im reall starting to get worried

[PeeJ]

its been about a week since i dumped in 100 pounds of silica sand and 20 pounds of arag alive and 12 pounds of live rock......the tank is to where i can see through it to the back of the tank....but it is still reallllllly white looking....im starting to think i just drain the tank take the sand out and start all ove....i really dont want to cause thats ganna take a long time and cost about 100 dollars

what should i do?!?!

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have the pump running all this time? If you do, and don't need them, turn them off. Three days is all it took me, but YMMV.

 

[PeeJ]

yea all my pumps and stuff are running...i mean i let it just sit for a few days with no pumps so there was a silt all over the bottom...but i fired everything up as normal and it just mixed it all up again so i figured i might as well leave everything on and let it settle when everything is on.
ive heard that the sand has to get bacterial coating on it in order to let it settle?? i guess this weekend ill throw in another 40 pounds of live sand on top of everything and see if i can get it goin in the right direction

im also runnng a micron filter 24/7 and risning it as often as i walk by the tank . seems to help a log

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, the filter will not do much in getting it to clear up. The amount of silt in the water column is so much that it will takes forever to clean and rise the filter. It is meant to be use as a "polisher" not in when the tank is loaded with suspension.

You need to turn down the pump a little bit and redirect the nozzles so that it won't kick up the sand. The job of a pump is to recirculate the water, not to stir up the sand.

Once you get some live rock and sand in there, you will see a great improvement. I heard about the bacterial coating too, but I don't know if there is any scientific literature about the effect of it on suspension... :?

 

[Anonymous]

Did you rinse VERY well before putting it in the tank? If not, oh well, it's really no big deal. If you did, oh well, believe Mr. Pea, it will settle out most likely.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm worried that 4 sumpsters have posted in the same top-side thread 8O What's going on here?

 

[Anonymous]

Nobody gives a "dime" when 4 topsiders posted in a The Sump thread. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Alright, an experiment design to test the bacteria theory. There are better way to do it, but the following seems to be most easily carry out by us High School Scientists

1, Get some Southdown sand from an established tank.
2, Shake up the sand really well, and make two equal portions
3, one portion is the control sample, the other is the test sample
4, the control sample sand is coated with bacteria.
5, the test sample sand is sterilized (made "holy") by boiling the hell out of it, or by UV, grammar radiation, bleach, etc..
6, now, this is the important step... shake both sample at the same time, and see if the control one settle faster than the test sample.
7, report the finding and see if the bacterial coating theory is reinforced by the above experiment.

 

[PeeJ]

well if i could get southdown, i wouldnt be having this problem period
i cant get southdown in san antonio, and the aragonite is like 17 dollars for 20 pounds...thats a lot...so i guess ill just cover the top of the silica with some live sand...instead of the full sand bed.

thanks for all the help....hey technoshaman...yea ill probably get that rock from you...do u get southdwon in austin

 

[Anonymous]

The method above also works with whatever sand you use. In fact, you will have a bigger problem if you use 100% Southdown sand, since it got a lot more fine particles than the aragalive sand.

 

[Anonymous]

LOULE!! Mr. Pea, can you tell me a little more about that grammar radiation, please? Seems too many native speakers could use a big ol' dose doncha know, and my dear old dad, even being a radiologist, couldn't begin to give me information I could use. :lol:

 

[esmithiii]

Give it time. I am not sure if it is the bacterial coating, or what but for some reason after it is in a tank a while with LR and/or LS the sand does not cloud as much, even when you try to make it cloud.

Ernie

 

[Anonymous]

Run a bag of carbon. It will absorb the really fine, milky stuff. I mixed three different kinds of sand and most was silica and I had a slight milk problem. Running carbon helped. I also kept the pumps on high, I just made sure they didn't stir the sand.

 

[Anonymous]

Run a bag of carbon. It will absorb the really fine, milky stuff.

Activated carbon is not meant to be used as a sediment filter. It is a chemical absorbant. Wrong application, and waste of money.

Mr. Pea, can you tell me a little more about that grammar radiation, please?

I was betta-testing the RDO PHP spell checker, and I guess it does not work well after all... :wink:

Stop picking on my greek!

 

[buff1]

A week still isn't very long. Reduce the flow a little and make sure the nozzles aren't pointed right at the sand. Add whatever live sand you are going to add and some Carbon and then chill. It will settle out one way or another or else the ocean would look like milk. :lol: