aragonite sand is a PIA !!!

[madmax7774]

So the next step in 100 gallon setup odyssey is to get 80lbs of sand for the bottom. I get the two 40 lb bags home and start to rinse it in the shower with a bucket. so I rinse, and I rinse and I rinse, and I rinse, and I rinsed the sand for the whole weekend. All i did was rinse, rinse, rinse. Well even that wasn't enough. It's now wednesday, and I have a 1/4 layer of fine tan silt everywhere in the tank. I can't seem to get rid of the stuff. what a PIA! If I can't figure out a way to make the silt go away, I am going to have to tear it all down and clean it out and start over with some other type of sand. That means I will have lost $140 worth of salt and sand not to mention the bachache from spending the whole darn weekend playing with buckets of sand in the shower. I have to say I am really disappointed with the aragonite brand I bought.

[dhoch]

Max,

 

A couple of suggestions:

 

1) if you have a skimmer use it (but be carefull as it will pull a lot of white foam out).

 

2) if your salinity is good:

a) Get some live rock

B) Get some live sand

 

The first will remove some of the silt, the 2nd will help the bacteria colonize on the sand which will cause it to weight down and come out of the water column (I know I've been right where you are, the thing that cleared it up the fastest was these 2 stesp).

 

Dave

[Guest alex wlazlak]

like dhoch said, get a skimmer and use it! you could try to syphon out most of the crap with any old tubing into a bucket and maybe put a strainer over the end of the tube to catch the agrogate that comes through..

[Prunfarm]

Skim plus the old fashioned power filter w/ carbon and filter floss. It'll take a few days, and changing alot of floss, but it'll work out. BTW, you'll probably have to use extra powerheads, or just stir the tank w/ your arm to keep things in suspension.

[steveoutlaw]

To me it doesn't make sense to keep it in suspension......you want it to settle. Bacteria is exactly what you need in there. Get some live rock in there ASAP and do a water change with the old water from an established tank. It also wouldn't hurt to get a scoop of live sand from an established tank to help the process along.

 

Among all things....BE PATIENT! I've had to learn that the hard way.

[Grav]

I agree, more water movement will mean longer before it settles out and without live rock or sand or some other source of bacteria you will have a milky to cloudy tank for a long long time.

 

I recently added 220 #s of FINE aragonite with minimal rinsing to a 95g tank along with 20#s of "wet" sand, 10# of live and 100+ # of live rock. No filters or skimmers and it was settled overnight.

 

Good luck.

[lepete2000]

So the next step in 100 gallon setup odyssey is to get 80lbs of sand for the bottom. I get the two 40 lb bags home and start to rinse it in the shower with a bucket. so I rinse, and I rinse and I rinse, and I rinse, and I rinsed the sand for the whole weekend. All i did was rinse, rinse, rinse. Well even that wasn't enough. It's now wednesday, and I have a 1/4 layer of fine tan silt everywhere in the tank. I can't seem to get rid of the stuff. what a PIA! If I can't figure out a way to make the silt go away, I am going to have to tear it all down and clean it out and start over with some other type of sand. That means I will have lost $140 worth of salt and sand not to mention the bachache from spending the whole darn weekend playing with buckets of sand in the shower. I have to say I am really disappointed with the aragonite brand I bought.

 

You can get a 50 Micron filter pad, tubbing, and a small pump. Use those to make a DIY diatom filter.

[Guest mikesroth]

If you have some live Rock that will do wonders! I had the same problem when I setup my tank, I put the live Rock in and by the end of the day could see a difference.

[Guest Leishman]

Too late now, but next time follow these steps:

1. Add sand to tank
   
2. place a plastic bag over the sand
   
3. place a plate on the bag
   
4. slowly add the new salt water to the plate
   

This will avoid displacing the sand creating a sand storm

 

You can add the LR before or after this list.

[Lee Stearns]

Not sure where you are located but many of us would gladly give you a couple of cups of live sand to get the bacteria and critter base started. PM me if you are in the No Va area

[Caribbean Jake]

Ditto

I'm in Herndon, and you are welcome to a cup of seeded sand to get you started.

Jacob