Is this Normal?

[rykitten]

I finally am getting my butt into gear and setting up the 80 gal.

I just added 100 lbs. of sand and it looks mighty cloudy. I thought I washed it well . . . Is this normal?

Should I unplug the filter until the sand settles?

 

[lady_tanksalot]

mine took about two days to clear, i kept the filter running cus it was from my old tank

glad i did it, it looks so much better than the gravel in my other tanks and the clown loaches LOVE it

 

[cometcattle]

I'd unplug it , Ry.

I left my filter unplugged until it settled. Your don't want your impeller to get jammed.

 

[Jen]

When i changed my tank to sand I washed 50lb of sand in a 5 gal bucket. I did it in probably 4 or 5 batches, washing stiring, draining for about 20 minutes a bucket. It took a looooong time, but when I added it to the tank, I had very little if any cloudiness.

If you keep the filter running, then you will be able to grab some of the debris floating in the water and help it clear up faster IMO

 

[smithrc]

I'd say it wasnt washed enough...

If the fine particals are in the tank - they will get stirred back up at a later date...

I'd reccomend syphoning the tank back down (after mixing it about a lot) and filling (vigoursly) again and hopefully it'll clear up.

this is what our tank looked like 30 mins after we set it up (with play sand)
only a slight cloudyness. (but i washed the sand for about 1 hour, in a bin with a hosepipe)

 

[clutterydrawer]

i washed the sand for my 15g for two days (not continuously...!) you need to not just wash off the dirt but remove the finest particles of sand

as a precaution, once I'd put the sand in i replaced some of my filter media with extra-fine media to catch any stray sand particles.

 

[rykitten]

Yea, I think I didn't wash it well enough. It looks the same this morning as it did yesterday afternoon.

Thanks for the replies. I'll start siphoning later today

 

[canarsie11]

Keep us posted. Should settle in a couple of days

 

[Rdelusion]

Smith I'm in the UK as well and I've been looking to buy some sand for my tank. Where did you buy yours?

Is there a difference in the look of the play sand, silica sand and aquarium sand?

 

[sunflower]

I've just bought some play sand from B&Q. It was about £4 for 25kg

 

[smithrc]

Smith I'm in the UK as well and I've been looking to buy some sand for my tank. Where did you buy yours?

Is there a difference in the look of the play sand, silica sand and aquarium sand?

Argos - 2.49 for a bag

 

[Rdelusion]

got to love argos!

 

[robgurr]

how do you clean a sand bottom tank??? you wouldn't use a syphon would you?

 

[smithrc]

how do you clean a sand bottom tank??? you wouldn't use a syphon would you?

yep... but remove the big plastic tube and just use the hose, hovering the hose just above the sand - the poop will get sucked up nicely.

 

[rykitten]

Yay!!! I emptied the tank while stirring vigorously (thank you smirthrc) and sprayed the heck out of it.

It's not perfect but it looks a whole lot better than it did. Thanks everyone