Live sand not clearing up after 1 day.

[instantaquatics]

Hello everyone. On my 40 gallon breeder I used 40 pounds of live sand from caribsea (yes I know this is a small amount). Last night, I poured it in. Today, it cleared up a small bit, but there is still a ton of froth on the top and the water is still murky all the way through (about 3 inches of visibility from the front).

Is this normal? What should I do?

Some say to wash it out, but no point in buying live sand then.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Hello everyone. On my 40 gallon breeder I used 40 pounds of live sand from caribsea (yes I know this is a small amount). Last night, I poured it in. Today, it cleared up a small bit, but there is still a ton of froth on the top and the water is still murky all the way through (about 3 inches of visibility from the front).

Is this normal? What should I do?

Some say to wash it out, but no point in buying live sand then.

Will take a few days to clear. And don’t ever wash out live sand. Defeats the purpose of it being live. Was there a pouch of clarifier with the sand? Up to you if you want to use it. It will clear either way but the clarifier will speed it up some.

 

[Mical]

No not wash it out - rinse it. Regardless it's in now and it will take about a week or more to clear up, but it will - just be patient.

 

[instantaquatics]

Thank you everyone. Yes I used the clarifier.

 

[brett_schn]

Give it time. Run filter socks it’ll clear. 40lb is enough for a 40B I have one and used less then 40lb

 

[dank reefer]

Its normal for it to be cloudy for up to 2-3 days depending on filtration. Run some filter floss on your filtering system to help clear the particles out of the water.

 

[Cell]

Rinsing live sand does not affect the bacteria. Always rinse before use or deal with dust clouds for a very long time.

 

[Conchman]

It will clear up, it should have had a packet to help, if not, if you have a small hang on back filter, that would speed things up a bit..

 

[instantaquatics]

Thanks guys, I'll try and find some floss and run it on a HOB.

 

[brandon429]

then you cant rescape the tank, or have a rock slide without massive clouding only now with fish and corals

u need to redo your rinse before you begin

we have a giant thread forty pages of non rinsers becoming rinsers, and the total positive outcomes if that will sway you.


take your tank apart, rinse the sand in tap water, when clear, final rinse is in ro (which is all forty pages)

put all new water in, on top of snowglobe clean sand

dont mess with the high silt organics 30 gallons or so new water is easy.

then stack rocks fish and corals on clean sand

is tap water harmful: no, not for forty pages in the sand rinse thread. you for sure want to redo this. I have ten threads handy from folks who didnt, and future clouded just the same. a good portion of folks never have to disturb their sand again after it settles, so recommending leaving it in is fine.

but when they do have to move the tank, or mess with that sand, we get them as an entrant in the help thread. you can avoid all that, by changing how u start.

in no way does tap water sterilize. when it does I wont need kitchen counter cleaner, we'll run a wet paper towel and tap water across all surfaces and be cleared.

you have the ability to assert total control over your reef this instant, if you'd like to. this will have an effect on the total lifespan for your system as well.

 

[instantaquatics]

then you cant rescape the tank, or have a rock slide without massive clouding only now with fish and corals

u need to redo your rinse before you begin

we have a giant thread forty pages of non rinsers becoming rinsers, and the total positive outcomes if that will sway you.


take your tank apart, rinse the sand in tap water, when clear, final rinse is in ro.

put all new water in, dont mess with the high silt organics 30 gallons or so new water is easy.

then stack rocks fish and corals on clean sand

is tap water harmful: no, not for forty pages in the sand rinse thread. you for sure want to redo this. I have ten threads handy from folks who didnt, and future clouded just the same.

thanks, but I won't be doing that as I have done this in the past fine. Takes a few days to clear in my experience, but usually faster than this so I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. Sounds like I just need to wait. thanks though.

 

[brandon429]

didnt this cloud up just the same last rounds? Figured it was the going standard for non rinsed tanks

I didnt post the thread bc I figured it was too much work, most people just keep the clouding and then add fish waste permanently as well. the kind of sand we dont pre rinse has hundreds of wiggling animals we can see in it when we hold up a handful. that kind of sand is so rare, only saw it once in forty pages. all the rest were this type of setup above. when it was time to move homes, change the tank, or respond to a powerhead dislodge, the challenge began

even the easy effort of siphoning off the topwater for re use, all of it, and fixing the sand would be prudent and low effort.

its possible to not to ever have this problem, handy info. pre rinse your sand

 

[instantaquatics]

Thanks everyone for the help. This is ocean direct sand, and according to the guys over at bulk reef supply, it's not cleaned out. It also says "NO RINSING!" straight on the bag. Apparently it can take 3 days to clear, so I guess it is a waiting game.

 

[instantaquatics]

In case anyone was wondering, the sand eventually cleared up and tank is doing very well now,

 

[Oldreefer44]

The hardest thing to do is to sit and look over your tank and "do nothing". IME, over 40 years in the hobby, is that patience is the most important factor, with the possible exception of water quality, in achieving long term success in the hobby.