Help plz.

[BiGBlak]

for the past couple of days my water hasn't cleared up and im starting to worry if it was anything i did. now today(i would say a couple hours ago like at 830 i did like a 15% water change and my water looks worse, when before i did it when it actually seemed like it was clearing up but not really. im going around looking for pure ammonia tomorrow to hopefully start my fish less cycle and came around something on the web that says it would be easier to read the testing if i wait for my water to clear. at this point im tired of looking at my tank with this milky looking water. i dnt know what to do . i feel like there's something i did wrong will it ever clear up to be crystal clear because it seems its never going to . n oyea i have two filters running right now

[xasuma]

Its the tank empty then?
How big is it?
Did you start the cycle?
How long ago its been set up?
:22:

[BiGBlak]

the tank is empty besisides a dew rocks and play sand substrate
55 gallon
no i didnt start the cycle i just started up my filters to see if they were workin fine
i put water in my tank about 4 days ago witht the stock filter

[dane]

for the past couple of days my water hasn't cleared up and im starting to worry if it was anything i did. now today(i would say a couple hours ago like at 830 i did like a 15% water change and my water looks worse, when before i did it when it actually seemed like it was clearing up but not really. im going around looking for pure ammonia tomorrow to hopefully start my fish less cycle and came around something on the web that says it would be easier to read the testing if i wait for my water to clear. at this point im tired of looking at my tank with this milky looking water. i dnt know what to do . i feel like there's something i did wrong will it ever clear up to be crystal clear because it seems its never going to . n oyea i have two filters running right now

do you have sand ? if you do did you really wash it good before putting it in the tank ? even if you did wash it too it could have gotten into your filters

EDIT: i yanked my play sand out because it wouldnt clear up either ,imo get gravel . i hate sand & i dont think i will ever go back to it . you might check your filters too there could be sand in there keeping it cloudy

[BiGBlak]

i washed it pretty good( about 20-30 mins) before i put it into my tank . but i had it sitting n the tank for a few day before i added water because i was trying to wait for all my stuff to ship to my house . but if it did get into my filters what do i do to get it out? becaus i did have the suction kind of low to the sand when i fisrt started them up .

[dane]

to clean them just unplug them and rinse them out rinse the media as well and since you haven't even cycled it yet don't worry bout rinsing it in tap water HOT water should do clean the inside of the filters too . you might have to do this multiple times .

[BiGBlak]

do you have sand ? if you do did you really wash it good before putting it in the tank ? even if you did wash it too it could have gotten into your filters

EDIT: i yanked my play sand out because it wouldnt clear up either ,imo get gravel . i hate sand & i dont think i will ever go back to it . you might check your filters too there could be sand in there keeping it cloudy
i was thinking about what you said about the gravel . how would i acually get out all of the sand from my house . i live a apartment flat and really dont want the landlord to know that i have a fish tank because she might try to charge me some insurance and all of that. because when everyone in here was suggesting play sand i was thinking because i wanted the beachy looking type of sand and if i go gravel im going to go with black.

[xasuma]

turn off the filter first of all, maybe remove it, and then you can either way take the water out and then just take the sand out , or try and just scoop it out carefully.
It will get pretty cloudy if you dont dump the water first tho, so you would have to remove the water anyways after that.
:22:

And you dont really need to be carefull with anything, you have nothing started yet , so dont worry .

[dane]

i was thinking about what you said about the gravel . how would i acually get out all of the sand from my house . i live a apartment flat and really dont want the landlord to know that i have a fish tank because she might try to charge me some insurance and all of that. because when everyone in here was suggesting play sand i was thinking because i wanted the beachy looking type of sand and if i go gravel im going to go with black.

hmm idk bout that ? maybe in the middle of the night lol you could haul it out .
&
yea same here i live in a apartment upstairs . idk what your rules are at your apt. but i couldn't have anything bigger than a 29 gallon unless i had renters insurance...
it was like 30 bucks to start and is 16 bucks a month not bad i dont think i need it but they say i need it lol . i have black gravel now .

[BiGBlak]

would this be smart . i cycle my tank first and since i have to do a 90% water change then i can swap the substrate to gravel ? or will there be a problem about doing that ?

[dane]

would this be smart . i cycle my tank first and since i have to do a 90% water change then i can swap the substrate to gravel ? or will there be a problem about doing that ?

Hmmm im not sure maybe someone with better knowledge could help out on that question . I know usually SOME beneficial is in the substrate but if its enough to throw off your cycle im not sure.. id say 95 % of the cycle is in your filters .

[xasuma]

I personally would do it now and before anything, for the simple reason that you can just rinse it out, and it will be a little more complicated after cycled, you ll have to be a lot more carefull with your filter and everything.
Good luck:22:

[souly]

I find sand to be way mor natural looking, and way easier to clean than gravel. When you poored the water into the tank, did you place something like a bowl on top of the sand that the water would hit? That causes less of the sand to get moved while adding the water. I used Pool Filer Sand, that sets rather quick...I don't know about Play Sand....But i'd empty the water out if you can, and refill it and see if that helps clear it up.

[Sandman]

I set up with play sand a few months ago and experience very cloudy water as well.

Just put some carbon in your filter, in whatever way works best for the type of filter you have. I have a canister so I just put a bag of loose carbon in the canister.

It cleared up in a couple of days. I love the sand look and I have only lost one fish out of 21 in the last month and a half. Don't be talked out of it - I really don't think it's worth emptying out your tank. At least try the carbon first.

By the way, if you are pulling sand into your filter, I would expect you'd be able to see it going in there (unless it's so cloudy you can't see to the intake). Also, it stands to reason that the filter should remove any particulates, so loose sand shouldn't be causing your cloudiness.

Out of curiosity, does it have an odor? Mine had a strong odor the first couple days (not the very first day of adding the water and sand, however) that also passed.

[BiGBlak]

I set up with play sand a few months ago and experience very cloudy water as well.

Just put some carbon in your filter, in whatever way works best for the type of filter you have. I have a canister so I just put a bag of loose carbon in the canister.

It cleared up in a couple of days. I love the sand look and I have only lost one fish out of 21 in the last month and a half. Don't be talked out of it - I really don't think it's worth emptying out your tank. At least try the carbon first.

By the way, if you are pulling sand into your filter, I would expect you'd be able to see it going in there (unless it's so cloudy you can't see to the intake). Also, it stands to reason that the filter should remove any particulates, so loose sand shouldn't be causing your cloudiness.

Out of curiosity, does it have an odor? Mine had a strong odor the first couple days (not the very first day of adding the water and sand, however) that also passed.
gotta pic of your tank ? and no my water doesnt have a odor to it .

[Sandman]

Sure - see the bottom of the following threads:

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[tanks4thememories]

You will have no problems at all if you use this stuff instead:

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Just because it is called "Play Sand" does not mean what is in it. They are not all created equal.

I love sand so much I switched both my main tanks to it...:)

[Zilla]

Since there are no fish in the tank and there is no cycle to speak of, there is no reason why you can't or shouldn't take the sand out now if you want to.

I tried using Black sand in my 55. It was a major pain in the butt and showed everything, so I took it out less than 3 months later. As if adding the sand wasn't aggravating enough, taking it out was worse as I had to take the fish out before I did it.

If you're going to do it, get it done so when your tank is ready for fish, you won't stress them out because you decided that you don't like the sand. It's alot easier to do big tank renovations when there are no fish...

[Sandman]

I have been strongly cautioned away from using pool filter sand or any white silica sand because it it is very sharp and can damage scales, gills etc. My horsefaces, for example, might be particularly affected, as they spent all their time with bellies to the sand, pulling it through their gills.

I'm not saying I know this to be fact, but this is what the local aquarium experts tell me. Can anyone here confirm or deny?

TanksForTheMemories' experience shows that it can be used in a successful tank, but their may be other risks than the water quality. I'm by no means knocking your choice to use it, Tanks, I just thought I ought to pass along the warning I received.

[annageckos]

If the sand is making the water murky it should clear up in less then a day. I only use sand and have not had it cloud the water for more then a couple of hours. It could possibly be a bacterial bloom too. If you water has nutriants and nitirates that could cause it.

[tanks4thememories]

I have been strongly cautioned away from using pool filter sand or any white silica sand because it it is very sharp and can damage scales, gills etc. My horsefaces, for example, might be particularly affected, as they spent all their time with bellies to the sand, pulling it through their gills.

I'm not saying I know this to be fact, but this is what the local aquarium experts tell me. Can anyone here confirm or deny?

TanksForTheMemories' experience shows that it can be used in a successful tank, but their may be other risks than the water quality. I'm by no means knocking your choice to use it, Tanks, I just thought I ought to pass along the warning I received.

Yup no worries. Pool filter sand is very angular (Sharp) it's purpose is to snag debris from the water passing through a pool filter. That having been said. Many warn that certain species of fish should not be kept in sand at all and that yet others should not be kept in Pool Filter sand specifically.

I am new to sand and can only speak to the species I have kept in it and they LOVE IT. I originally got sand because my arowana went after a goldfish and missed he busted his Jaw badly from hitting the gravel. I then researched all sand available and ran survey on several sites and used final input to decide on pool filter sand. The balas forage in it with it passing through their gills. The MTS dig in for refuge at night, The birchirs dig in it in preparation for ambushing goldfish. This has been going on for about 2 yrs with no ill effects in fact in moving my fish around for different reasons I have noticed they prefer the sand...lol That's why when I moved the Balas to the 55 gallon I put sand in 1st.

So I cant speak to what others say about pool filter sand when I was doing my due diligence many people said it was too angular but I found alot of people who were using it. I decided to try it. I can tell you my experience with it has been AWESOME!!

PS several months after switching I sold the arowana. Before I did sell him I observed several missed strikes at prey that resulted in his face hitting the substrate with serious force. My newly aquired Gar does the same thing. Never once since I switched to sand has either fish ever again cut himself. So IMHO I say angular yes, sharp enough to damage fish? I havnt seen anything to support that in fact quite the opposite. :)

[Sandman]

So it sounds like the warnings about silica sand may be overblown. I'll definitely keep that in mind. I was planning on using white sand in my current tank but was talked out of it for the reasons mentioned. That's how I ended up with play sand, but I've been happy with the beachy look it provides (more like the beaches around here anyway that white sand would have been).

I'll refine my recommendation:
1. Leave the sand there.
2. Add carbon appropriate to your filtration method
3. Start your cycle.
4. See where you are in a week. I bet the clarity will have returned.

[tanks4thememories]

To clear stubborn water I use products like this
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

I know its cheating but hey it works!!

[tanks4thememories]

So it sounds like the warnings about silica sand may be overblown. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Yeah if you ask me they are. Just like the crazy debate over silica sand used as play sand. A lot of manufacturers stopped using silica in play ground sand due to rumors of it causing cancer and other pulmonary illnesses in children.
The story goes like this "the fine SHARP dust from a sand box gets inhaled by children playing in the sand and causes cancer related illnesses". Ok this started about 3 years ago. Since then now scientists are saying: A) it isn't very likely since the dust isn't that fine and the children do not inhale unusual quantities of it. B) any studies done focused on the angularity of silica sand and not on the fact that ANY dust inhaled in large quantities can cause pulmonary illnesses in adults or children. Lesson learned don't breathe large quantities of any dust...lol Unfortunately in the USA this debate has resulted in the removal of silica from many brands of "PLAY SAND" so I suggest you read the contents carefully if you are actually seeking silica based play sand.