# Sand causing cloudy water?



## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

Ummm, anyone? Anything I left out?


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## newshound (May 9, 2005)

frmrreefr said:


> I am using play sand from HD ( I know, I know...) which I did not wash.


live and learn


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## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

thanks....


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## dissident (Oct 15, 2003)

I would pull it all out... sorry 
You are just going to have problems with it I think. Every time you move plants you will just stirr up more of the silt/powder.

If I was going to do it I would (save as much water as I can in a plastic tub from HD ~$10, and the fish and plants), run a hose into the hex and a syphon out, clean the sand right there in the tank. mix it up and siphon the crap out. Drain it when done add the old water back, and top it off. Thats the lazy-mans way :icon_redf



BTW who made your hex, ive been looking for one that size for a long time around here and 60gal seems to be the max i can find.


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## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

Thanks Diss! That's actually what I went ahead and did this past weekend! It was disgusting. 

I purchased my hex through a person locally and he really didn't have any info as to where he got it from. I have been trying to find where this tank was made but can not find any info whatsoever. The only markings that my tank has is a date of August 18, 1992! That's it nothing else at all...Being a 13 year old tank, it's in impeccable shape which is what prompted me to buy it. And the fact that it is a tank that you don't see very often.


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## Carpet-Pond (Aug 9, 2003)

*Playsand and flourite*

So frmrreefr, how is it working out for you now? I switched my substrate over the weekend also to playsand.. with a layer of flourite underneath. I only rinsed the sand once so i have a cloudy mess as well.. even though I only used half a bag. 

I'm wondering how many times I will need to siphon before it clears up. I'm also wondering if purposely stirring it up before siphoning will speed things along. My plants aren't getting enough light and I may need to move them to another tank if it doesn't clear up within another day or two. They aren't looking too healthy.

Thanks,
Carpet-Pond


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

frmrreefr said:


> Should I pull everything out and wash the sand, or should I stop the water changes and just give it time?


I can't answer your question directly, but maybe you can benefit from my own similar experience...

I did the same as you recently - started a new tank with sand in it, and did not rinse the sand first. Yes, I have no excuse...

The water was so cloudy I thought it was GW. But when it did not get any better or worse after a couple of days, I realized it was something else... sand dust!

I'm lucky enough to have a HOT Magnum to polish my water, and that cleaned things up within 24 hours. If you can get your hands on a water polishing filter, I'm sure it will do the same for you.


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## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

I actually still have some cloudiness to my water! It seems it wasn't because of the sand. I think I have some ongoing bacterial blooom of some sort. It has never turned into GW (thank goodness). I do a 90% water change and the next day it gets cloudy again! I just don't know what the heck is going on!

Any Ideas?


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

frmrreefr said:


> I am using play sand from HD ( I know, I know...)


I did the same thing when I first set up my 55 gallon. Except I turned on my filters and add floss to them thinking that it would help it clear. I ruined the motor on my AC HOB filter and had to replace that. If you still want the sand look get larger diameter silica sand as I did.


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## dissident (Oct 15, 2003)

frmrreefr said:


> I actually still have some cloudiness to my water! It seems it wasn't because of the sand. I think I have some ongoing bacterial blooom of some sort. It has never turned into GW (thank goodness). I do a 90% water change and the next day it gets cloudy again! I just don't know what the heck is going on!
> 
> Any Ideas?


Just hang in there, it happens and should clear up soon. If you have any filter media from another tank shove that into your filter, that should speed up the process.
When I set up my 110gal I had a bacterial bloom from hell, and it lasted about 2 weeks.


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## motard (Jan 16, 2005)

scolley said:


> I can't answer your question directly, but maybe you can benefit from my own similar experience...
> 
> I did the same as you recently - started a new tank with sand in it, and did not rinse the sand first. Yes, I have no excuse...
> 
> ...



i second the polisher/micron filter.

i just set up 2 10 gallons tonight. both with play sand. didnt wash it at all.
they were both cloudy as hell.

threw the micron on one and its been 1/2 an hour...and its twice as clear as the other tank. within 12 hours it will be crystal clear.

then ill throw it on the second tank..


play sand can work fine. ive grown everything from ludwigas to glosso to aromatica in it.


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## Carpet-Pond (Aug 9, 2003)

One way to clear up this kind of mess is to use a python type siphon. Set the suction to the sink at a medium level so that only the smallest particles are sucked up. Put a bowl in the sink to catch any sand so that it doesn't clog your drain. If you do this a few times, you will lose some sand but the idea is to get only the finest particles and leave behind the bigger ones and hopefully rid the tank of dust. Worked for me anyway.


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## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

Thanx for all the replies guys! I did get the sand washed thoroughly and I added the flourite that I had in my 20gal to speed up the process ( lot's O mulm!). That was a week ago. 

Do you guys think I should stop with the water changes and just let it be? I would hate to do that as it truly looks spectacular when the water is crystal clear! But if necessary I will stop and see what happens....


BTW, do you guys know if amazon swords EVER STOP FLOWERING!?!?!?! This thing is about 24" in circumference and puts out a new spray of flowers every week! It has been doing this for about 4 months now. They are crisp white flowers with 3 petals and a bright yellow center. Very wildflowerish (word?) looking and they have a sweet smell at night that you can't sense until you get really close. I'm not complaining but it's starting to be a hassle trimming those stems in a 36" deep tank!


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## Not Mister Green (Feb 15, 2005)

*Gypsum clears muddy water by causing the tiny soil particles to clump together and se*

(settle to the bottom)

This is a possible cheap and easy solution depending on the nature of the particles in the water, the chemical properties of your tank and your fish population. 

Its worked for me and is definetely worthty of consideration, IMO. 

Here's a cut and paste from this link:
http://www.perigee.net/~jrjohns/gypsum.htm

"GYPSUM

(CaSO4)

Gypsum, as calcium sulfate is commonly known, is an invaluable material for watergarden use. It is a common mineral, with many uses, from being a major component in home and building construction to food additive (http://www.minerals.net/mineral/sulfates/gypsum/gypsum.htm and http://www.dietriot.com/fff/mcd/mcd.html ). 

Calcium sulfate is particularly useful in the watergarden because of its water clarification properties. As an electrolyte, calcium sulfate is useful in maintaining fish health, and is a listed ingredient in the product "POND SALT" sold by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (http://www.aquariumpharm.com/ ). Calcium sufate is used in municipal water supply treatment plants for water clarification, and has been proposed as a replacement for aluminum sulfate for this purpose because of concern over human consumption of aluminum (http://www.globalideasbank.org/BOV/BV-211.HTML). 

It is helpful for calcium sulfate to be dissolved before adding to your pond, in order to avoid clogging your fishes gills with the particles. For this reason, you should mix the gypsum with water, creating a slurry before adding to your biofilter. Rates of calcium sulfate application vary with water turbidity and PH. Don Steinback and Billy Higginbotham offer a method for determination of application rates based on test samples of water clearing rates. (http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D11/Calhoun/Mar/Recfish/Pondmgt/mudpond.htm>)

Their chart applies to farm ponds and is presented in pounds of gypsum per foot-acre of pond. Their method is mix two level tablespoons of gypsum in 1 gallon of water, stirring until the gypsum is in a slurry. Then in 1 gallon glass jugs, collect several samples of the pond water to be tested. Then add the slurry to the sample jars at various rates (Number of tablespoons ) and record how many tablespoons of the slurry you placed in each jug on the jug. After 12 hours, the jug with the least number of tablespoons of slurry that has cleared will tell you how much gypsum to add to your pond. I have converted their chart to home watergarden use as follows:

Gypsum Application chart per 1,000 gallons of pool water


# TBLSP Slurry Added
Pounds of Gypsum to Apply
Resulting PPM

1 
.2
29.4

2 
.5
58.8

3 
.7
88.3

4 
1
117.7

5 
1.2
147.1

6 
1.5
176.5

7 
1.7
205.9

8 
2.0
235.4

9 
2.2
264.8

10 
2.5
294.2

11 
2.7
323.6

12 
2.9
353.0



There is an alternate way to add calcium sulfate to your pond, and at the same time, increase your pond's PH buffering capacity. Dr Johnson's KOIVET site has full instructions on making your own "PH PILL" at http://www.koivet.com/phpill.htm."


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## frmrreefr (Jan 5, 2005)

Sounds interesting, but it's not something I would want to put into my aquarium. I don't like to use flocculants of any kind, especially something that's going to increase the hardness of my water as it's pretty hard coming out of the tap as it is. I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and just wait it out. 

BTW, as I am writing this the water in my tank has taken on a greenish tinge!  Crap! I never had to deal with this in my other tank and it was just as brightly lit but with diy Co2 injection not pressurized! I stopped adding ferts of any kind last week 'cept for KNO3 and that I use to maintain a steady rate of about 15-20 ppm. Water coming out of the tap has about 1-2 ppm of No3. Well guess I'm gonna have to say bye bye to the fish for about three to five days! I'm off to find a blanket big enough to cover my tank!


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## bavarian3 (Feb 22, 2005)

I hate to say it but i would honestly remove it. You wont stop having problems with it as long as its in there. I used this in my cichlid tank for a long time and the tank was always dusty. Every water change no matter how hard i tried to not to disturb the sand it would always make a mess, not to mention it can damage your filters. 
What i would just do is deal with it now before having it hanging on your shoulder the whole time you keep this tank. What i did was remove the shovel part off my syphon so its just a tube, and i suck out all the sand into a bucket. It took me a few water changes worth of syphoning, but this seemed to be the best way to get it out. 

If you do remove it, and would like to use sand, i recommend pool filter sand. The grain is thicker (So it wont be so messy) and the sand is much cleaner. Make sure to rinse it out alot, as you should be with almost any substrate.


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## banderbe (Oct 10, 2005)

Fine grain sand is fine. I used silica sand with great results. Unfortunately the sand looks terrible after the fish poop enough and no amount of siphoning can get rid of all the poop, and it gathers around the plant bases, and looks horrible. I will never use sand again.

That being said, it is easy to wash and will result in crystal clear water.

Put the sand in a 5lb bucket, spray it with a hose (use blasting nozel or your thumb for high pressure spray) and when the bucket is full of water, pour the water off, and do this again. Eventually the water will be crystal clear in the bucket and your sand is clean.


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