Dust In My Tank - Should I Start Again? I Think I've Done This All

[leannethenewbie]

Hi All


*sigh*

I should point out I am a complete Tropical Fish Keeping Novice - and I did go online and LFS for advice before I started

So I :

Cleaned my new open top 24 litre tank
Put my lovely sand in
Put my dechlor water in
Started fishless cycling (I'm about 9 days into the process)

BUT

My tank is open top and now there is housedust all across the top of the water, and some of it has sunk to the sand turning it a weird grey colour.
I'm so upset

What should I do?

Shall I bin it all and start again, buy a lid and get gravel (easier to clean, but I like the look of sand, plus wanted to think about getting a bottom-feeder in the future) and start my cycling all over again.

(My tank is square so it's really difficult to find a condensation tray to fit!)

Or: is there anything I can do?
I did a small water change the other day and it's not made much of a difference at all.

I'm getting really dis-heartened because I want to do this right.

I don't want to have the fish swimming around in dust - I know I wouldn't like it!!

( I should point out that the tank is a gift - so I had no choice in it being open top! )

Please help.... sorry I sound wingey!

Thanks in advance

 

[AnthemOfDeath]

From my own personal experience I'm currently handling an open top 10 gallon hospital tank.
with only 1 inch of sand and a gravel vaccume you can pick up small dust particles with a thorough gravel vaccume.
it wont effect much since you don't have fish just don't take out the sand or re do the tank or your 9 days wont count for much.

I had to do a revamp and it sent me into a mini-cycle.

Depends on how big your dust build up is really usually dust is really tiny and a gravel vaccume should take care of it.
remember to use your eyes when you do a gravel vaccume..the upside of my own sand I'm using is my gravel vaccume doesn't suck it out.

use the prefered sand vaccuming technique.

give it a try if it doesn't seem your removing dust, there's a lot of ideas you can try wait for different opinions =]

 

[Twinklecaz]

I would guess that if you buy a lid the filter will sort out the dust issues eventually so no need to start again. Also you'll be changing 90% of your water when you cycle's done anyway so you can hoover the sand etc then. One of the experts will tell you better though.

I've got a slight problem with dust on the surface too which is a mystery to me as I do have a lid

 

[waterdrop]

Dust is rarely a serious problem and these are good answers offered above. Its possible though that part of what you're seeing is not actually dust but biofilms. Nine days in to a fishless cycle would be just about perfect for seeing the various gray/whitish films created by heterotropic (mostly) that are in the water column. If these films form on the sand surface (and they can) then they'd be somewhat hard to see and might break up enough that they'd look kind of like the results of dust.

If that's it then I can tell you the good news that biofilms are healthy and normal and even a good sign in a fishless cycling tank. They will eventually go away of their owh accord (or one is quite free to clean them if one wants, as its the biofilms in the -filter- that we care about the most. (of course, since you want a cycle to not be slower than necessary it can be helpful to actually just leave all this be as it may be a small contributor to helping the good bacteria along in the process.)

Regardless of whether its biofilms or dust the skill one attempts to refine with sand maintenance can be partly described as follows: Often a simple siphon hose with no "wide gravel cleaner cylinder end" words better for sand substrates. You can then clamp your thumb over the end to temporarily stop the siphon flow. Meanwhile you can take several of your other fingers away from holding the hose and use them to wave over the sand surface (or even dig in the sand with them to better "break up" whatever films you are seeing on the sand) to cause the debris (which will be a little lighter than the sand) to swirl up higher, allowing you to then uncap the suction and vacuum it up. Its the fact that fine sand and general aquarium debris are similar in weight that sometimes makes sand care a bit more challanging a skill than gravel cleaning - you have to get a feel for how to successfully swirl up more debris and less sand. Another tidbit of the equation is that losing a little sand while siphoning is no big deal really as sand is so cheap. Its always nice to have some extra sand in the shed in case you want to add more sometime (of course, remembering to give it a long water bucket overflow prior to adding it to the tank.)

If you are fishless cycling you may want to use your thread here to log your progress and seek comments as the process described in our articles lacks some of the refinements we've come to help beginners with here in the beginner forum.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Twinklecaz]

These little biofilms.....do they look like little white hairs on the suface of the water (I can only see them if I put the light on).....or are they actually just little white hairs? lol

 

[waterdrop]

Well, Planaria (which are another harmless visitor during cycling) can look like tiny white hairs in the water that you almost need a magnifying glass to see. Perhaps that's what you're describing Twink, not sure. The biofilms can indeed break up in different ways in different peoples tanks. Sometimes they form things more like sheets, sometimes other shapes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Twinklecaz]

Right that's what I've decided they are then in my happy la la world. Lol thanks

 

[Gilli]

Untill you get a lid you could always cover the top with clingfilm and puncture some holes in it to let the air in and keep the dust out.

 

[walkers101]

or as i said in your other thread got a condensation tray

 

[Twinklecaz]

I think I might get one of them. Every time I take the hood off my tank it drips everywhere and it's hard to control coz it's so heavy *gah*

 

[leannethenewbie]

Thank you for all the advice guys and girls

Consider my mind at rest....

I'm about to do a water test and see how I'm getting on

I'll keep you posted