Starting a SW tank, some good advice

[Corax]

go ahead and kill the powerheads and filter, it'll help it calm down. Some report Southdown staying murky for a week =\ Feel free to salt away, it wont hurt a thing if you are SURE you will be using that water and not doing a change for some reason. (Wasting salt = EXPENSIVE!)

 

[JasonA]

Just got back, tank is clearing up...less cloudy then before and I can see all the way through the long side where as before I couldn't..all that's running is the heater (set for 78*) the Maxijet, and the ViaAqua unit.... tank is in a swirling motion...I need 1 more head in there to create some turbulence cause even though it's in a rotational direction...

I do have a couple of "hot spots" in the corner where it SG is high and in other parts it's low...

But I just added it in 30 mins. ago..

We'll see what it looks like later tonight..

 

[Corax]

Go ahead and shut the skimmer down for now. You don't run those during the cycle cuz it kinda defeats what you are trying to accomplish.

The salt generally takes 24 hours to fully dissolve, so ya got plenty of time. I personally mix my change water for a week, but that's just part of my routine. =)

 

[JasonA]

I'm not running the skimmer right now...I've heard not to do it until 2 weeks after starting..

As for the cloudyness....it seems to have stopped getting clearer and hasn't getten any better...

Most corners of the tank have perfect SG but I don't like how the water is cloudy...

In my dad's tanks, always running undergravel filters with coral, the water has ALWAYS come clear within a day....

This cloudy material is even passing through the charcoal filter cause I filled up a clear glass with the output and the water is murky

We'll see through the weekend..

 

[Corax]

The particles you are seeing are smaller than your filtration (which should be turned off, btw...) can catch. Give em time, it will settle. Shut it all down, just let it settle.

Also, the salt mix will cause the water to be cloudy.

I run the same setup I've described to you and my water is crystal clear.

Patience grasshopper, only bad things happen quickly in a marine tank..

 

[JasonA]

Ok...I'll turn off all water movement..but a quick question then..

Once all this stuff settles....will it get stired up easily either by just the water movment, creatures, or cleaning of the tank ??

I'll take a pic in a bit

 

[Corax]

Nope, once the bacteria spereads to each and every grain of sand, it will be heavy enough to settle on it's own pretty quickly. Yeah, it'll stir up, but not for long.

 

[JasonA]

Here's 2 pics..on from the front and one through the side...remember this is only a 40g and can't even see half way through..

All water movement/filtration has ceased... only heat.

These pics are large size to avoid compression artifacts as they were shot uncompressed..

 

[Corax]

yeap, that looks about right. Give that a few days, it should start clearing. Go ahead and chuck that cocktail shrimp in. The thing can rot with cloudy water, it wont mind =)

 

[JasonA]

UPDATE! Woke up this morning and the tank got ALOT clearer overnight !!!

Still a slight haze and still have a few "hot spots" as far a SG goes but it's almost dead on for the most part..

Gonna run down to the store real quick and get a few shrimp!!

Can't wait to watch this happen!

Thanks again for all your help Corax
Jason

P.S. Oh, also gonna run down and get another PH or 2...how should the water be moving in a tank? I've heard it's bad to have a perfect swirling motion cause then stuff will settle...I've heard that you want turbulence in a tank.