Live Sand?!?! Please help!
 

I just got my shipment of live sand today... I took the old sand out of the bottom of the tank and while I was doing so I was also taking some water too. When the water in the sand bucket go too high I scooped the water out in a plastic container and put it back in my tank (I think that was mistake #1 for today) Also, when I was done taking out the sand trhe water was cloudy and was low abuot 4 gallons. So, I decided to just pour some non-salt water into the tank and raise the salinity back to normal later (fish are not in the tank BTW). Then I put the CaribSea Araga-Live sand in and my tank turned into a big, white fog. I'm assuming that the such low salinity water killed all the live bacteria:confused: I have just changed 6 gallons (my tank is 20 BTW) and was mixing the salt in a bucket and then putting it in my tank.... I'm really not sure what to do next.

Thanks,

Billy

The Arag-Alive product isn't very live, so you're not missing much. You probably did kill a lot of bacteria when you gave them the low-salinity treatment, but the white fog effect is pretty common in any case. I think you're okay, but you need to get the salinity back to normal.

My reccomendation:

Most likely the bacteria is dead (even though the stuff in a bag isn't alive to begin with), also unless there is something in your tank as a bio-load (ie. fish, live rock, etc) it will starve and die.

I would just work on getting your salinity back to 1.025 and the temp to 75°-80°F. After that get a few pieces of live rock and add into the tank. Add a pack of bio-spira, and your tank should cylce fairly quickly (2-3 days).

Just keep an eye on your tank while it is cycling. Once ammonia hits 1ppm do a large enough water change to bring it back under 1ppm. I personally wont let mine go past 0.6ppm

"The Arag-Alive product isn't very live, so you're not missing much. You probably did kill a lot of bacteria when you gave them the low-salinity treatment, but the white fog effect is pretty common in any case. I think you're okay, but you need to get the salinity back to normal."

Before I add the rest of the sand? How long will it take for my tank to clear up and when can put my fish back?

A couple of hours. I don't recommend re-using old sand, I hope you don't develop HA or red slime in the near future.:mad2:

Add the sand before the fish, wait about an hour (you can acclamate your fish during this time) then add the fish and live rock. Your tank will be clear in about 5 hours. The "fog" wont hurt the fish as they are use to this in the wild (waves stirring up the sand ).

I'm not re-using the old sand, I bought new sand.... and I have had red slime algae before and it was not fun:D

what do you plan on putting in the tank?

I'm using Arag-Alive from CaribSea

Sorry, I ment what do you plan on putting in there (ie. fish, coral, ext.)

Read my previous post on this thread and it will get you fixed up.

Did you have live rock in the tank?

Fareforce: I have 2 clownfish, not in the tank at this time, and I plan on having corals soon.

Bertoni: I have no LR right now, but I will shortly.

Well, assuming you didn't kill your filtration, you should be free to put the fish back in at any time. Waiting an hour might be useful, I guess.

In general, I think you should avoid any spikes to the salinity of a tank while it's running.

If you are planning on corals, now is also a good time to get your ph to 8.3.

DON'T ADD YOUR CLOWNFISH!!!!!!
You need to get things stablized first. Buy some live rock and bio-spira to cycle your tank. If you try to cycle it with clowns IT WILL KILL THEM!!!

Where are the clownfish now?

They are in a 5 gal Home Depot bucket.. w/ a heater and some sand

Hmm.. You might see if your LFS could keep them while your tank cycles. If you follow what i said and use bio-spira you will be able to add the clowns in about 3 days.

One thing I forgot to mention is keep the bio-spira cold until you use it. Also wait until your tanks ammonia spikes to 0.4ppm before you add the bio-spira. Then the next day it should be around 0.1ppm. Wait a day, and if ammonia is still 0.1ppm then add fish.

If you can't aford live rock right now, you could always sub 1 damsel per 5 gal of tank to cyle. I hate this method because it is cruel, but sometimes you do what you have to do. Make sure you remove damsels before adding the clows. You might also talk to your LFS as mine will "loan" out damsels to cycle a tank.

BTW cute beagle.. Reminds me of mine!!

Hmm, if the LFS will host them for a bit, that's probably the safest approach, although they might pick up a disease, I guess.

You can cycle the live rock in a container separately from the tank when it arrives, though.

The clownfish have been in my tank for a while and my tank cycled a while back. I originally started out with regular sand, but now seeing all the beautiful reefs with the very white sand I thought it looked much nicer, IMO. I didn't plan on it taking it this long, I though it was a very simple procecure thats why I temporarily put them in a bucket. I will be up for another 6 hours anyway so hopefully it will be clear by then. [QUOTE]You can cycle the live rock in a container separately from the tank when it arrives, though.[/QUOTE] I've not ordered it yet and I'm hoping that I will start corals soon. I just bought a 150W 14k MH today (SunPod- Current USA) [url]http://www.findamentals.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=398[/url]
I'm not sure when I'll be able to buy some live rock condering it is a little pricey and I'm not Bill Gates. So, for not I will just try to get the fog out of my tank and hopefully everything will be ok.

Her name is Copper, BTW:D

Do Clownfish eat "Sea Veggies"?

If you are just changing the sand and the tank is cycled you can put your fish back in. Really didnt need to take them out. The cloudyness is just calcium from the sand rubbing together in shipment. If you are duing corals you should have LR. Dr. Forster and Smith have a great deal on theirs right now.

My clown fish doesn't.

How long will it be before it settles and becomes clear again?

Bio-spira is the biggest WASTE of money ever. I would not recomend it to anybody. IT SUCKS