cloudy water

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Hi, I have just filled my new tankle with natural sea water . The tank is 2200 x 800 x 800 with a 60mm sand bed as a base. I am running it through my sump with dsb and live rock 1800 x 40 x 40. The tank has been running now for 24 hours? The water is still murky. My question is, will the water clear and how long will it take? I cant remember if my small tank in the garage 1200 x 60 x 60 was murky when I filled it the first time many moons ago or even if it was and how long it took to clear.
 
What substrate is the sandbed composed of? What is the flow in the tank and are you running any mechanical filtration like filter wool or socks? Lastly, did you dose anything?
 
Hi,using normal beach sand that was collected below high tide mark in bottom of main tank. Using sand from a bit deeper into the sea as my dsb. Running a 2000L a hours 2.5m ratied return pump from sump and a 50mm overflow pipe drilled through base of tank to sump. Did not dose anything and not using any mechanical or filter material. Don't have blowers etc in tank as yet,cos they still in my running small tank and need them there till this tank has run in.
 
Then nothing to worry about. It should clear in a day or two. If u can get some filtr wool it will clear up. Just to get a better overstanding: you have a dsb in sump and a 60mm deep sandbed in tank?
What depth is the dsb?
 
Dsb round 13cm plus minus. I measure it with a ruler,but its obviously not dead level throughout. Sand bed in main tank also varies between 4cm a a macimum of 6cm in some areas,but also not bead level,as am trying to simulate a sandy ocean floor.
 
Parts per million will prevent a copy of this type of thing from working compared to the ocean.

The ocean has substancial support of parts per million, your aquarium does not!

Its up to you on anything you do, but a substrate in the aquarium deeper then 15 mill will become permeated with rubbish and if you siphon a deeper substrate it will destabilise this area as well as clean it.

A deep sand bed that is deeper then 4 inches will become blocked with calcium carbonate and non water-soluble silica, then the bio life classed as anaerobes will set up house and expand up wards as it blocks, then if organic matter can reach it, they produce hydrogen sulphide and subsequently sulfur upon contact with oxygen.

Sulfur kills bacteria, your deep sand beds surface is aerobic and the lower levels are anaerobic, these bacteria’s will be at risk from anaerobe incidentally produced sulfur.

Do you want this destabilizing affect that will happen in the long term if settling filters and a raised floor are not there to protect your deep sand bed?

Also if you disturb anaerobe communities that take one to three years to be in full swing, then you may have just killed your entire reef life collection.
 
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Ok thanks. But what exactly does all that mean? I'm new to all the big words and the abbreviations. How deep should the sand be in my display tank,and how deep should it be in my dsb? Just so I can get the heights sorted out before I waste my time with something that's not gonna work.
 
As a rough guide the DSB should be about 25-30 cm deep with sand to be optimal. In tank 5-10 cm ( you can also go deeper sand in your display and effectively have a DSB in your display - but would also need to be 20-30 cm deep to be optimal ). Plenty info on how to set up DSB's elsewhere on MASA.

Water should clear in a day or two - skimmer will skim out mostly dust and mud over the next couple days if you are running one.
 
DSB should be about 25-30 cm deep with sand to be optimal
That is too deep.

150mm for playsand. Unless you are using a big grain particle substrate, only then go deeper. But fine aragonite or playsand, 150mm is right.

Having a very deep sand bed in the display do have its own problems. Firstly any sand goby will dig in under the rocks, causing a rock fall, either a dead goby or at worst a broken tank. Need to be sure the rock are securely stable with whatever on the base and cannot be shifted.

Also the advantage of a DSB, the beneficial worms etc, are eaten by some of your tank inhabitants. Rather have a DSB in your sump area, or a totally separate remote DSB.
 
Ok thanks. I have drained my display tank,removed all the sand,except for 15mm of it. And am running a 150mm dsb in sump. Thanks for all the help.
 
Saw @RiaanP 's tank the weekend I think he did enough research ons DSB looks good and working well
 
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Good move... I would of course have taken all the sand out the display, but thats just me...
 
removed all the sand,except for 15mm of it.
Thats ok. Maybe 25 to 30 is a bit better.
some guys like bare bottom tanks, especially for SPS systems. So that they can run a lot stronger power heads. Softy tanks with lower flow and sand is OK. also note tertain fish like sand gobies want substrate. Plus some wrasses that sleep in the sand.

up to you, is bare bottom or with substrate
 
Ok thanks. I have drained my display tank,removed all the sand,except for 15mm of it. And am running a 150mm dsb in sump. Thanks for all the help.

That’s sounds better; just try to keep your waters free of anything before it can get to the external sand bed.
They work wonderfully if kept clean; I have two separate layers,but mine are 4 inches in depth and near no one keeps them from particles reaching this area of nitrate separation.
A raised floor under the beds of at least 30 mill and the rubble-grit-sand that I use is shell and coral rubble of 4 to 10 mill in size so all unwanted particles fall through it and prevent the lower reaches from becoming a sanctuary for a too large of anaerobe community.
Under the floor the calcium carbonate and silica that may reach your deep sand bed is harmless and will be made water soluble in time.
 
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hey guys, sorry to jump this thread with my problem, hope you guys can help, i have a 500 litre cube running for 8 weeks without any fish, had GHA and i managed to win the battle against that, tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and phosphate every week for 8 weeks and got 0 readings on all, week 7 i added 2 clowns and they were fine and healthy for 2 weeks, week 9 is where i added 1000ml of orca bio cubes to the sump, i also added 1 purple tang, 1 yellow tang, 1 sailfin tang and 1 flame angel, up until this point water was always perfectly crystal clear, now 1 week after adding the above fish and bio cubes my water is looking very cloudy, did a water change but still cloudy, fish all look 100%, moving around, eating etc,
 
Cubes take up to 2 weeks before working as they should.
And you added a lot of bio-load in just one week. 4 fish, OK, not sure on the size.

The bacteria in your tank still needs to catch up to that extra bio-load. Both on the bio-cubes and in your live rock. So give it time.
 
I have some sand-free areas in my DT as a result of flow. I love them though.

Why? Because now I can see what the hell I'm doing when my head is over the sump! :)
 
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