin white look - like someone added a couple drops of silver nitrate to tap water.

I was looking for tips on the cure for that new, self-inflicted dismay. . .
 
I agree with the pwc & letting the sand settle for a few days.

Once it settles, any really fine stuff can be filtered out with the Magnum. If you get the water polishing (micron) cartridge, it will remove all the fine stuff within a few hours. <Note that this cart. clogs really fast ... When I water polish with the Magnum, I keep an eye on it. As soon as the water output gets slow (you can feel the water movement with your hand), I stop the filter & change out/clean the cartridge. This prevents the filter burning out with a totally clogged filter pad.>

I find the micron filter good enough to get the water really clear. But if you are obsessive, you can use it as a diatom filter. Instructions here:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ng-a-magnum-350-as-a-diatom-filter-12649.html
 
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