New sand and cloudy water

[sammie68]

Hi again everyone,

Well I've started setting up the 3ft tank for Taco. I've added sand after washing and rinsing, washing and rinsing, washing and rinsing, well you get the idea...anyway after adding it to the tank it is still rather cloudy. I'm just wondering how long it would take to settle down ? Should I let the filter run or will that stir it up even more ?

I've also tested the water and amonia is 0mg/l : nitrite (NO2) is 0mg/l : PH is neutral. I don't have a test kit for nitrate yet but if everything else is ok does that mean the nitrate would be stable as well ?

Here are some pics of the tank so far;

Thanks again for taking the time to read and help
Regards Sammie

 

[Loobylou]

As long as the sand is thoroughly washed it should settle in an hour or so. When I give my tank a real good clean out or move around the ornaments, my sand often makes my water cloudy, but it settles pretty quick.

 

[Kaysie]

You can run your filter; it will help clear the water a bit. But you'll have to do a pretty good rinse of your filter media afterward. It will be pretty caked in 'dust'. Just take a big bowl of tank water, and rinse your filter media in that, and stick it back in the filter. Then you won't harm your cycle, and you'll remove materials that may harm your filter.

 

[sammie68]

Awesome thanks guys, It's still dusty in there so I'll turn on the filter and see what happens.

 

[katie11122]

Hey,

i had the same issue even after spend hours cleaningit! i had the filter running and kept replacing the medium as much as i could and on a weekly basis i replaced 80% of the water. it took about 4-5 water changes for the water to become really clear. it didnt worry my axies at all (kept a very close eye on the) so i wouldnt worry to much in time it will become clear.

 

[mogs9999]

I used cheap non toxic play sand , which tends to have lots of clay in it , but its cheap as. Chips, just try regular water changes and eventually all the clay will go from the sand and be left with good sand and good water,

Or if you used good quality sand it should settle after a bit

Try not to use a chemical to settle the tank as it will sit at the bottom and that where axololtl sspend most there time

 

[sammie68]

Well it's starting to look much better now guys, thanks for your advice. I changed the water each day and rinsed the media in the bucket of tank water. Lots and lots of dust came out when I did that. So I'm guessing I didn't wash the sand thoroughly enough.

 

[theJATM]

some sands create a fine dust that never really settle i found. it covers everything. but im not sure why.