need help clearing up water

gotbags-10 · 08/13/2007, 07:38 PM

i just started a 20 long 2 days ago. I put my water in and mixed my salt and then i put 20 lbs of live sand in. I probably should have put the sand in first because when i dumped it in after it just clouded the water horibly and has made this layer of foam around the rim of the tank and after 2 days it still hasn't died down. I have just an aquaclear 50 for my filter and all i put in it was some bio balls(bacteria still alive of course) that i took out of my 24g ap since the rock in there is well established and didn't need them anymore. I also added about 15lbs of rock to start with. I'm gonna put the filter pad in there at least to try and help but its extremely porous. Would the carbon that came with the filter do anything benneficial to help clear it up? Any ideas?

mr_o98 · 08/13/2007, 08:00 PM

Add another filter pad to the filter. Pull them out once a day and rinse them to remove the debris. It may take a few days for the water to fully clear up.

Randall_James · 08/13/2007, 08:19 PM

the cloudy water is normal, as the bacteria begin to populate the tank, they will "glue" the small particles together and the water will clear. I would not worry about it and at about day 4-7, you will likely see very little of this if the tank is growing bacteria.

The foam is pretty normal too, even freshly mixed salt water will produce some of this foam, the substrate does seem to add to it. If you are running a skimmer, it will pull the organics that cause this.

kaihonu82 · 08/13/2007, 09:51 PM

you could always do a water change...you don't have anything in there and it's only 20gal..you could just as easily change all the water

did u rinse the sand before you dumped it in there?

08/13/2007, 07:38 PM	#1
gotbags-10 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Indy Posts: 263	need help clearing up water i just started a 20 long 2 days ago. I put my water in and mixed my salt and then i put 20 lbs of live sand in. I probably should have put the sand in first because when i dumped it in after it just clouded the water horibly and has made this layer of foam around the rim of the tank and after 2 days it still hasn't died down. I have just an aquaclear 50 for my filter and all i put in it was some bio balls(bacteria still alive of course) that i took out of my 24g ap since the rock in there is well established and didn't need them anymore. I also added about 15lbs of rock to start with. I'm gonna put the filter pad in there at least to try and help but its extremely porous. Would the carbon that came with the filter do anything benneficial to help clear it up? Any ideas?

08/13/2007, 08:00 PM	#2
mr_o98 Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Pen Argyl, PA Posts: 600	Add another filter pad to the filter. Pull them out once a day and rinse them to remove the debris. It may take a few days for the water to fully clear up. __________________ Sometimes I amaze even myself. I feel like I have TWO brilliant minds. Current Tank Info: 90g fish only tank, Green Chromis, Ocellaris clown, 6 line Wrasse, Convict Tang, Foxface Lo, Decorator Goby, Lemon Drop butterfly, Flameback Angel - 30g sump, Euro Reef skimmer, 2 250w MH

08/13/2007, 08:19 PM	#3
Randall_James Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 6,727	the cloudy water is normal, as the bacteria begin to populate the tank, they will "glue" the small particles together and the water will clear. I would not worry about it and at about day 4-7, you will likely see very little of this if the tank is growing bacteria. The foam is pretty normal too, even freshly mixed salt water will produce some of this foam, the substrate does seem to add to it. If you are running a skimmer, it will pull the organics that cause this. __________________ "It's a dog eat dog world and I feel like I am wearing milkbone underwear"

08/13/2007, 09:51 PM	#4
kaihonu82 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bay area, ca Posts: 454	you could always do a water change...you don't have anything in there and it's only 20gal..you could just as easily change all the water did u rinse the sand before you dumped it in there? __________________ lindsay