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Hi everyone,
I have been reading up on salt water and well fish keping in general since i began working for pet stores 6 years ago (i should note i worked with small animals and fresh water fish, never marine). I however have never had a salt water tank of my own. Last week i purchased a 29 gal "top fin tank", and a 20 gal long "hagen" tank. i was thinking of converting the 20 gal into a wet/dry filter, but my issue right now is with 29 gal, i had mixed the salt and had it ready for a day, added it to the tank, but then i had added crushed coral for the bottem. I had washed it off several times to rid the lot of debris. after adding the coral to the water the entire tank went an interesting milk colour and consistancy, i have let some time pass and now there is an inch thick layer of silt or something atop of the coral. There is a skimmer attached as well as a pinguin bio wheel 330, both of which are covered in the silt stuff.

Please help as I do not know what to do, i'd ask the coworkers however they know as much as i do.

As well is there anything i should know before i continue on this adventure?

Being no expert, If there is no fish or coral in the tank and only live rock. I would put in power heads and try and blow all the stuff up for the filters to clean, and clean the filters every day. But thats just me.

For future tanks, add the substrate first, then pour the water in to a bowl in the tank to not disturb the substrate, this will help with the dusting. As for the dust you have. You can get a python gravel vac and try to vac up the dust a little at a time. Or as stated, let the filters remove the dust.




Dan

thank you both, i will try that.

If you're in a hurry, stuff some filter floss into your filters.. That'll clear it up in a hurry.. However, with the crushed coral in my 46gal, it only took a few days to clear up on it's own..

Good Luck with it and Welcome to FishProfiles

[span class="edited"][Edited by Oleta 2004-07-07 14:15][/span]