nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hey guys... Just curious what you think is going on... I have about 400-425 gallons in the tank so far, and the water is still pretty cloudy. Haven't added sand or rock yet... I've been mixing 50 gallons of water a day in a 50 gallon barrel. Water is reading 0 TDS, mixed with a Sicce Voyager 4000 and using IO Reef Crystals. It'll mix from 10am until 6pm, then go into the tank. In the tank I have two Jebao WP60s (One on each end) on full power in Else mode. The water in the tank is reading 1.025. The only thing is that I haven't been using a heater in the tank yet and the water seems pretty cool. Added a heater this morning, water temp seems in the mid-high 60s... Used a Magic Eraser twice so far to clean any film off the inside glass... Is this normal... any reason for concern? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I would say normal with salt mixes are concerned. Give it a day or so more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I'd go ahead and toss the sand in there now if I were you. Might as well have a giant sand storm of particles all at once then have to wait for it to clear two separate times. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Do you think the heat is an issue? Started adding water days ago... just adding new water in all the time keeping it cloudy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 It does not bother me much, but it is your tank. All salt mixes should be mixed several days in advance of using. It will clear up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 I'd go ahead and toss the sand in there now if I were you. Might as well have a giant sand storm of particles all at once then have to wait for it to clear two separate times.Going to get all the rock in over the next two weekends then dump in the sand... thinking of using thick PVC to target where I want it to go and not causing "too" much of a sand storm... Any tips for rinsing Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand? Always used pre-washed sand and crushed coral in the past... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 It does not bother me much, but it is your tank. All salt mixes should be mixed several days in advance of using. It will clear up. Thanks Patrick Lot of work to get all the water made / mixed / and in the tank. Would hate to have a bad few cases of Reef Crystals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I'd go ahead and toss the sand in there now if I were you. Might as well have a giant sand storm of particles all at once then have to wait for it to clear two separate times.Going to get all the rock in over the next two weekends then dump in the sand... thinking of using thick PVC to target where I want it to go and not causing "too" much of a sand storm...Any tips for rinsing Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand? Always used pre-washed sand and crushed coral in the past... What is your reason for waiting until rock is placed before adding sand? Minimal rinsing, only to float out any debris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Get a 5-gallon bucket, drill some holes at the bottom, put in a fine mesh screen, and blast away with the hose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 What is your reason for waiting until rock is placed before adding sand? Minimal rinsing, only to float out any debris. None really... just putting down some eggcrate first then aquascape the rock and add sand. Just seemed a lot of people go that way. In the past I have added sand first with no bad results... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Get a 5-gallon bucket, drill some holes at the bottom, put in a fine mesh screen, and blast away with the hose!Any issues using hose water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I didn't have any issues. I'm not too worried about the minute amount of chlorine/chlorimine that might into the in tank. Either way you have to cycle the tank. Throw some prime in there if it eases your mind. I would lean on putting the sand in there first, especially if Patrick has been seeding your rocks for you already. That way the resulting sandstorm doesn't choke out any life that has seeded on the rock already. Also, I'm a klutz so having a sandbed on the ground as insurance for me dropping a large piece of rock would make me feel better. I know you have acrylic so its not as big of a worry in that department. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 I didn't have any issues. I'm not too worried about the minute amount of chlorine/chlorimine that might into the in tank. Either way you have to cycle the tank. Throw some prime in there if it eases your mind. I would lean on putting the sand in there first, especially if Patrick has been seeding your rocks for you already. That way the resulting sandstorm doesn't choke out any life that has seeded on the rock already. Also, I'm a klutz so having a sandbed on the ground as insurance for me dropping a large piece of rock would make me feel better. I know you have acrylic so its not as big of a worry in that department. UGH... good point... now I need to get a bunch of bags of sand here... Picking up half of the rock this weekend. So it might have to go in before the sand gets here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I used dry sand and a garden hose sprayer and bucket on my 90. I'll just say that no amount of rinsing is going to prevent a dust storm from dry sand. I let it drain as much as reasonably possible and then added some prime once it was all in just in case some chloramines got in with the sand. No algae or water quality issues at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Just think of it as a free workout... lifting bags of sand and tons of live rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Just think of it as a free workout... lifting bags of sand and tons of live rock!LOL and my wife just got me to start going to the gym >:0 I actually have some prime laying around that I've never used as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 One reason to put rocks in first (from what I've read) is it keeps fish and things from burrowing under your rock and destabilizing. I do not offer any validity to this claim. I don't like using prime during the cycle. I have always found that when I do I never get nitrites to go down. I surmise that the prime binds with the nitrites (as designed) but they still read as being there. I've had that happen three times and never had that issue with straight up water conditioner. Last time it happened (on a 5 gallon tank) after a month of off the scale nitrites I did a 100% water change and never showed nitrites again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Well the water is clearing up a bit with some heat. $240 later a new circuit is in. Ended up being a bit more work to get it there than I first thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Little clearer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 To add sand and not get a sand storm is easy but time consuming. I just finished replacing my entire 2 year old crushed coral bed with a mixture of dry Fiji pink and dry special grade aragonite. I did so in sections but could have done the whole thing and it wouldn't have gotten any messier (just would have been foolish biologically) I didn't get ANY sandstorm or cloudiness. Not a shred. Perfectly clean and clear and I added it to a running mature tank. Power heads on as well. The trick. Get your bucket of moderately well rinsed sand. Get a length of 1/2" or 3/4" PVC pipe that will reach the bottom, of your tank and come a few inches out of the water. Put a funnel in the end. Lean it against the front glass. Get a 2 cup measuring cup and scoop up sand. Hold the cup of wet sand in one hand and a turkey baster in the other. Plunge up tank water and gently rinse the sand down the funnel. Yes it can get messy. Yes I spilled sand all over the floor once or twice. Yes it took a while. Yes it's a PITA. But if you're careful and diligent you can add your entire sandbed this way and have ZERO cloudiness. Even when I used special grade that was making rinse water look like whole milk. Zero cloudiness when adding to the tank with this method. I forgot where I heard about it but I wanna say it was our very own Mark Callahan. I could be mistaken. Worked beautifully for me though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 To add sand and not get a sand storm is easy but time consuming. I just finished replacing my entire 2 year old crushed coral bed with a mixture of dry Fiji pink and dry special grade aragonite. I did so in sections but could have done the whole thing and it wouldn't have gotten any messier (just would have been foolish biologically) I didn't get ANY sandstorm or cloudiness. Not a shred. Perfectly clean and clear and I added it to a running mature tank. Power heads on as well. The trick. Get your bucket of moderately well rinsed sand. Get a length of 1/2" or 3/4" PVC pipe that will reach the bottom, of your tank and come a few inches out of the water. Put a funnel in the end. Lean it against the front glass. Get a 2 cup measuring cup and scoop up sand. Hold the cup of wet sand in one hand and a turkey baster in the other. Plunge up tank water and gently rinse the sand down the funnel. Yes it can get messy. Yes I spilled sand all over the floor once or twice. Yes it took a while. Yes it's a PITA. But if you're careful and diligent you can add your entire sandbed this way and have ZERO cloudiness. Even when I used special grade that was making rinse water look like whole milk. Zero cloudiness when adding to the tank with this method. I forgot where I heard about it but I wanna say it was our very own Mark Callahan. I could be mistaken. Worked beautifully for me though Good tip, didn't think of using the turkey baster. Was just going to use pipe and a measuring cup. How exactly did you rinse the special grade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Turkey baster helps because after rinsing, the sand is clumpy and damp. Won't easily pour down the funnel. I just emptied the dry bag into a bucket and ran the garden hose into it. Sprayed and agitated it for about a half hour just letting it overflow and pouring it off every couple minutes, being careful not to lose any sand. After a half hour and 20 or so buckets worth of rinsing I saw no visual improvement. Water still looked like milk So I poured off as much tap water as I could and filled it with rodi water and let it sit for a day, poured that off and refilled it, let it sit a couple days, poured it off and used it. Sounds like a long time but I work a lot of hours and already had a running tank so I wasn't in a hurry to use it all right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Turkey baster helps because after rinsing, the sand is clumpy and damp. Won't easily pour down the funnel. I just emptied the dry bag into a bucket and ran the garden hose into it. Sprayed and agitated it for about a half hour just letting it overflow and pouring it off every couple minutes, being careful not to lose any sand. After a half hour and 20 or so buckets worth of rinsing I saw no visual improvement. Water still looked like milk So I poured off as much tap water as I could and filled it with rodi water and let it sit for a day, poured that off and refilled it, let it sit a couple days, poured it off and used it. Sounds like a long time but I work a lot of hours and already had a running tank so I wasn't in a hurry to use it all right away. LOL I'm looking at getting 7-8 bags (( I'm already shocked that the DI resin has lasted for almost 500 gallons of water, still reading 0 TDS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I used 4 40-lb bags of the special reef grade sand and it gave me a good 3" in my 215-gallon tank (72" x 24" x 28"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 I used 4 40-lb bags of the special reef grade sand and it gave me a good 3" in my 215-gallon tank (72" x 24" x 28").Hmmmm... Think 6-7 will be fine for me? Might only want 1.5-2"... What kind of screen did you use for rinsing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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