Cloudy water

I added 60lbs of aragonite sand (not live) to my tank about 4 hours ago. It's really fine sand. I know it take a while for the sand to settle, but since I used the fine sand will it take longer to settle? And should I be running my protein skimmer and power heads?

 

Don't run the skimmer. The power heads will be fine. It will take some time. Should look a lot better in the morning.

 

should take overnight to a few days to clear, normal so just let it run its coarse, id say a day for it to be clear again

 

any specific reason why i shouldn't run the skimmer?

 

Did you rinse it first? If not it will probably be at least 2 days before it fully clears.

 

I rinse it pretty good. I made sure of that.

 

theres nothin for your skimmer to do yet. no waste or poop, detritus and such. you dont want to hinder the bacterial buildup.

 

I see. I had other people telling me to run the skimmer, so I was just wondering. thanks

 

Some people do run the protein skimmer right away for reasons unbeknownst to me (perhaps in an effort to test that it is working). But it will not function properly at all if you do, so it is best to leave it off. Mine is not even taking up space in my sump until it is called upon. You need something generating DOC in the tank. After the LR has been added is the usual time to fire it up.

 

I ran my skimmer for maybe an hour or 3 after adding the sand to the tank since I got a ton of particles when adding my sand (didn't rinse it). It removed a fair amount of the Cloudyness, but I'd turn it off after that for the same reasons divott said.