Need advice on tank setup and stagnant saltwater

[BioMan]

I recently setup a 90 gal tank but found out I was 30 gal short on my sump so I havent started running it yet. with the weather being the waay it was yesterday I couldnt make it out to buy the reef crystal salt I plan on using in this tank so with that being said last night I turned on the lights and the 90 gallons in the tank itself is still cloudy and the sand that has settled looks like theres an 1/8 of an inch of "dust" There isnt any thing in there besides sand and water that was successfully housing 2 fish and an eel 3 days ago.

 

[BioMan]

...My question is that situation normal under those circumstances.

 

[KathyC]

Did you rinse the sand until the water ran clear before you added it to the tank? If not, that is where your 'dust' is coming from. Using a filter sock will help that once you have the sump up and running.


The bigger issue seems to be that you already have fish in this tank and it doesn't sound like you have properly cycled the tank before doing so
This generally takes about 4-6 weeks when starting the tank before you should be adding livestock to the tank.


There's no live rock in the tank either?

 

[BioMan]

Did you rinse the sand until the water ran clear before you added it to the tank? If not, that is where your 'dust' is coming from. Using a filter sock will help that once you have the sump up and running.


The bigger issue seems to be that you already have fish in this tank and it doesn't sound like you have properly cycled the tank before doing so
This generally takes about 4-6 weeks when starting the tank before you should be adding livestock to the tank.


There's no live rock in the tank either?

No, I didnt make myself clear.
3 days ago I tore down a fish only saltwater tank that had been running and professionally serviced the past 4 or 5 years. I donated the livestock to my local fish store. I hired one of the guys that worked there to empty, dismantle, move to my house then rebuild. During the process we forgot the sump water, approximately 30 gall, had been dumped out when we inspected it before transport.
We pretty much picked up an entire system and moved it to another room.
But since we didnt have enough saltwater to refil the sump that night and it was bad weather here I didnt get a chance to power the tank on, but last night I did turn on the lights and the sandbed looked like there was dust on it.

 

[KathyC]

ahh,,, more info is always good


My next thought would be that if you used the old sand-bed, that is detritus from that sand-bed that got disturbed and is now laying on top of it after falling back out of the water column.
You could try gently sucking it off of there with a turkey baster or a gravel vac.