Sugar sized sand. Garbage?

[henrye718]

I filled both my tanks with suger sized sand, and here I am 4 1/2 months later with still cloudy water. I have been diatoming both tanks once a week since then thinking it would eventually run out of dust and whatever is in the sand that clouds up the tank. Both these tanks are big its becoming stupid already with the amount of work it is to clean the diatom over and over.

I did rinse out the sand before I used it even tho it said on the packages its not required. I used two brands one (50/50) live and dead sand forget the names off hand. Its all suger sized.

Shoud I just chuck it all and start over? OR take it out rinse the crap out of it and use it again?

PS: I do have alot of criters that sift the sand and will not get rid of them.

Thanks all.

 

[prattreef]

That is really weird. What kind/brand of sand?

 

[NYreefNoob]

maybe your flow is too much or power head aimed more towards the sand, ive got sugar size sand also with no problems and you sure its dust or stuff from the sand ?

 

[D1J8Z]

can you take a video?

Do you have filter socks?

 

[MatthewScars]

I had sugar im my 55 before I upgrade to 90. it was horrible with finding the right powerhead angles and diatoms. But it was never cloudy... only for the first few hours. maybe a bactrial outbreak ? you dosing anything?

I got rid of it as soon as i upgraded.

what do you have in the tank? if its just a few fish and some hardy softies/LPS, id empty the tank, switch the sand, wait for the little cycle, then add everything back.

 

[aaron23]

4 1/2 months later with still cloudy water. I have been diatoming both tanks once a week

if the tank is new that will happen

 

[Simon Garratt]

Ive used sugar sized and finer aragonite sands in my tanks for years, both in DSB's and in the main tanks as shallow 2-3" sand beds. and both my current tank and my last one both ran crystel clear without any mechanical filtration.

One of the reasons behind this imo, is that i never keep stuff that digs/blows in the sand or agressively sifts it like sand sifting gobies, or burrowing fiish like jawfish etc. Admitedly i do have wrasses that sleep in it at night and peck around a bit during the day that cause very occasional dusty periods, but there are no animals that constantly disturb the sand to aggressively.

For sifters i just use a few large black cucumbers who work 24/7 to keep the surface layers turned over. whats good about these is that they deposit sand that has been taken in, as long sausages out the other end. these then fall apart over the next 24 hours to form a new top layer.

The other benifit is that they dont impact on the microfauna populations adversly, so the beds are rife with life, keeping waste levels down and functioning effectively.

It may just be that you have too much disturbance going on.

Regards

Simon.

 

[henrye718]

Thanks for the replys all,

When I say diatom I mean the filter system by the company diatom or whoever makes them.

The cloudiness definately comes from the sand.

Im sure my sand sifting gobies and the jaw fish are ones disturbing the sand and causing the storm.

I was just wondering if I should ditch it or remove the sand and rewash the heck out of it. Im starting to think this sand is not ment to be moved at all or it will cause a mess no matter what you do to it.

I remember when I first rinsed it It seemed like I was going to end up washing it all away with the act of just stiring it in a bucket, so i didnt rinse it really agressivly.

The brands I cant remember, the dry was called sugar sized argonite and the live is the one that is in a sealed heavy duty bag with a little water in it. Anyway I dont think Ill ever use this stuff again.

 

[NYreefNoob]

if you have sand sifting gobies then you need the smaller sand, they will stir it up, rinse the sand now will cause more problems

 

[mcnuggget]

i think your problem is that you dont give your sand a chance to become "live".
live sand contains a diverse forms of life in it that consumes the algea n other waste from your reef inhabitants. this life also bines the sand particles to cause them to be less blown away.
by rinsing and using criters that will depict these organisms, u r indirectly killing the sand.

 

[aaron23]

err lol diatom products my bad i read too quickly. Just curious how old is the tank? 4 1/2 months later that is odd, can you post a picture?

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Relative Question:Lost some sand due to siphoning when doing WC's/Can it be replaced with new sand or seeded sand?

 

[masterswimmer]

Relative Question:Lost some sand due to siphoning when doing WC's/Can it be replaced with new sand or seeded sand?

Yes, within reason. You don't want to add too much at once.

R

 

[ZANYMASTER]

New or seeded Russ?

 

[ecvernon]

USE ESV FINE GRADE WHITE SAND. so you could keep your sand sifting animals LOOK AT MY TANK THREAD TO SEE HOW IT LOOKS.
it still remains white it only get dirty if i skip my biweekly water change in which i siphon the gravel.

i got it from www.saltwatercritters.com

 

[masterswimmer]

New or seeded Russ?

Nelson, shouldn't matter if you're not adding a lot at once.

 

[henrye718]

Well anyone that reads this thread in the future. I did a test with some left over sand I had in the basement. A 1/2lb - 3/4lb of this stuff will make a 5 gallon bucket of water turn to milk. It takes 6 rinses in this size bucket to get this stuff to stop clouding the water to where its not very noticable, 30 gallons to rinse one pound sheesh. The amount of dust that comes out of this stuff is amazing.


I also tested my new stuff made by caribisea (special grade sized sand). Pretty much the same results. Have to rinse it to no end to get it to stop clouding the water.

I guess people that use this never stir it up again but, I dont see how they are able to keep it clean with out stiring it in some way. It will eventually trap all kinds of ditrus all be at a slower pace than a large sized media.

Pretty sure all that stuff im washing away is what they claim to be the buffering capacity of the product but i dont care id rather just add my own trace stuff later than have this stuff cloud my tank.