Sand settling

[erikmoseley]

Hello I set up a new tank I'm going to use for mbuna fry 2 days ago. I used Carib live marine sand - it said not to rinse (at least wife read that) so I did not! Bad move! It's soooo fine grained. Any ways the water is pretty clear now. I seeded filters and used water from bigger tank to fill it. But my decor artificial plants/ bush and plastic stump - has this tiny sand particles settled all in the bushy areas where if I brush it , it all loosens into the water only to have more settle later on it. Will this clear itself up? Any tips? Maybe floss in one of the filters?

 

[Ian086]

Yeah, I would go with the floss. I always use floss in all my filters, internals, externals and HOB's. I wouldn't do without it. Are you using HOBs??

 

[erikmoseley]

Yeah, I would go with the floss. I always use floss in all my filters, internals, externals and HOB's. I wouldn't do without it. Are you using HOBs??

Yes it's a 36 gallon. Using penguin 200 and a ac50

 

[erikmoseley]

Yeah, I would go with the floss. I always use floss in all my filters, internals, externals and HOB's. I wouldn't do without it. Are you using HOBs??

Also I've used floss in the ac instead of carbon but not sure where to put it in penguin. Do I move the cartridge to the front slot and put floss behing or do I out plods in front between cartridge and bio wheel? I have a bracket thing I can use to hold the floss that fits in a cartridge slot. Ordered online.

 

[Ian086]

Also I've used floss in the ac instead of carbon but not sure where to put it in penguin. Do I move the cartridge to the front slot and put floss behing or do I out plods in front between cartridge and bio wheel? I have a bracket thing I can use to hold the floss that fits in a cartridge slot. Ordered online.

Normally I would put it in front of the cartridge, as in, the last thing the water goes through but in your case I'd do the opposite. Use it before the sponge, that way it catches the fine sand and you can just keep swapping it out. You should keep using it, even after the fine sand is picked up. It's brilliant at keeping your water clear. You should also consider Seachem Purigen, if you don't use it already. It really makes the water sparkle....
Also I use a turkey baster to give a quick clean out of my HOBs. It's great at sucking up the sand and gunk at the bottom of the HOBs....

 

[meegosh]

You want the sponge to filter large debris first. Floss will clog quickly (read: days) if it if the first thing the water touches. In my filter it is the last thing to go through.

What would be helpful until the sand settles is to wrap some around your intake as a prefilter. Like I said, you will have to clean it regularly.

 

[Ian086]

You want the sponge to filter large debris first. Floss will clog quickly (read: days) if it if the first thing the water touches. In my filter it is the last thing to go through.

What would be helpful until the sand settles is to wrap some around your intake as a prefilter. Like I said, you will have to clean it regularly.

Agreed but I meant to set it up this way temporarily, just to filter out the fine sand and then reverse it.....

 

[erikmoseley]

Thanks for the tips! Ill try it all! So I'm the ac I will have the sponge on bottom then I do floss in middle and bio max on top? The floss would get everywhere if I tried it on top.

 

[Ian086]

Thanks for the tips! Ill try it all! So I'm the ac I will have the sponge on bottom then I do floss in middle and bio max on top? The floss would get everywhere if I tried it on top.

Yeah that will work. Just keep an eye on the floss and change it out regularly.....

 

[erikmoseley]

Ok. Thanks. Also I looked at cartridge on the penguin and it was jammed with junk. Has to be sand as there's nothing in tank

 

[erikmoseley]

Ok. Thanks. Also I looked at cartridge on the penguin and it was jammed with junk. Has to be sand as there's nothing in tank

So I rinsed the media on both.

 

[Tieberion]

Excuse the new guy who just started running sand after years of gravel lol. I have the same problem, can someone explain what floss is? Not as simple as dental floss right lol?

 

[Cactuspixie]

Excuse the new guy who just started running sand after years of gravel lol. I have the same problem, can someone explain what floss is? Not as simple as dental floss right lol?

Poly fibre (like cushion stuffing)

 

[monaro_gto]

Is it the same as polishing pads? I didnt see anything in the store labeled floss. I didnt look for Poly Fibre.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Is it the same as polishing pads? I didnt see anything in the store labeled floss. I didnt look for Poly Fibre.

It could come under one of a number of names- where I am it's called filter wool. Yours may be called poly fill or something like that. You don't have to buy it from an aquarium shop though- anywhere that sells craft supplies is likely to stock it. It's what pillows are stuffed with.

 

[reefdiver]

If you go to Walmart and look in the sewing department you will find it there.

 

[Tieberion]

My wife had a bag full of it she wasn't using in her sewing cabinet- SCORE! It's helped a little, I royally screwed up and didn't rinse my sand enough thanks to horsefly attacks, so here it is 3 days later and the water is still sandy/cloudy. Noticing the poly is picking up some sand, short of starting over, is it going to be a wait and see now?
Thanks again!

 

[meegosh]

Just be careful.. Check the bag and make sure it is 100% poly fill. If it says flame retardant then you should not use it.

 

[Tieberion]

Nope, luckily my wife is cheaper than I am lol. It sucks I wanted to have fish in there by Sat, Have a great cycle already thanks to media from my old tank that had a brick poophouse Bio-filter.

so I really, really don't want to do a full water change, or have to scoop out the sand and re-rinse. Have the feeling though my cycle is gonna have to re do anyways so any thoughts on getting the stuff to settle faster if I took out my media and just stuffed my aqua clear 110 full of poly?

 

[erikmoseley]

I ended up taking the fine sand I used out and draining tank. Then I used well rinsed more coarse pool filter sand and added it in. I placed a dimmer plate on sand and when I added water back I dumped it onto plate so it wouldn't rustle up the sand and have had clear water since! Haven't had water chemistry issues as any good bacteria built up was in the filter media and I also floated bio media in a bag from my other tanks established filter. Here it is now clear as glass!