Cloudy Water Issue

[trog84]

Hello all,

I have been cycling my new 75 gallon 48x18x18" tank for the last three weeks. I have two Rena xp3 canister filters running. I made an impulse decision to use CaribSea white sand I purchased at Petsmart as the substrate. I am still having cloudy water issues after all this time. I have done 3 water changes. I just thought of the idea tonight that my issue could be that I had a 12" air stone across the back/middle of my tank (on top of the sand). Was this likely my issue in clearing up the water. I have been testing it....no problems zero nitrate, nitrite, PH and Hardness are actually all ready for the discus I would like to add....I do not wish to add the fish until the tank has cleared up. Any other ideas? I have tried water clarifiers...no good.

 

[trog84]

I also want to add that I have doubled up on my charcoal filtering bags and my mechanical filtration sponges. FYI for those of you reading. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[probassfisher010]

Your filters are running right? The bubble wand I dont think would cause that, I have bubble wands on all my sand tanks right ontop of the sand and they don't stir up any sand. Did you rinse the sand before you put it in? Im guessing this is the Moonlight white sand, and not the marine/cichlid varieties correct? The filters and settlement of the sand should have cleared up in 24 hours, so something is amiss here. I would personally do a large 75% water change, and make sure when adding water back in that the water hits a dinner plate or something else so you dont stir up any more sand, then I would do another 50-75% water change just to make sure after that ones done.

 

[trog84]

I honestly must admit that I did not rinse it. My filters are certainly running and well. I have been using these filters for years. I did exactly the amount of water change you suggested (both steps) and this was two days ago. The water is slowly starting to fog up yet again...I have never had this sort of trouble before....could it still be the lact of rinsing after all of this time?

 

[probassfisher010]

Could be, some sands take 5-10 rinses before it clears up...although this is usually play sand, and not intended for aquarium use. I bought some bags of white aquarium expensive sand, and it needed hardly any rinsing. You didn't get the marine or chichlid varieties did you?