Cloudy Water In New Tank

[alexiooc]

Today I finally set up my new jewel lido tank!!! I fancied having sand instead of gravel and after adding the sand and all the water the tank is extremely cloudy. I left the tank for four hours before putting the filter on to let the sand settle but it's still very cloudy. How long will it take for the tank to clear? And would something like filter aid help with clearing it up?

 

[Jayladd]

Mine took quite a while to clear but was crystal clear by a weeks time. You should see some improvement in 24/48 hours. Did you put plates on the top of the sand to absorb some of the impact? The plates help to disperse the water and help the water not to disturb the sand too much. My sand was extremely dirty and after an hour of washing was still clouding the water in the bucket,so I had enough and put it in the tank anyway. After a week it had all cleared. Stick with it, it will look good in the end!

I think I used filter aid to help clear mine but it was just a waste of money, not much seemed to happen!

P.s if you're new to fish keeping don't forget to cycle your tank!

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Did you wash the sand thoroughly? Using any chems is just a waste of time tbh.

Leave it clear in time

 

[kcartwright856]

Put some filter floss (Pillow stuffing or quilt batting from the craft store works great for this.) in your filter. It will capture the small particles suspended in the water from the sand.

 

[noor]

Today I finally set up my new jewel lido tank!!! I fancied having sand instead of gravel and after adding the sand and all the water the tank is extremely cloudy. I left the tank for four hours before putting the filter on to let the sand settle but it's still very cloudy. How long will it take for the tank to clear? And would something like filter aid help with clearing it up?

This problem reminded me of my mistake while i was new to fish keeping. I had a setup just like yours - using sand instead of gravel. So, when you fill in the water, did you use anything flat e.g. plate or used newspaper to prevent water from stirring up all those minute particles coming from the sand? If you didn't, then there's nothing much you can do to see clear water until few days or a week. Be patient, unless you want to start all over again. Your only hope now to get rid of the cloudiness, is your mechanical filter.

Nevermind, we all learn from mistakes.

 

[noor]

Sorry mod, pls delete this double posting.

 

[noor]

Sorry mod, double posting!

 

[smokeyjo]

It will settle down eventually the key is to clean it thoroughly. The problem is it won't do your filter any good with that much sand going through it

 

[alexiooc]

No I didn't use a plate or anything, so I'm guessing thats my problem. I'll know for next time! I'm not that new to fish keeping, just alsways used gravel so new to sand keeping really!

As I've already have a tank set up with fish in, and have no where for it to go, will it be ok to add the fish to the new tank even though the tank is cloudy? I squeezed my sponge filter into the new tank to help start the cycle but I know I'll have to keep an eye on levels etc.

Thanks for all your quick responses btw!

 

[Jayladd]

Can't you take some old filter media from your other tank and put it in your new one? That'd help it along better than just squeezing a sponge. By squeezing the sponge you'll probably have seeded the tank but not have enough to support fish yet. If I were you I'd wait and cycle with ammonia and some of your old filter media from another tank just to make sure.

 

[noor]

No I didn't use a plate or anything, so I'm guessing thats my problem. I'll know for next time! I'm not that new to fish keeping, just alsways used gravel so new to sand keeping really!

As I've already have a tank set up with fish in, and have no where for it to go, will it be ok to add the fish to the new tank even though the tank is cloudy? I squeezed my sponge filter into the new tank to help start the cycle but I know I'll have to keep an eye on levels etc.

Thanks for all your quick responses btw!

If you have other tank to temporary put your fish, let them be there. Putting fish in a tank with cloudy water would add stress to them. If you have no choice, I suggest you remove half of that cloudy water and re-fill it. But don't forget to prevent cloudiness from recurring.

I would normally put a used newspaper and spread it as wide as possible above the sand and then I supply water on top of it to the tank. This way it will really minimise the problem.

 

[kcartwright856]

I would normally put a used newspaper and spread it as wide as possible above the sand and then I supply water on top of it to the tank. This way it will really minimise the problem.

Not a good idea.

I would never put newspaper, used or otherwise, in my tank. Many of the inks they use are water soluble, let alone what else has accumulated there.

Paper towels are a better bet if you must, but a plate with a bowl on top is a much better method.

 

[alexiooc]

Can't you take some old filter media from your other tank and put it in your new one? That'd help it along better than just squeezing a sponge. By squeezing the sponge you'll probably have seeded the tank but not have enough to support fish yet. If I were you I'd wait and cycle with ammonia and some of your old filter media from another tank just to make sure.

As my rank was only a 30litre before it was running on a fluval u1 so all it has is a sponge in the filter.


My fish are in my hospital tank at the moment but only being 24litres and having 5 fish in there I was hoping to get them out ASAP. It's looking a bit clearer this morning so hopefully it will settle down.

 

[zain611]

I would probably say is to change to gravel as the water would look crystal clear at some times but it will take some time changing the sand like 4 hours it took me as when i bought my tank i also bought sand but after 3 weeks with it, the water would have the samish colour to sand and it is difficult to clean as you have to move the sand around and not put the gravel cleaner directly into the surface of the sand as it will get sucked up

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Keep the sand. It's easier to maintain in the long run Just started up a 15 gallon tank for my little brother and put sand in it. I rinsed the sand but not very thoroughly. I filled the tank and naturally, it's cloudy. Every hour, for six hours, I stirred the sand up. When I could no longer see any larger sand particles in the water (usually about 6-10 hours after stirring), the dust from the sand was still circulating the tank. Just did a 50% water change, turned the filter on for the first time and then that was that! Today, I cleaned the filter pads and the impeller just to make sure no larger sand particles got trapped in there but it was all OK.

Seemed to do the trick and the water is crystal clear, no sand deposits on top of the filter or the ornaments etc.