Added Sand

[UK_Dave]

Whats the easiest or best way to get the cloudiness out of the water?

I used sand in my tank the other day, and I knew the water would get a bit cloudy, but its not seeming to settle...is there any way I can sort it easy enough?

thanks

 

[roadmaster]

Whats the easiest or best way to get the cloudiness out of the water?

I used sand in my tank the other day, and I knew the water would get a bit cloudy, but its not seeming to settle...is there any way I can sort it easy enough?

thanks

Have found that the more the sand is rinsed, the less clouding of the water.
Rinsed 100 lbs for an 80 gal tank and it took me the better part of an afternoon. I rinsed twenty pounds at a time and rinsed each twenty pounds three or four times. Even then, some clouding took place,but was clear within 24 hours.
Eventually, I believe the sand will settle and clouding will clear. Just depends on how long you spent rinsing it.

 

[fett999]

As long as you have got a filter running the cloudiness will soon go. If you haven't it can take ages. There was someone on here who put it in and left it to settle and a week later it was still cloudy. He put a filter in and it cleared in about 24 hours.
Think it depends on the type of sand you've got and where you got it from. I got mine from Homebase, only spent about 15 or 20 mins cleaning it and never had any clouding, but I also has my filter running from the start.
Don't worry, it'll clear fairly quickly.

 

[UK_Dave]

I got the play sand from Argos, put it in on Wednesday night, then added a bit more last night to up certain levels after they landscaped it themselves

Its not really bad, but its enough to still annoy me as im used to having crystal clear water

I have had the filter running since I put the water back into the tank, I filled it up half way, started the filter, and just raised the filter up as the water was being added...So its been running since about 8pm on wednesday night

 

[Harlequins]

I used argos playsand and had no probs,took a while to rinse it though

Why don't you do a waterchange and when you refil it try not to kick the sand around.

 

[UK_Dave]

Could do...When I did add the water, I used a plastic plate and a hose to syphon the water in, putting the water straight onto the plate so it wouldnt upset any of the sand, worked well

The good thing is, is the water isnt really badly cloudy, but just more than im used to, im used to the water being very clean...Which is probably why im being picky lol!

 

[sxad]

is there any real difference using sand than the rocks / gravel stuff?

 

[UK_Dave]

Well, in the 2 days ive had it I have noticed:

Its SO much easier to clean! The waste from the fish just sit on top rather than getting covered with gravel, so when hoovering it, the rubbish just gets pulled up straight away rather than having to move the stones to get alot of it, plus loads will get missed! I found that uneaten food and fish waste can get hidden under the stones by my clowns and plec moving the gravel around, this wont help with trying to keep the chemical levels down

And it looks so much cleaner and natural!

Last night, I cleaned it up and it took me 10mins, rather than the half hour it used to take...Most of my time is removing the excess poo from my plec, as all he seems to do is poo! Its like food in 1 end and straight out of the other end lol!