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I recently set up a 29 and decided to use sand as the substrate. I rinsed the sand repeatedly as instructed until the water was clear. WellI placed the sand in the tank and began to fill the tank. Apparently the sand was not as well rinsed as I had hoped and the tank became cloudy. My questions are will the particles settle, if so how long will it take and if not what can I do to rectify this situation? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Last edited by cichlidiot at 21-Nov-2004 01:43

Even with alot of rinsing the sand will often cloud for awhile. If you havent' got any fish in it yet it's easy.... Turn the filters off and let it settle, then do a substrate sweep with a gravel vac to remove the fine particles.

If you already have fish in the tank, it'll be slightly harder. Leave your filter off for no more than an hour, then do the substrate sweep, cover the intake of the filter with a fine mesh (pantyhose should work) and raise the intake as much as you can before restarting the filter. Sand can and will mess up your impeller .

If the tank was cycled and you removed all the substrate without making allowances for the removed bacteria, the cloudy that you're seeing could also be a mini-cycle.

^_^
H2g2 2005 Don't Leave Home Without it[/font]

Last edited by Babelfish at 21-Nov-2004 01:58

There are no fisn in there yet. Thank you for the advice