Cloudy Tank!!!

[tony]

I am setting up a 65 gal reef. Just pour two bag of aragonite sand in the tank. Do you have to pre-wash the sand because my tank been cloudy all day. I was trying to do some aqua-scaping but the tank keeps getting cloudy every time i move a piece of rock. I notice that there is a fine layer of sand above the sand. This layer seems to cloud up the tank everytime i go in to move the rock. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thanks
Tony:confused:

[Brad Ward]

Hi Tony,

This is typical and it takes a while for the silty material to settle into the sand bed. IME, it takes a week or so to settle out sufficienty. If you have any mechanical filters that have a small enough pore, they can speed this along with a little work cleaning it frequently for about a day.

This pain in the a$$ silt actually is important in the formation of the strata that we want our sand beds to have to support future infauna. So it was good that you didn't rinse it all out.

In the future you might want to minimize the amount of silt that you stir up while filling the tank. Some methods I have used with moderate success is to add some tank water to the sand a week before adding it to sort of bind the particles together. Another method is to cover thr sand with plastic before adding the water and then removing after water has been added. Using a big dinner plate to diffuse the water entering the tank while filling. Any of these can be used singly or together depending on how much you hate waiting.;)

Good Luck,

Brad

[tony]

Thanks Brad