how long for sand to settle?

[Captnslapy]

Just a quick question. I set up a 180 yesterday and my kids helped me with the sand. They just dumped it in when the tank was about half full. How long should it take for this to settle? Been at least 24 hours now with a wet dry running about 1200 gph and AC 110. It has improved some but it's still very cloudy. I put sand in another tank and never had this problem. Same kind of sand but I laid it in without disturbing the water and it was clear in 2 hours. thanks

 

[djfsolo]

I think it depends on how fine your sand is. I had really fine sand in a 30gal, took about 3 days to completely clear up. It always helps to rinse sand prior to putting it in the tank, especially if it's a larger-variety.

 

[Captnslapy]

I spent quite along time rinsing the sand. It just seems like it should have settled by now. I'm eager to move my fish into it.

 

[djfsolo]

The other tank you mentioned sand settling in 2 hours, also a large tank? 180gallon, now that's a LOT of sand... might take a bit longer.

 

[Industrial]

I used playsand in my 33 long and after a few days it still hadn't settled and then I wiped off the glass and it looked cloudy because the sand was coating the glass.

 

[fishycat]

I let the sand settle overnight before turning on my filter... That helped a lot. Also, lots of polyester filter floss to catch the particulate.

 

[Captnslapy]

My other tank was a 90 gallon and I even took the sand out of it. to use in the 180. It has a little over 200 lbs of sand. Maybe I'll try turning the filters off tonight.