Water really cloudy after adding OldCastle sand...

[fishboy19]

I didn't rinse the bags out before I added it because most people on the marine forums told me that I was likely to throw out much of the good stuff, now I'm worried about 3 things:
1. My live rock. I have a power head blowing on them so that the dust doesn't land on the rocks and smother them? Am I just over-worried, or is that a valid question?
2. There seems to be a thin film or oil or something on the water. How can I get that off? Should I be worried?
3. Alot of the silt has settled on the glass, should I just wipe if off, or eventually buy some snails and let them do their thing?

Any other help would be great!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[jessie]

my tank was the same way when i put sand into it. all i done was blow the stuff off my rocks once a day with a turkey baister. after the water started getting pretty clear i scrapped the glass once and everything was ok. if you dont have anything aggitating the water surface i would put a power head where it will stirr the surface. other than that my tank turned out just fine.

 

[mogurnda]

I was impatient and used a powerhead with a quickfilter to get rid of the silt. The film is just very fine dust, and it will go away with time and agitation.

 

[hultman]

I agree with Mogurnda, but I'm even more impatient. I never liked waiting for cloudy water to clear, so the simple answer is to fire up the old Vortex Diatom filter. I don't even remember why I bought it, but any time cloudy water is a problem, this will fix it quick. I think they're still available for about $75, and they work!

I remember once we had a really serious algae bllom in a swimming pool, and the pool guy had an industrial sized diatom. Took a couple hours, but the water was crystal clear when he was done!

Jim

 

[AW2EOD]

9 times out of 10, your water will be cloudy when you add sand to a new tank.

If you dont want to use one of the quick fixes, like the ones already mentioned, just give it a few days and it'll go away.

 

[fishboy19]

I'm just as inpatient! lol, I did almost the same thing, I took the Magnum 350 off my 90 gal freshwater and used the micron filter. It is freaking crazy! The water is CRYSTAL CLEAR!!! I'm really excited.

Thanks everyone,
Matt