please help newbie

[fishman976]

i have a 75 gal tank i am currently making sw. i put 50lbs play sand and 5 lbs live sand in the tank 2 days ago and it is still cloudy. what should i do?

 

[buddha_red]

did you rinse the sand before you put it in the tank? It can take a week or longer to clear without some sort of filtration. if you have a Hang on back filter, run filter floss in the filter and it will clear over time.

 

[fishman976]

no i didnt rinse it... **** i guess i will have to wait it out now.ty expect more questions later lol... i have never had sw.. i ran fw for years.. something new

 

[BigJim]

The cloudiness happens with freshwater too. It took my tank about a week to clear up when I switched substrates. My HOB filter uses two cages filled with filter sponge and carbon and I was cleaning them out every two days.

 

[melosu58]

It will just take a few more days to settle. You should be OK.

 

[fishman976]

my new lionfish

i got a lion and a hawkfish in 75 gal. the lion idk he not very active he aint ate in 2 days i had him. the hawk got last night he very active and eats very well. the lion just lays on the rock or now he like floatin round near top. what could be prob?

 

[mdaniel2882]

i got a lion and a hawkfish in 75 gal. the lion idk he not very active he aint ate in 2 days i had him. the hawk got last night he very active and eats very well. the lion just lays on the rock or now he like floatin round near top. what could be prob

Whoa.....Your substrate has not even settled and you already put fish in it......I love fresh water too but this is a different ball game. You can add fish, do water changes and whatever else in the blink of an eye with FW. The same rules DO NOT apply in SW. take the fish back and read all the stickies and then come back...

The problem NOx, NH4, lack of O2 in the water.....EVERYTHING!!!!!

 

[thincat]

Md is correct. Read up on how to cycle your SW tank, Let your water settle, Give us your water parameters.
Ammonia, nitrite. nitrate,PH, SG and water temp. for a start.

 

[fishmonkey]

first you need to cycle your tank unfortunately, and although it is the most frustrating part of having a SW tank (because you really want fish but you cant have them) it must be done before you can do anything. check out the articles section for more on cycling your tank.

oh, and you never really said if this is going to be a Fish Only, a Fish Only With Live Rock, or a Reef tank.

 

[Sharkbait430]

Wow, you really need to wait, its going to be several weeks for your tank to cycle. BTW, please as everyone said post your params. Those fish will probably die if you just put them in there. Ask your LFS if they could take them back or something.

 

[fishmonkey]

is the waer still cloudy? have you read up on the cycle and stuff?

 

[fishman976]

ok new prob

ok my water is fine i had it checked by lfs. all was good. my nitrates were reading little high. lfs said it was false reading, but my wife f'ed up and put nitraban for fw in my tank to lower the nitrates now water is real cloudy what do i need to do to get rid of the cloud?

 

[spoonman]

Big water change and cut down on overfeeding.

 

[thincat]

remove the nitraban and do a PWC and maybe run a HOB with micron filter to clear the water up.

 

[fishman976]

i am doing a 20 % water change. i have a hob on it with micro filter it's clearing slowly. i cannt take the nitraban out cuz it's a liquid she put in. so i am just doing wc till it clears. all fish seem to be doing fine right now. will keep posted

 

[fishmonkey]

i remember when i did something like this, all i did was what thincat just told you to do, and everything was fine. dont worry.

 

[fishman976]

all cleared up thx