Help! It looks like a lake (in a bad way)

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C

crx2ner

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 29, 2008
9
0
0
Wichita, KS
Ok, i just got a 45 gallon set up this weekend, its been sitting around sense last summer. I built a nice lil stand for it, got the lid, filters, heater, everything.

I used play sand for the substate its 100% natraul, i got a 50 lb bag and spent about 2 and a half hours cleaning the sand one cup full at a time, rinsing it and washing it, until i could rum water through it and it could come out clear.

I get it all set up in my tank, and it instantly goes cloudy. Ive had the filters running sense sunday and its still the same. It honestly looks lake a like the water, the water is almost a creamy color tan.

What did i do wrong? how do i fix this? I unplugged the filters and its been sitting all afternoon i thought maybe i needed to let everything settle.

ANy suggestions?

Thanks
 
replace all biomedia with mech and turn those filters back on

start doing near full tank WC (hopefully there's no fish yet)

clean the filters as necessary



my dumbaas set up my 40gal planted with florite and didn't rinse it at all. Was more of a mudpuddle than lake water. It cleared in days on the XP3 using above method.
 
Filters probably won't stop the cloudiness, the water needs to settle. Play sand is known for being ridiculously dirty, let it sit for a while and it should be fine.

It will still stir up and become cloudy during water changes etc. but as your tank matures it should eventually become clean and pure. Don't be concerned, it isn't toxic or anything.
 
k, well like i said i thought i clean it pretty well at first, i quess i was wrong.

There are no fish in it yet, i just finally had free time and got tired of looking at it empty so decided i needed to do somethign with it.

Should i stir the sand? To mix get anythign else out of it?

Ive done 2 25% water changes over the last few days, and liek japes said it just stirs everythign back up.

Do i want to stir it up?

I just dont want to have it get clear put the fish in, and everytime one gets in the sand have it get cloudy again.
 
You'll drive yourself crazy if you intentionally stir it trying to 'fully clean' it.
Up those current WC to 60% since you're pre-cycle and stock till it settles on it's own in just a few hours.

HTH


/KSU grad
 
k cool, i just put a second filter on it. I bought an emp 400 for it, but it wouldnt fit sense there is a center brace in the tank i would have to go with out a hood ( which i prefer not to do). I got a $50 gift card to walmart for my bday and jsut grabded 2 of there 30-60 gallon filters and put one on each side. i was kinda pissed my emp wouldnt fit, but i guess ill save it for a bigger tank i got iot brand new for $30 so it didnt hurt my wallet to bad
 
I highly highly highly (ok) recommend a canister filter like the rena filstar or hagan fluval. Sounds like it might be a little more than you want to spend but for the labor it saves and the overall system's health/success it's waaaay worth it.
 
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