Just Added Sand Cloudy Water Alert

[Andy16]

I just added sand to my tank and i cant see anything. I dont want to burn out the motor in my filter, what should i do?

[Woozledad]

I would put a piece of pantyhose over the intake until it settles down...

[Andy16]

thanks woozledad:)

[Andy16]

how am i supposed to add the rocks if i can see anything?and if i turned on my powerhead on the surface of hte water would that help? its like a fricken dust storm in there.lol

[Andy16]

I turned on my powerhead to get things started again. Hope that helps.

[Woozledad]

I'm afraid it's just going to take some time...I don't know that the powerhead is going to help much other than to keep water movement towards the filter....What size tank and what kind of filter??

[Andy16]

right now its just a powerhead 201 (aquaclear i think) and a aquaclear mini. Sometimes this week ill be getting a pretty big sized penguin or big aquaclear to go along with my mini. It is a 20 gallon tank.

[wetmanNY]

Do you think the rockflour will burn out the Aquaclear?

Are there fish in the tank?

[Andy16]

I have decide to take the chance of burning out my filter. I didnt have any pantyhose and my sock idea failed. yes i have fish in the tank.

[Heady]

That's not good, the dust can clog their gills.

I have sand in my 20 gallon tank with black sand and a Penguin 170 power filter. Some sand got in the filter and now every so often it buzzes and sometimes the impellor even stops turning (not good). I've taken the whole thing apart and can't seem to find any more sand but it still occasionally does it.

[BluEyes]

go to a fabric store, and buy some polyester quilt batting. Cut a piece about twice the size of a filter sponge in the filter. Fold the batting over and place it at the bottom of the little basket.
That'll help a bunch to clear up the water.

Don't worry about burning out the filter - I had an AC running after adding sand to my 20L, and it's just fine. The impeller can actually get quite scratched up on the magnent part and work just fine - as long as nothing makes it lose its magnetic properties (which dust won't do)

[wetmanNY]

"For my next trick, I shall remove this undergravel filter plate from the aquarium-- with the fish still in the tank!

And then, for my piece de resistance, I shall replace the bottom glass-- still without removing the fish!

Ta da!"

[Andy16]

That's not good, the dust can clog their gills.
No one else told me that. They are doing fine now and they have been in there for about 3 days.

Thanks for the tip blueyes, ill see how it works.


"For my next trick, I shall remove this undergravel filter plate from the aquarium-- with the fish still in the tank!

hehe.... good job wetman...howd you do that?:D

[BluEyes]

Originally posted by wetmanNY
"For my next trick, I shall remove this undergravel filter plate from the aquarium-- with the fish still in the tank!


My g/f has done that. The tank was only set up for 6 months or so, so there wasn't TOO much gunk...

[Andy16]

what happened to the fish?

[BluEyes]

well, I think we did a water change afterwards, it was cloudy for awhile, but the fish were fine. Kinda freaked out for awhile (this is probably not a good idea with Discus or Hatchets in the tank!) but they were fine.

With a long-running UGF, I might worry about there being alot of gunk under the filterplate. I think I'd do a good, deep gravel vacuuming before removing the plate. Refill the tank, remove the plate, then do a water change to lower the murkiness.

Since you are potentially stirring up alot of biomatter, do keep an eye out for potential algae blooms.

Also, depending on how long the hang-on has been running on the tank, you may want to put some gravel in the filter before doing this to keep from messing up the biofilter...

[BluEyes]

double post...