Proper Sand Introduction ?

[Aquaman187]

What is proper way to introduce sand into an aqurium every time I try and use sand the water becomes ridiculously cloudy I took my fish out but now it just looks like a box of cloudy water.....

 

[Fishy friend2]

Did you wash the sand first? That could be why it gets cloudy, honestly I empty the whole tank, add the sand and then add the fish

 

[Aquaman187]

No I did not I just poured it in actually , I put 50 pounds in a 30 gallon tank. Should I take some out ?

 

[Fishy friend2]

If it leaves a nice even layer of around an inch or so then I don't see why you would need to remove any

 

[winkle]

I did this once

I switched the filter off to stop it getting filled with sand, waited for everything to settle as much as possible and then siphoned off as much water as I could. Then I refilled the tank extremely slowly using a length of air line tubing to siphon water from a bucket stood on a chest of drawers, into the tank.

I felt like a right muppet at the time.

In future I'll put any aquarium sand I plan to use in a bucket and keep washing it through by topping the bucket up with water, giving it a stir and siphoning off all the too-fine particles of dust and micro sand grains. The ultra-fine stuff isn't going to be much use anyway.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Lesson learned, I guess. The sand should've been washed and washed and washed. Once it goes in the (empty) tank, it works well to put a plate on the sand and pour the water on the plate so the sand doesn't go all over the place.

 

[Aquaman187]

So the tank is cloudy and Idk what to do

 

[Fishy friend2]

Take all the sand out, properly rinse it, and then add it again

 

[Aquaman187]

If I did a water change would that help ...its 50 pounds of sand....is there any other options

 

[Fishy friend2]

Many many, partial water changes when needed, or stir up the sand then hover the siphon above the surface so you suck up all the smaller bits.

 

[Aquaman187]

I scratched the whole plan I bought the wrong sand I bought home depot play sand .... A friend of mine told me you could buy sand cheaper from there but it just turned the water Brown

 

[fluttermoth]

Play sand is perfectly fine to use; I have it in my tanks. It's only the lack of washing that's made the water go brown.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I just bought Play sand from home depot and my water didn't go brown...but I rinsed it like crazy out side in buckets before putting it in my tanks.

 

[moochy13]

so theres no fish in the tank ?

what i would do is just siphon out all the water, while continually stirring the sand. hopefully this will stir up most of the worst of the dust, which should get sucked out with your water. its not the end of the world, it wont do any harm, it just means you'll have to wait a bit longer until your water is clear. no biggie.

 

[Aquaman187]

It was Brown sand and it had additives in it . It wasn't pure like aquarium sand other rocks n stuff were in it.