How To Reduce Cloudy Water From Sand

[DrSlackBladder]

I'm thinking I'll do the sand adding with fish in the tank; must be less stressful than netting them, and they've been ok in the tank while I removed all the gravel. Any tips on the bottle method? Or its it just as the youtube video shows; fill a bottle with dry sand straight from the bag, sit it in the tank, let it fill up with water, then turn upside down until sand has fallen out, then remove bottle full of dirty water? I'm just doing one bag of the 8kg Pets@Home sand gravel to start with, should cover the bottom of a 100 l tank to about an inch, I hope. The add more if needed to go a bit deeper at the back of the tank. Still nervous about getting a tank full of murky water! Might do it tomorrow evening after a final vac of last remaining rubbish at the bottom of the tank now.....

 

[zain611]

My tank did get murkey after adding the sand with the bottle method but for a while or overnight it might clear up as you already removed most of the dirt from the bottle also can you help me on one of my threads i just made

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Post pics using the full reply editor; your pics can be selected from your hard drive but need to be reduced to 100kB or less in size. Would love to see some pics of your new substrate! SO do you recommend the bottle method now you're done?

 

[zain611]

When i saw the effects of using it, it made the water murkey but if you left that overnight the water might be crystal clear in the morning as you should remember that you will see alot of dirt which the bottle would pick up from the sand

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Sorry, don't fully understand - if you were changing another tank from gravel to sand, would you use the bottle method or the traditional bucket washing method? Thanks!

 

[sputnick]

I used the bottle method lastnight adding sand to my 10 gallon tank.. and boy oh boy im glad i removed my fish (only two) it didn't work for me.. idk if it was because of my sand or what.. i have very fine play sand that was already damp so it packed together to form some air pockets but i tried to get most of the air out. It worked for the first 2 or 3 times but then it went down hill from there. but i do have to say after complete water change and 20 minutes it was absolutly crystal clear. My 45 gallon tank on the other hand is still a little clouded. not bad but enough to annoy me. i guess another water change is in order. that should help.

 

[zain611]

Yeah even though it makes the water cloudy still it will settle down faster as you did remove most of the dirt from the bottle

 

[zain611]

Hows you gravel to sand changing going DrSlackBladder ?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

No progress last few days, just letting it settle down and small water change every couple of days to vac up all the crud that was under the gravel. Been testing water just out of curiosity; never saw any ammonia or nitrite, so looks like my filter bacteria coped with losing any gravel bacteria ok. So still bare bottom tank, fish seem happy still, shrimp are in hiding in a plant, until I find a couple of hours free to get it done without rushing. Probably do it Saturday. Got any pics you can post?

 

[zain611]

I need permition to use the camera from my dad

 

[Whitey_144]

guys, I tried your bottle method last weekend...I think I've found an improvement! I had already done a brief rinse, before I saw this thread so it was already wet. I was going to put it in a bottle, but most I had would probably crumple...then I saw a 2 litre milk bottle, but though the sand might get stuck inside on the handle. ...so I kept looking around my kitchen and found....dun dundah! My old protein shaker that I use to use after gym.

similar to this, I get em free when I buy online etc
http/www.discount-supplements.co.uk/training-accessories-gym-nutrisport-shaker-bottle?utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=GoogleBase&utm_term=NutrisportShakerBottle&CAWELAID=1567161162&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CLruxKHolbQCFQ7LtAodtSYAAA

Its basically a hard bottle with a screwable lid and small hole with removeable cap. So it was ideal, I just opened it, scooped up the wet sand, screwed it back on opened the cap and bang! it worked perfectly.

The water was a little bit cloudy, but i think more from my non bottle test. so I just used filter wool, didnt seem to bother my angelfish at all.

just thought id let you know in case you have wet sand and trying to funnel it into a bottle still.

thanks,
adam

 

[zain611]

I probably would say that your water will still get cloudy after using the bottle method but it gets crystal clear much faster like when i first used sand i had that murkey water for ever since i put it in which was about a month till i changed to gravel but when i tried the bottle method with sand the cloudy water cleard up in the night and i added my wool pad which is used for cleaning the walls of the aquarium in the filter as i thought it might catch sand particles but im not 100% sure if this helpped clear up the water

 

[zain611]

Water paremeters are looking back to normal any progress on your sand changing DrSlackBladder?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

The change is completed! Added half the sand last night, let it settle, filter back on, was clear after an hour. Added the rest tonight, also got rid of my plastic bogwood and added a real piece which I'd been soaking for a few days, also added a few stones from the forest that I'd washed and boiled. Just put filter back on, should be clear in an hour or so. Really happy with the sand, and the bottle washing/adding method, worked exactly as planned and so quick, with no mess!!! Would definitely recommend it. Will post some before and after pics tomorrow when the water's clear. Kept checking water all the way through the whole gravel/sand change process, and all was good. With the benefit of pH going from around 8 down to 7.2 after sand had been in for 24 hours. This is good for my tetras, and everything else should be happy around neutral, but is this normal/expected from adding Pets@Home aquarium gravel sand? Anyway, job done and very happy (so are the corys and shrimp!).....

 

[zain611]

Did you check ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? you probably may not need to but its best to check also glad to see everything went alright