going on day 3

so im in the process of setting up a ten gallon nano for some softies and small gobies. When i set up my 65 gallon i never remember the water being this dirty with the addition of sand. I bought some live sand and added it 2 days ago. I did a water change a day later and then did one today and its still cloudy as heck. Did i do something wrong?? its to cloudy to test because i wouldnt get an accurate test. Im wondering if i killed off the sand lol

 

The sand should settle.Forget the water changes and run a back or cannister filter with just some cotton floss or what ever you have available until the water clears up .If have power heads on , turn them off especially if aimed towards sand.In a tank this small doesnt take much to stir up the sand.

Hope this helps,
morejongg

 

It depends on how you introduced the sand. Remember that nano's filter system isnt the same as a regular tank. Thats why they say that smaller tanks are not so forgiving like bigger tanks. Why a couple of days and see what happens. and no, you didnt kill the LS.

 

I am also on day three, but i haven’t noticed very much change in the tank at all. It still seem very clean, not really growing anything yet. My ammonia levels are also at 0. and my PH is around 8.3 Will the ammonia increase as it is cycling? What other tests should I do?

 

did you put anything in there to start the cycle process, there needs to be some sort of waste in there to help kick it off or it will take forever.

 

so its starting to clear up, should i do a waterchange and get some of the settled dust off the surface of the sand?? i can see that all the sand is covered by all the settlements. I wont have a powerhead in there until rock is in there so i can point it at the rock and get the current worked up. sound like an idea??

 

do not do a water change until cycle is complete, let your tank get nasty.

 

i have yet to start the cycling process. waiting till payday to get some LR in there. I was thinkin about takin from the 65 gallon but i didnt want to place the coral in different spots so i decided to wait on it. I went against the advice cuz im dumb, and did a small gravel siphon to get some of the loose sand and grit out and the tank looks much nicer. i got cloudy again with the disturbance but the sand looks much better. When i do start the cycling process tho, i will leave it alone and let it be until done.

 

Yeah i have about 37 lbs of LR and about 2" of LS. the LFS said it was already cured, do i need to put anything else in the tank? I just checked the ammonia again tonight and it is still at 0.

 

So is it normal to cloud the water everytime you touch the sand. If a fish swims past it, its going to cloud the tank. Its really fine sand. it was from aragalive and has some black sand mixed in it. any idea? if i siphone water out the sand comes right with it. its starting to make me wonder if should have gotten the same sand in my 65.