New setup. Urgent, need advice! Cloudy water, should I pour in salt?

[minerman]

Hello,

I have a 92 gal. bowfront that I am setting up new.

I have used crushed coral for the substrate. It came "pre-rinsed" but I still put it in a bucket and rinsed it. Still, it has made my new water very cloudy. I'm circulating water with a pump. With no filtration (just pumping water), will the cloudyness go away?

I am also kind of in a pickle here. I want to pour in my salt, but I don't want to waste this much salt if my water is not going to clear up and I have to replace it. I have some live rock that's been sitting around in a wet bag for a few hours. I'd like to get it into some salt water, but I don't have any. Should I just pour the salt in to save the bacteria in my live rock?

Thanks!

 

[cmaxwell39]

The cloudiness will go away. You can pour the salt in and get it mixing.

Is there a reason that you have decided to go with crushed coral substrate? It will require regular vacuuming or else it will trap a lot of detritus and could result in it being very difficult to keep nitrates low in your tank. That is one of the reasons that most people use sand for the bottom of their tanks.

 

[minerman]

I was going to get sand and I was given advice at the store that sand is too difficult to difficult to clear of waste. He was really trying to talk me into going bare bottom. He said if I absolutely refuse to go bare bottom to go with a thin layer of crushed coral. So, that's what I did.

 

[cmaxwell39]

With sand you can get critters that will help keep your sand clean....Snails, cucumbers, certain starfish, even some fish will sift the sand and help to keep it clean. With crushed coral you have to do all of the cleaning yourself as those critters cannot deal with the larger particles of the crushed coral. If it is a very thin layer it is probably manageable, but if you want to change it, now would be the time. What are your plans for stocking the tank?

 

[glb]

With sand you can get critters that will help keep your sand clean....Snails, cucumbers, certain starfish, even some fish will sift the sand and help to keep it clean. With crushed coral you have to do all of the cleaning yourself as those critters cannot deal with the larger particles of the crushed coral. If it is a very thin layer it is probably manageable, but if you want to change it, now would be the time. What are your plans for stocking the tank?

I agree that live sand is a better option. It will help with the denitrification and critters will help keep it clean.

 

[minerman]

I'm hoping to do a fairly typical peaceful reef tank. Clowns, anemone, blue hippo tang, yellow tang, corals, etc.

I think I will roll with it and see what happens.

 

[NanaReefer]

Get rid of the crushed coral substrate

 

[minerman]

I'm guessing if the water is still cloudy, it would not be smart to test the salt content? I'm guessing I would get a false reading from whatever else is floating around in there...

 

[mike007]

Crushed coral is fine. Add your salt and it will clear in a day or two.It is normal for the water to cloud when first setting up. No worries.