Just Started Up A 20 Gal High, How Long For The Sand To Settle?

[Ruskull]

Hello,

I rinsed the playsand in a 1 gallon bucket with about an inch of sand in it at a time. Each 1 inch took about 15 fills & pours until it settled quickly enough in the bucket. It took me almost 3 hours to do a little less than half of a 50 pound bag.

I filled the tank a half hour ago & it still looks cloudy to the point that I can't see the background. Is it normal for it to take this long? How long should it take til it's clear? I have (2) 20 gallon filters on right now with a cheesey 50 watt heater.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Yeah that's perfectly normal, no matter how much you seem to rinse the sand it still cloud's the tank. After a few hours you will see a difference but it should be crystal clear the next day (Overnight basically)

 

[HannahBear77]

it took my sand about a day to settle, i noticed when i put a bowl in over top of the sand and poor water over top of the bowl i dont have any issues with the water being cloudy from the sand

 

[Ruskull]

Thanks guys, I guess I shouldn't try to move the 10 gallon inhabitants tonight then. I'll get their tank filled back up again. I had to do a 50% water change just to move it & I thought I'd be able to move the fish tonight..............

 

[Tizer]

dunno what play sand you used, sounds like hard work, but back when i did it to my tank, this is what it looked like after i filled it with water

 

[Ruskull]

dunno what play sand you used, sounds like hard work, but back when i did it to my tank, this is what it looked like after i filled it with water

Thanks for rubbing me nose in it..............

My friend stopped by while I was doing it & he said I should use pool filter sand instead because the grains are larger. He also said the sparkly looking stuff in the sand was mica..............not sure if he's right.

Anyway, I used Quickrete brand playsand because that's what Lowe's had. I rinsed each bucket like 15 times with only an inch in the bottom. I loaded the empty tank with the mud and filled slowly with water on a plastic flosting plate.

It's def. more clear now but still not where it should be.

 

[Ruskull]

Maybe I shouldn't have the filter running? I have the airstone turned off...................

Here's a few pictures so far, a few hours short of 24 hours later:

 

[HannahBear77]

the first time when i filled my tank up thats what it looked like which took a few days after that for it to settle and i rinsed both bags out pretty well

 

[Tizer]

chuck some filter wool in the filter and it will take out the small particles. job done.

 

[Ruskull]

chuck some filter wool in the filter and it will take out the small particles. job done.

Filter wool? What's that? I have a Top Fin 20 adjustable water flow piece of junk filter on it right now that has a new filter cartridge, is that what you mean?

Eventually I'll add another filter, a Penguin 100 Bio wheel that's currently running on the 10 gallon tank next to it. That filter is cycled and both are rated for a max of 20 gallons.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Other then the cloudiness the sand looks great. I just bought four bags of the quickrete play sand the other day and haven't started cleaning it yet...looks like I'm in for a very, very long week.

I just changed my 46 to black sand but that seemed much heavier then the play sand, it's settled fast.

Are you trying some extra filter wool like tizer suggested? Was your filter running?

oops just saw you were replying....I threw a piece of filter floss in the front of my cartridge to catch any black sand particles...seems to be working. I got it at petco for $6

 

[Ruskull]

Other then the cloudiness the sand looks great. I just bought four bags of the quickrete play sand the other day and haven't started cleaning it yet...looks like I'm in for a very, very long week.

I just changed my 46 to black sand but that seemed much heavier then the play sand, it's settled fast.

Are you trying some extra filter wool like tizer suggested? Was your filter running?

oops just saw you were replying....I threw a piece of filter floss in the front of my cartridge to catch any black sand particles...seems to be working. I got it at petco for $6

Thanks, I'll look into that this week. I pass PetCo & PetSmart on my way home from work everyday.

I have a combination of black sand & black gravel in my 36 gallon shown in my signature. The black sand was "Stoney River" brand and it cleaned up much faster than this Quickrete stuff. In retrospect I would've paid the extra money for the saved labor because as we all know, time is money.

 

[Tizer]

filter wool is filter wool, google it

 

[FishFanatic04]

maybe it'll settle after another night... You're making me nervous since I'm using the same stuff lol

I use this sand in my kids sandbox and now I feel like crap because I'm going to spend hours and hours cleaning it for my fish but didn't for my kids... I'm pretty sure my 2 year old eats it.

 

[HannahBear77]

when i was a kid i thought about eating it, when it was wet it did look kind of temping
i wouldnt worry bout it to much it will eventually settle after 2 days