lanman February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 (edited) My first tank - a 24-gallon 'nano' - I used the arag-alive 'wet' crushed rock for the bottom. No problem. I got a used 45 last weekend, sanded, stained, varnished the base, scrubbed the tank out, set it up, filled it with water and added salt. Last night I added the sandbed. Well, the guy at the LFS suggested I use 20 pounds of the wet stuff, and 50 pounds of the dry stuff. I looked at the dry crushed stuff, and it said all over the front how wonderful it is. No instructions for use anywhere. So I poured it in.... Seemed a little cloudier and dirtier than I expected, so I looked again - no instructions, but the LAST line of praises for the product said: Minimal rinsing required... Okay - so how about no rinsing? Now the 'dust' has almost settled this morning, but I'm sure that's exactly what it's done - settled. (there's even a fine layer of it in the sump). And I am reasonably certain if I start playing in my new ocean, I will stir it back up again. I see a couple of options. 1) ignore the problem and hope it goes away. 2) stir it up real good, drain all of the water out, and call it a saltwater rinse. Suggestions??? bob Edited February 7, 2007 by lanman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 Do not worry about it. I had just the same headache:) It's very normal and no harm. You can run a canister filter to clean out all the particles. Or it will settle all by itself in a week or so. Also you can add a compound - I forgot it's name - I'll post tonight - which sort of makes congregates of particles for easier settling / filtering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phisigs79 February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 STIR IT UP AND PUT A FILTER ON IT. OR SIPHON OFF THE TOP LAYER OF "DUST/DIRT" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 (edited) 2) stir it up real good, drain all of the water out, and call it a saltwater rinse. And trust me - this will not work I tried. And you can stir carefully "dust" only so it will get filtered. Edited February 7, 2007 by dzekunoi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascal February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 IME the dust always goes away after a while. Not sure whether it sinks down to the bottom of the substrate and becomes "mud", gets skimmed out, disolves into the water, or some combination. I just know it goes away. Some sort of mechanical filtration (filter sock) can't hurt, but patience will be the only real fix. Does no harm to anything in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman February 7, 2007 Author Share February 7, 2007 IME the dust always goes away after a while. Not sure whether it sinks down to the bottom of the substrate and becomes "mud", gets skimmed out, disolves into the water, or some combination. I just know it goes away. Some sort of mechanical filtration (filter sock) can't hurt, but patience will be the only real fix. Does no harm to anything in the meantime. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I have some old socks that might work; I'll give it a try. Patience is not one of my strong points, but I'll find some. With that 70 pounds of sand, my sand bed is about 4" deep - seems like a LOT of sand - is it satisfactory? bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 Thanks for the suggestions. I think I have some old socks that might work; I'll give it a try. Patience is not one of my strong points, but I'll find some. With that 70 pounds of sand, my sand bed is about 4" deep - seems like a LOT of sand - is it satisfactory? bob That sounds about right for the sand bed, you can take some out when adding live rocks. I have used old filters to take some of the dust out of the water in the past, and then just let it settle. Over time your sump with have a fine "mud" in it anyway, as well as any spots that aren't hit with moving water. Pods live in it. Macro algea likes it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevil February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 Once bacteria begins to grow that will also help minimize the cloudyness. You will experience a "sandstorm" effect as you work on your tank in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak February 7, 2007 Share February 7, 2007 I found it very useful when it's stirred up to hang a large (Emp 300, Whisper 60, Aqua Clear 110) filter on the front, take the pads out and just stuff it with filter floss, it pulls a ton of stuff out of the water. Word of caution, make sure not to make the floss so dense that when it pulls a lot of dust out of the water that it doesn't stop up and over flow. No worries about the new to the hobby section, I put my "what was i thinking/not" questions in here You have about 75 Lbs of substrate in a 24 gallon though? How many inches deep is your bed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman February 7, 2007 Author Share February 7, 2007 I found it very useful when it's stirred up to hang a large (Emp 300, Whisper 60, Aqua Clear 110) filter on the front, take the pads out and just stuff it with filter floss, it pulls a ton of stuff out of the water. Word of caution, make sure not to make the floss so dense that when it pulls a lot of dust out of the water that it doesn't stop up and over flow. No worries about the new to the hobby section, I put my "what was i thinking/not" questions in here You have about 75 Lbs of substrate in a 24 gallon though? How many inches deep is your bed? No- I have 20 pounds of substrate in my 24 gallon tank. And it makes for about 2". bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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