silt on my sand bed

[guitarded]

i put sand in my tank and as expected i got a sand storm. as others on this board have suggested, i am just going to wait it out till the sand settles. i am not in a hurry. it has been 4 days and the tank is just starting to clear up. i can see about 2 to 3 inches into the tank. i noticed that there is extremely fine silt on my sand. it has the same consistency as talcum powder. i am sure when i place the LR in the tank, the sand storm will re-occur.

is this fine silt ok? should i have read on this forum that bacteria will help hold down the sand. however, i was wondering if the silt is detrimental to aquatic animals. i am going to take my kayak out into the ocean this weekend and get a big zip lock bag full of sand from the ocean floor to seed my sand. i hope the bacteria will spread and control my silt problem.

Don't worry about the silt. Bacteria and detritus will eventually weigh it down, especially after the addition of LR. The smaller grain sizes (even that small) will have more surface areas for colonizing bacteria that the larger ones. Also remember that the finer particles will eventually settle to the bottom.

Cheers
Steve

[guitarded]

k, thanks...

this morning the water was clear. i have a bunch "dust" on the inner walls of my tank. of course, when i cleaned it, i kicked up the fine sand. i need to get out in the ocean and get a zip lock bag of sand.

should i place the sand in a bowl and place it on my sand or should i just empty the bag onto it?

btw, there is nothing else in the tank. just salt water and sand. no fish or LR yet.

Originally Posted by guitarded

should i place the sand in a bowl and place it on my sand or should i just empty the bag onto it?

I'd sift through it first just to be safe. Also be sure it's collected in an area free of fish and human activity. No need to add unseen problems.

btw, there is nothing else in the tank. just salt water and sand. no fish or LR yet.

I realize that but your first post indicated rock would be added.

Cheers
Steve

[Heineken]

Same thing happened when I added my Aragamax. Others have suggested tricks like putting plastic bags over the sand and then pour the water in, but eventually the sand will kick up when you move things around when you add the LR.

The walls were extremely dusty for me and the water was even worse! Like others have said, the water will clear up when the bacteria starts to spread. I got impatient and used an old aqua clear hob filter with just the carbon and the water cleared up quickly. I don't know if this was harmful or not , but it worked great. Any ideas on this, guys and gals?

"Harmful" wouldn't be the word I would use, just not well recommended. The finer grains and dust offer even more surface areas for bacteria to colonize and strenghthen the biofilter. It is best not to rinse the sand or use mechanical filtration before it settles on it's own but in all honesty with enough LR, it wouldn't matter as much.

Cheers
Steve