sand storm problem...solutions??

[TRDfan]

Ive recently added about 20lbs or so of dry substrate to my 60lbs of sand in my tank. However ive seem to wash the substrate too little times before ive placed it into tank and now i have mini sand storm going around when i turn on all my circulation (Reefoctopus 100ss skimmer, ML emperor 400gph hob filter w/media and ML maxi jet 900)

when I have just the skimmer running, the small sand particals seem to subside but i cant turn on the filter and pump without a sand storm. The particles are SOOO fine that the filter media does not pick it up.

i was thinking of doing a 75% water change BUT since i just finished cycling my tank, im very hesitant on doing such a big water change. I was going to take a pic of the partical floating around BUT the matter is sooo fine that my camera does not even pick it up.

Any ideas as to what i can do??

 

[Sharklover]

Just leave it like that for a while it will be fine probably

 

[EriksFish315]

It should settle on its own. What kind of filter are you running you can use filter floss polishing pad. I have a fluval 405 and the last basket I always fill with pillow stuffing to keep the water crystal clear works like a charm and a lot cheaper then name brand polishing pads.

 

[TRDfan]

its been about a 3-4 days of sand storm, so i doubt its going to settle down. Thanks for the tip about the polishing pad erik. I will look into this or i will get a 50 or 100 micron filter pad and hope that works

 

[mwilliams]

If it is the super fine substrate no matter how many times you let it settle and you turn on all your equipment it will start another sand storm.
I think you need to get some heavier or thicker sand and put on top of the super fine sand then that should help some. You might even need to double the heavier sand to what you put in there because if you should put some sand shifters in there they might stir up the sand storm again.

 

[EriksFish315]

Yah no problem man try to help where I can and have experience. Same thing happend on my freshwater with the fluval on it.

 

[TRDfan]

If it is the super fine substrate no matter how many times you let it settle and you turn on all your equipment it will start another sand storm.
I think you need to get some heavier or thicker sand and put on top of the super fine sand then that should help some. You might even need to double the heavier sand to what you put in there because if you should put some sand shifters in there they might stir up the sand storm again.

It was not really a super fine sand. Standered grain. Just my laps of judgement. I will keep in mind your tip though

Yah no problem man try to help where I can and have experience. Same thing happend on my freshwater with the fluval on it.

I guess the best way to learn is to make the mistake and then learn from it i guess.

I ended up calling ALL the LFS around me to check if they had a 50 or 100 micron filter pad and they all had run out. I ended up getting a 50 micron super fine filter coralife pad from ebay for 7.95 shipped

 

[EriksFish315]

Yeah eBay or try amazon.com in the future can always find aquarium supply at bare minimum and a lot of items are free super savings shipping I buy off amazon a lot.

 

[jwalsh]

I made this mistake someone decided to give me the tip of using reptile sand. Oh boy what a mistake. It does settle down. But anything that touches the sand stirs it up pretty bad. My pistol shrimp really does a number on my water clarity quite often.