Cloudy Water

If you were cycling the tank without and circulation (power heads) odds are the sand settled out and a fine layer of dust settled on top. the powder heads are now blowing it around. This is normal with new sand and should settle out in a few days. to test you could alway turn off the PH for a few hours to see if it settles. I guess it's important to know If the tiny bugs are what is the 'cloud' or are they just also in the water?

J

 

Jason, I cycled my tank without the powerheads, and yes, the cloudiness started after I installed them...I don't know if it's dust though...the skimmer is now working and it's skimming "mud" looking stuff out. I did a small water change, still cloudy. I have turned the PH off to see if it goes away. As for the bugs, the never showed up until the PHs were installed, I guess they were in the rock. There's a lot of 'em, but not enough to make the water cloudy. They stick to the glass and LS mostly. I was thinking about turning my HOT filter off too, so the only flow would come from the skimmer. What do you think?

 

Ya it sounds like it's just sand dust. I would turn everything on. this way it will work it's way out of the system. Take all the media out of your HOT filter and just put in filter floss. It's cheap and will collect the dust. That way you aren't wrecking your filter media.

J

 

Thanks Jason....question though....what's filter floss? can you post a link or something, so I can look at it?
Also, when you said "it will work its way out of the system" , you meant with the help of the HOT filter and skimmer right? or should I turn off the skimmer? I'm starting to doubt this will clear in the next few days, maybe a week or more, anyway, I was wondering, would it be ok to add a clownfish and maybe an anemone? or will the dust bug them?

Before I forget, after doing the small water change, the water has cleared a bit, BUT a LOT of the dust is now just sitting on the rocks. I don't know if I should blow it off the rock with the powerhead and get the water even cloudier or just let it be.
Thanks again.

 

I'm guessing you didn't rinse the sand prior to putting it in your tank. Or didn't rinse it enough. I've done the same thing, it's really hard to rinse.

Filter floss is the stuff most LFS sell in bulk it's the polyfill stuff. Sorry I don't have a link. You can also get it at a fabric store as well it's the stuff that is used to stuff pillows.

I would leave everything on. it will clear up but you'll have to wait it out. What will happen is the bacteria will form on each partial and it will settle out. This is a good thing and a natural thing. It happens in your sand bed.

J

 

Ok, I'll check my local LFS and buy some filter floss, where exactly do I place it?

And about the sand, you're right, I didn't rinse it when I put it in....oh well, like you said, i'll have to wait it out.

What about fish, could I add some or should I wait until the dust settles?

Thanks again for taking the time to repply to my post Jason.

Vancouver man I see, snowboard? whistler? I used to live in Calgary, I snowboarded in Banff and other areas...went to whistler ONCE, I hyper extended both my knees...that was the end of my snowboarding/skateboarding days...so I took on mountain biking...went to BC, almost broke my head lol.....

BTW. I clicked on the link to your tank thread...god damn! that a huge one! makes mine look like a spit bucket lol...too bad I couldn't see more pics..after page 11, all I got was broken links for the pics.