Sandy Cloudy Water

[skidmarks]

Hi All,

I wonder if someone can put my mind a rest. I recently purchased a Orca TL 450 marine tank.
On Saturday afternoon I added RO water and salt. All the salt disolved and I had a reading of 1.024.
Then upon the advise of my LFS I added some live wet sand and live rock. Since then my tank has been totally cloudy, a murky cloudy.

Is this normal? Should I leave it a few more days to clear? Should I turn off the pump and let things settle etc?

I don't think it is going to settle. The spray bar was covered in sand particles again this evening which indicates to me that the pump is just recirculating the sand and not allowing it to settle. I think I will have to stop the pump or change the water. In terms of the cycle what would be the least damaging?

 

[leeandstacie]

I think if you stop the pump it will only take overnight to settle. I am no expert in the salty side but I dont think this will be detrimental really to your cycle just slow it a little

Cheers

 

[injektion]

do you have any powerheads on as well? if you do turn those off but keep the pump on, turn your spray bars higher if you can so that it doesn't disturb the sand bed. it should all settle within a day. then again i've always just waited it a few days for the sand to settle, since it's going to take a few weeks for the cycle anyway. and since you're still early in the cycle i'd say just let the pump run and use some filter floss to filter out the loose particles.

stopping the pump will kill your cycle and create a lot of ammonia.

you don't need to do a water change imo.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah I wouldn't turn the pumps off. I would put a bunch of filter floss in one of the back compartments for a few days to help clear the water.

 

[DigitalStorm]

Just let it settle - it will do eventually.

Have you got any pumps directed at the sand?

 

[skidmarks]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Just to let you know that the water has started to clear on its own without any intervention from me.

 

[seffieuk]

another new tank for us to look at dont forget the photos

Seffie x