Sand Troubles

R

rory

Guest
The water in my tank is still murky from when i added the sand 2 days ago i'm very worried that i didn't wash it properly (although the water did run clear after about ten minutes of washing) did i do something wrong or is it just taking a while to settle ????
 
just taking a while to settle
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mine took ages
 
after i changed my old sand to new stuff (wanted finer stuff) it went cloudy still but i did 25% water changes each day to combat that and just incase the tank did a mini cycle due to changing all the substrate
 
keep your filter running (and clean it if it gets a lot of sediment in it) and be a little patient. Different sand will take different times.

I washed mine for about 20-30 mins, and even then it was a day or two of murkiness.
 
well I had to wash my sand for a couple of hours before it ran clear, and even the water on top once it settled was lovely and clear, but once I put it it the tank, it went murky, but cleared in about 1 and a half days.. So I guess even if the water runs clear when you wash it, no matter how long you wash it for, it will still go murky in the tank. It is weird, and because I am curious, does anyone know why it goes murky? or is it just the angle we look at it from, as in when we wash it we are looking down on it, but once in the tank, we are looking through it so to speak... smiles. Therefore the particles not normally seen because we are looking down through to sand on the bottom can be seen when we don't have the sand as a background. Hope that made sense.... smiles
 
Makes perfect sense ^WINK^. Guess it depends on how dense or heavy it is and how fine it is etc. As Charlie said . . . different types of sand will take different times to settle properly.

I am changing the substrate in one of my tanks tonight. Wish me luck
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All went well, no cloudyness or murky water and it settled down within an hour of adding it. YAY

Falkor and Lotle are lovin their new "carpet".

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Will post some pics of new setup soon.
 
Ok update time the water did settle but it had alayer of fine white silty material and as soon as i put the ornaments in the sand kicked up and made it cloudy again so i emptied the tank scraped the thin layer off and i'm waiting for it to settle.
 
did you break the whole tank down and wash everything? if so you will have to start the cycle over.. could a siphon not remove the silt?
 
i siphoned the silt and am using the same ornaments and putting a stocking of old gravel in the tank to help but i don't want to turn on the filter incase the cloudiness in the water is abrasive and it may wreck the impeller and shaft of the filter
 
Ok thanks i will wait a bit more and then turn the filter on THankyou all
 
Sadly the filter didn't do the trick and the water is still murky any suggestions????
 
water changes, trying to take the silt as much as possible with the syphon, and putting the new water in as carefully as possible so as not to stir up too much more of it. (I try to pour the water onto something in the tank like a tunnel or piece of driftwood to avoid making any more current than I need to.)
 
when i pour my water in i pour it into my hand just above the waters surface, works a treat.

have you got some filter wool in your filters? might take a bit of gunk out. other than that what charlie said, water changes will do the trick nicely
 
Also - are you syphoning out the water? because if you're just taking it off the surface you won't be getting the silt out anywhere near as well as a syphon would.
 
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Rory wrote on Thursday, 02 March, 2006 - 08:10 :</font>

" Sadly the filter didn't do the trick and the water is still murky any suggestions????"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Be patient. Clean-up of physical opacity due to the sand, may take even a week, depends on the sand and tank capacity. I put into my tank river sand which is like a flour... ;) After 23 hours, visibility throughout the water is a bit better (with 700l/h filter on) So, I expect to have it done within next 3-4 days. :D
 
Thanu all i will start water changes with my hand as a cup to stop some current and i may buy some filter wool it's a sponge in the filter.
 
Make sure you rinse out the sponge too then, (in tank water.)

I don't use my hand, but make sure I pour it over a large tank ornament/tunnel so it'll dissapate the flow, or pour it thru my Hang On Back filter so it makes it smooth
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good luck
 
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