I put in sand

[jxkim89]

I bought sand the other day and i rinsed it till it was pretty clean. I guess PRETTY clean is the key word, but anyways. I put in the sand and it was very cloudy/murky. I woke up this morning after it was 8 hours since i have put it in, and still saw that it was cloudy. I put in some accu-clear to help it become less cloudy, but it still hasn't helped. How long will it take for the sand to settle? I have also changed 1/3 of the water since it was cloudy. PLEASE HELP!

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

it took my tank about 3 days to settle once i put sand in...i had no fish in at the time so i was doing 1/2 water changes everyday. i didn't do the best job of cleaning the sand tho

 

[nightlife20]

you count urself lucky... mine took a whole week before it cleared..

it depends how you put it into the tank..

most ppl rinse it 3-4 tmes then just dump it in a fill it up.... right?


well others half fill the tank with dechlorinated water, rince the sand realy realy realy well, then 'place' it into the tank.. = very clear water


iv done both options and i do have to say the 'placeing' option has alot better results. this way, the sand isnt thrown around.

 

[jxkim89]

this one guy told me that if i keep my filter running in the tank it will speed up the clearing process. Isnt that going to kill my filter?

 

[jxkim89]

this one guy told me that if i keep my filter running in the tank it will speed up the clearing process. Isnt that going to kill my filter?

 

[Daveo]

There is a very good chance that it might clog your filter. Luckly you could probubly get it un clogged. If you can adjust the water flow you can probubly reduce the chances of ruening the filter. 8)


Daveo

 

[Teelie]

What type of sand was it? I assume Play Sand.

 

[bbq1234]

i just added sand and it was really merky also
I kept doing water changes but whenever i would pur the water in it would interupt the sand bed and make it dirtier so i like poured the water in sideways and it became clear afte like 3 water changes

 

[Aquascaper]

I too have just changed from gravel to sand and found the best way of putting it into the tank was using a plastic drinks bottle with the end cut off. I found that i could put the sand exactly where i wanted it with minimal disturbance to the water. I even left the fish in while i did this and didn't lose sight of them once.
I started about 3pm and finished re-planting about 45 minutes ago and i've done a good 50% water change and i can see through the tank but it is still murky.
I decided to turn off my powerheads as it was disturbing the water and not letting the suspended sand settle but i'm not leaving them off for long.

 

[jxkim89]

My sand has some weird cottony stuff on top of the sand... I put in accu-clear before, could that be what the chemical did? Or is it algae?

 

[Aquascaper]

Have you recently put any bogwood into the tank? That can cause wooly fungus which aparently is not harmful.

 

[jxkim89]

Whats bogwood?

 

[Aquascaper]

Any type of wood - mopani, driftwood, bogwood.

 

[Gill]

I used Play sand Last week, and Used a Ladle to spoon it into the tank.

Mine was only cloudy for a few hours and then settled nicely.

I cleaned the filter the next morning, as all the crap underneath the gravel had been sucked up.

I guess it depends on how well it was washed b4 going in. I washed it several times, scooping the yellow foam produced out and then leaving the tap running for 15 mins.

 

[mlaugh]

I bought sand the other day and i rinsed it till it was pretty clean. I guess PRETTY clean is the key word, but anyways. I put in the sand and it was very cloudy/murky. I woke up this morning after it was 8 hours since i have put it in, and still saw that it was cloudy. I put in some accu-clear to help it become less cloudy, but it still hasn't helped. How long will it take for the sand to settle? I have also changed 1/3 of the water since it was cloudy. PLEASE HELP!

I had the same exact problem when I started with sand. The only thing that fixed it for me was water change after water change after water change. Now it gets a bit cloudy when I "disturb" it but settles relatively quickly afterward.