Resetting main tank - Started cycle in a tub - Sand is very cloudy?

[Astro]

Hey R2R!

I have been neglecting my main tank, and it has became overcome with all kinds of pests.

I wanted to reset my tank and get new sand/filter media/rocks.

I got a huge 102L MasterCraft storage bin, put in 15g of freshly made salt water, and added a 20lb of arag-alive and 20lb of aragonite live sand (one was on sale and didn't realize they were different until later). So I added them to my bin, and the water has just been very cloudy with white foam on the top now for over a day. One of the bags came with a small pouch? Everywhere online says it discipates with mechanical filtration, but since I just wanted to cycle some bacteria with Tim's one and only, I haven't added any mechanical filtration.

So I'm wondering:
1. How can I resolve cloudiness
2. Do I need to add filtration to just cycle in a huge bin? Can I just do gradual water changes?
3. Should I wait for cloudiness to dissipate before adding Dr. Tim's one and only ?

As always, thanks R2R!

 

[brandon429]

pre rinse the sand in tap water

here's eighty straight pages of pre rinsing bagged live sand in tap water to total perfection, you missed that step.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

(theres no concerns about bacteria)

 

[Dburr1014]

Hey R2R!

I have been neglecting my main tank, and it has became overcome with all kinds of pests.

I wanted to reset my tank and get new sand/filter media/rocks.

I got a huge 102L MasterCraft storage bin, put in 15g of freshly made salt water, and added a 20lb of arag-alive and 20lb of aragonite live sand (one was on sale and didn't realize they were different until later). So I added them to my bin, and the water has just been very cloudy with white foam on the top now for over a day. One of the bags came with a small pouch? Everywhere online says it discipates with mechanical filtration, but since I just wanted to cycle some bacteria with Tim's one and only, I haven't added any mechanical filtration.

So I'm wondering:
1. How can I resolve cloudiness
2. Do I need to add filtration to just cycle in a huge bin? Can I just do gradual water changes?
3. Should I wait for cloudiness to dissipate before adding Dr. Tim's one and only ?

As always, thanks R2R!

Did you rinse the Sand until run clear under tap water? No, that's the problem.

 

[brandon429]

what I like best is how the bags clearly say no rinsing needed
he he

its needed.

 

[Dburr1014]

pre rinse the sand in tap water

here's eighty straight pages of pre rinsing bagged live sand in tap water to total perfection, you missed that step.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

(you wouldnt have concerns about bacteria, because for 80 pages, there have been no concerns)

Ha, same time posting.

 

[Astro]

pre rinse the sand in tap water

here's eighty straight pages of pre rinsing bagged live sand in tap water to total perfection, you missed that step.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

(you wouldnt have concerns about bacteria, because for 80 pages, there have been no concerns)

Oh snap; I hadn't done this for my current tank, but it's been a while. I just followed steps on the bag, wasn't aware this was common.

With that in mind; what are the next possible steps? Should I just empty 15g and re-add 15g of water?

 

[Dburr1014]

Oh snap; I hadn't done this for my current tank, but it's been a while. I just followed steps on the bag, wasn't aware this was common.

With that in mind; what are the next possible steps? Should I just empty 15g and re-add 15g of water?

Suck out the sand and rinse it
I retract that statement. It's too late.
You can try to use a water change with the sand sucker at the end to pull some of the stuff out.

 

[brandon429]

you shouldnt drain and add saltwater, as that's only one export pass.

it takes like 200 rinses per bag to get clean, you don't want to refill with saltwater for all that

I would drain tank, redo sand as we did above, then re-add back one round of all new clean saltwater, then it's a laser clear controlled setup. there's many benefits in being cloud-free right at the start, it's worth the effort


your current water isn't polluted, that would settle out in time actually if you want to reuse some or all of the current water

but do the heavy lifting work with tap water, for many many rinse cycles where the sand is in a bucket and you're cleaning it

 

[brandon429]

it's true that most just ride out the initial clouding until it clears, they will clear


but

there's hidden benefit in knowing how to command a sand rinsing

because that thread is about moving/combining or cleaning very costly $ setups without recycling.

sandbed rinsing did all of it, even for aged and matured tanks...when it's time to move them, the safe method is the tap rinse/rip clean of the sand. starting laser clear by planning vs waiting out the natural flocculation is critical reef training behavior imo.

any form of passivity just doesn't bode well for long term reefing in my opinion. I lost early setups a few years in due to letting the system take control vs instantly commanding it by force which is what works for everyone. we don't have to wait and see what a reef decides to do, we can command it's compliance if we control it's organic waste storage characters.

the first sandbed rinse is the first force action done + nice clean payoff for the work.

it changes the life arc of someone's reefing attitude, which then runs their tank better, if they begin with a powerful controlled sand rinse

we learn to let go of bacteria, literally, in sand rinse threads

the whole world trains us to consume, buy + bacteria for benefit

but we didn't use bacteria in our work thread, ever, and that means something to the market. we did huge rip cleans on $25K systems and never added bottle bac nor tested for ammonia, not ever.

we made reefs safe by removing bacteria, and sludge vs adding things and we did it free of charge

that all starts with the 1st sand rinse, to disallow the cloud.

 

[Astro]

it's true that most just ride out the initial clouding until it clears, they will clear


but

there's hidden benefit in knowing how to command a sand rinsing

because that thread is about moving/combining or cleaning very costly $ setups without recycling.

sandbed rinsing did all of it, even for aged and matured tanks...when it's time to move them, the safe method is the tap rinse/rip clean of the sand. starting laser clear by planning vs waiting out the natural flocculation is critical reef training behavior imo.

any form of passivity just doesn't bode well for long term reefing in my opinion. I lost early setups a few years in due to letting the system take control vs instantly commanding it by force which is what works for everyone. we don't have to wait and see what a reef decides to do, we can command it's compliance if we control it's organic waste storage characters.

the first sandbed rinse is the first force action done + nice clean payoff for the work.

it changes the life arc of someone's reefing attitude, which then runs their tank better, if they begin with a powerful controlled sand rinse

we learn to let go of bacteria, literally, in sand rinse threads

the whole world trains us to consume, buy + bacteria for benefit

but we didn't use bacteria in our work thread, ever, and that means something to the market. we did huge rip cleans on $25K systems and never added bottle bac nor tested for ammonia, not ever.

we made reefs safe by removing bacteria, and sludge vs adding things and we did it free of charge

that all starts with the 1st sand rinse, to disallow the cloud.

Okay so I've gone through the OP and a few comments, but I'm confused: I understand this idea of hardcore rinising the sand until it can be put into a glass and its crystal clear. That sounds awesome and I want to give it a go. But what loses me is not using a starter? Before I had used AF Bio-S to start my tank with sand and live rock; but this time I was hoping to do it without the risk of any foreign bacteria, and so Dr. Tims seemed to be the most commonly praised? So with newly rinsed sand, and new dry rock, what do you cycle it with to get the bacteria going?

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[brandon429]

the bottle bac is fine to use for dry rock cycling no problem. the bacteria on the sand is expendable, the bacteria on the rocks are the ones we preserve
and adding them by Dr. Tims cycling bac + a pinch of flake food ground up is an ideal cycle. you can let that mix stew for ten day's wait, and it's cycled. fish food + bottle bac cycles will be set by day ten that's the wait time rule in effect (handy because now you don't have to test to cycle a reef tank, it's done by counting the predetermined number of days to ammonia control)