Hello and a quick question

mat4020 · 06-30-2008, 10:03 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm Matt... a student at JU, working on my bachelors and masters at the same time, should graduate (finally) in December. I just got hooked on SW a few weeks ago by a friend.

Looks like you have a great group of Jacksonville reefers on here. Hopefully you can help a newbie like myself out.

I just started my tank last Sunday (6/22 to be exact). I only have live sand and salt water in it so far.

The problem is that it is really silty (that is the best word I can think of to describe it - maybe thats beacuse I'm a long time diver

). Its been that ways since I put the sand in.

I didn't wash the sand, and I think that was probably my mistake, but am looking for ideas...

I had a skimmer (which I bought from Matt Pennington off Craigslist - awesome guy - gave me an overflow box for free) running since Friday in my sump.

Here are a couple of pictures to help describe what's going on.

(my hand is only 5 inches from the glass)

sumo · 06-30-2008, 10:44 PM

hallo mat and welcome to the hobby and to the forums!

to be short you have nothing to worry about it isnt bad just part of the program.... we all went through the same thing... heres what you can do to HELP the milky water.... one thing is to keep cleaning out your filter media (blue stuff that water goes through in the sump or overflow) make sure to clean it out daily as there will be sandy/milky residue from the water.... and dont do any water changes yet.... just wait till it all clears up and siphon out the sand.... dont worry the sand wont get pulled out.... maybe a little but not too much... and keep doing this until it gets better..... it will be like this for about 1-2 weeks depending on how much sand ya got in there....once its all gone you can get started with your cycling... which can be sped up if you buy some live rock that is from an established aquarium (stuff from online will come dry and not as populated as established....) also use some biozyme to help with the cycling.... but ya dont worry keep siphoning out water and letting settle.... water changes wont help unless you take all the water out and rinse the sand... cause if you dont rinse the sand and just keep changing water you will just stir up more... best of luck mate! and patience with the tank mang

Jadinop · 06-30-2008, 11:09 PM

If you used the bagged live sand from the lfs then you did not make a mistake. It is not supposed to be rinsed before using. It is normal for a newly setup tank to be cloudy for a few days (2-3) so I'm thinking you may have another issue since it has been a week. Here's a few questions if you don't mind.

Did you put the sand in first and then fill with water or fill the tank first and then dump the sand in?

When mixing your salt water, did you put the salt in the bucket and then add water? You should always fill the bucket with water first and then add salt. This will prevent precipitation from occuring which clouds the water pretty badly. I'm guessing this may be your problem.

mat4020 · 06-30-2008, 11:48 PM

Hi sumo and Jadinop...

I'm going to try to answer all these questions.

The sand I bought was bagged from the LFS. (the back of the bag said it didn't have to be rinsed if it was going in a new tank, so I didn't)

I mixed the water and salt in a 5 gallon bucket and put it in my tank/sump then I added the sand. Since then I've read that you should do it the other way around and possibly use a vase or plate to pour the water on... oops!

The silt is very fine, I tried to catch it coming out the return pump with a filter sock, but the holes in the sock were too big.

I currently have no mechanical filtration in the tank or sump. I have a cheapo topfin filter sitting around from a freshwater tank that I could try.

I'm not trying to rush everything, and I now understand that everything takes time (a lot of it). I just want to make sure in moving forward and not backwards.

Thanks!

teach · 06-30-2008, 11:53 PM

Welcome to the club Matt! The tank will clear up just fine. What else do you have planned for the tank? Live rock? Lighting? etc.?

mat4020 · 07-01-2008, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teach

Welcome to the club Matt! The tank will clear up just fine. What else do you have planned for the tank? Live rock? Lighting? etc.?

Hey Teach,

I am in the process of building a hood (as you can somewhat see in one of the pictures) to house a 175w MH. I have the reflector and socket, still need to buy the bulb and ballast. I plan to add actinic when I get some more cash (did I mention I was a poor college student).

I have 30lbs of base rock on the way that I plan to seed with some live rock borrowed from a friend. I just don't have the money to go out and buy a bunch of nice fiji rock (as much as I would love to!)

As for livestock (when that time comes)... love to have some corals and a few fish (its only a 29 gal tank). Of course my girlfriend wants a nemo!

On a quick side note, I'm assuming you teach, teach? I'm an Elementary Education major at JU. I plan on moving my current tank to my classroom when I graduate and find a job. I sure fifth graders would love the idea of some cool fish in their classroom. That will hopefully be an excuse to upgrade my tank to something bigger at home.

tsouth · 07-01-2008, 05:51 AM

Well first and foremost Congrats on joining us in this oh so splendid hobby! I too am a poor college student but nothing some money saving can't handle. It's usually the big days like birthdays and christmas that help out alot lol. W/ regards to your sand, I did the same thing as you did to my first 55 set up and it took a few days but you'll clear out just fine. The sand just needs to settle down and kind of harden up on the bottom so that it doesn't get tossed around so much. Maybe turn all your pumps off for a few days and just let it settle. Also, filling your whole tank with live rock is not absolute must. Live rock was all once dead rock right? Plus who likes to deal with harmful critters that may have hitchhiked yeah? I think I bought 3 pieces of live rock and 20+ of dead rock and 6 months later I forgot which ones were which lol
Could you provide us with an equipment list and a couple of shots of your sump?
Better yet, get a build thread goin man. Then we can see what all is incorporated into your system and can show you the ropes so you don't make any mistakes the first time around. Also here's a guide that may help you with your diy MH build.
http://aquarium.union.rpi.edu/articles/DIY_MH.html
What type of lights are you going to use as actinic supplementation?
Btw your girlfriend is going to start hating you for this hobby. She'll become jealous and then pissed that you spend more time thinking and buying things for your aquarium. Trust me been there done that lol

Jadinop · 07-01-2008, 08:45 AM

Adding the sand after the water explains it. It will just take longer to settle.

mecold · 07-01-2008, 10:47 AM

Congrats on the new tank. The sandstorm happens to almost everyone. Just wait it out. My tank was cloudly for almost two weeks before it was really clear. A 29g makes for a nice start!

new92 · 07-01-2008, 01:15 PM

I just went through the same thing 2 weeks ago. I added my base rock first to make a....base lol. Then added about 8 inches of water (in a 75), dont know why, was thinking originally to catch any detritus off the LR that had been curing in the garage for 2 months, but decided to just go ahead and add the sand. It was snow white even after being rinsed. One thing I did was add 2 hob filters that I had laying around from FW tanks. I packed them with filter floss, and changed it out 2 days in a row. It took about 2 and half days and water was clear.

My wife and I both teach in the elementary schools in Clay, she is 3rd grade and I am a Speech Therapist. I just started with a 75 with 80 lbs of LR and 80 lbs of base rock, and 120 pounds of sand. To add to the 3 FW tanks I already had lol, I think 1 of them (90g) may be coming down soon lol. They are all fun, but nothing touches SW or reef and time and room constraints are making me think more about it now.

Good Luck and congrats on the degrees

teach · 07-01-2008, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mat4020

On a quick side note, I'm assuming you teach, teach? I'm an Elementary Education major at JU. I plan on moving my current tank to my classroom when I graduate and find a job. I sure fifth graders would love the idea of some cool fish in their classroom. That will hopefully be an excuse to upgrade my tank to something bigger at home.

I teach 4-7th grade. I have a 75 gallon reef in my classroom. The kids love it. It's great teaching tool. My students take care of it almost completely on their own.

Congrats again on the tank. I'm sure it will come together just fine. When you're ready i'll give you some frags to try.

teach · 07-01-2008, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new92

I just went through the same thing 2 weeks ago. I added my base rock first to make a....base lol. Then added about 8 inches of water (in a 75), dont know why, was thinking originally to catch any detritus off the LR that had been curing in the garage for 2 months, but decided to just go ahead and add the sand. It was snow white even after being rinsed. One thing I did was add 2 hob filters that I had laying around from FW tanks. I packed them with filter floss, and changed it out 2 days in a row. It took about 2 and half days and water was clear.

My wife and I both teach in the elementary schools in Clay, she is 3rd grade and I am a Speech Therapist. I just started with a 75 with 80 lbs of LR and 80 lbs of base rock, and 120 pounds of sand. To add to the 3 FW tanks I already had lol, I think 1 of them (90g) may be coming down soon lol. They are all fun, but nothing touches SW or reef and time and room constraints are making me think more about it now.

Good Luck and congrats on the degrees

Time to start a tank thread new92.

Jeda194 · 07-05-2008, 09:08 AM

Hows the water now? That drop in filter should have cleared it up. Now that we took some rock out of my tank, my anemone is not happy. He did not find a spot he liked until last night.