Question About Sand

[PlatinumAngel]

Ok, so I come home to washed sand and a filled tank. Meaning I gave instructions, but didn't think it would actually get done. Anyways, I don't know how thouroghly it was washed ( said until the water runs clear and mix it around).
Well my question is, there is some gunk floating on the surface. Is that normal? Do I have to scoop it out or will it settle as well.
And roughly how long until the water starts to clear?

 

[minxfishy]

It doesnt normally take too long for the sand to settle, usually a few hours, depending on how well it was washed!! As for the gunk, if its still there later on in the day, get a paper kitchen towel and lay it gently on the surface to remove any debris

 

[PlatinumAngel]

cool thanks.

It seems to be better this morning, I can see the filter at the back now, where I couldn't last night.
Will try the paper towel trick if it's still floating there tonight when I get home. Does it just soak it up or move it around to collect it?

 

[minxfishy]

If its a good towel, should mop it up. Obviously dont leave it in there too long LOL, or you will have towel floating around the tank too

 

[PlatinumAngel]

lol ok, will give it a try tonight. We use Bounty, it's pretty good.

lol this tank is 25 inches deep, and the one who washed the sand, filled it up. No decorations, no air stones in it yet lol, so it'll be a bit difficult to put the stuff in there. I'll barely reach

 

[johno]

Took my sand over a day to settle fully, but i have realy clear water and im picky, so if its not 100% crystal, im not happy

 

[PlatinumAngel]

lol well I'll probably be the same way. Encouraging though that I can see a bit more now. I'd say it was about 16 hours this morning when I got up. Hoping by the time I get home it'll be clearer.

 

[OldMan47]

I just filled one with sand yesterday and put on a sponge filter with a power head. When I came home it had not improved a bit but when I looked closer I noticed that I had serious beach erosion going on. The tank had become bare bottom across about a third of it and had sand dunes in the other parts. It looked to me like I might have had a little too much flow so I put a smaller filter in this morning. It is settling down nicely now. I'm glad I had a cycled filter to go to since there are fish in the tank.

 

[PlatinumAngel]

We haven't turned on our filter yet. Hopefully it'll be ok. although it's really high so it probably will be fine. Glad it's working better for you now.

 

[NonstickRon]

Ok, so I come home to washed sand and a filled tank. Meaning I gave instructions, but didn't think it would actually get done. Anyways, I don't know how thouroghly it was washed ( said until the water runs clear and mix it around).
Well my question is, there is some gunk floating on the surface. Is that normal? Do I have to scoop it out or will it settle as well.
And roughly how long until the water starts to clear?

lol, thats what you get for delegating...

 

[PlatinumAngel]

lol yeah, but didn't expect it to actually get done! Or have it filled as well (I didn't ask for that lol)

 

[tyyrlym]

Your filter will speed up the clearing up issue. While the sand isn't goof for the moving parts persay, if the sand was well rinsed what you're dealing with is super fine material and the tolerances in your average aquarium filter are not tight enough for these fines to create real wear issues.

My water took about ten days to hit what I'd call crystal clear, but my method of judging that was to look down the entire 4 foot length of my 55 gallon tank.

 

[PlatinumAngel]

so should I turn on the filter while it's still settling? I was under the impression that I was supposed to wait.

 

[tyyrlym]

I would. You're going on 17 hours since your first post about this. Most of your large and damaging particles have fallen out of suspension by now. What's clouding your water are the very fine particles. It will take a long time for them to fall out and any movement in the sand bed will fog up the aquarium all over again. That's stuff you want out of the water, not settling. It'll gum your filter pads up but a good rinse will remove the sand stuck to them. A lot of the stuff you're seeing in the water needs to be filtered out, not waited out.

When I set up my sand I didn't have my filter going. After 24 hours my tank was still a milky mess. I cranked on my filter and 24 hours later it was a huge improvement. Today when I clean my tank nothing clouds up, my sand is all heavy particles and settles immediately.

Me, I'd turn it on.

 

[PlatinumAngel]

good to know. I'll flip her on when I get home. by then it will have been about 28 hours or so.