um yea. i washed it before adding it as directed and its been in the tank for 3 hrs now and there are balls of sand...floating along with a film of sand on top of the water. what should i do?
help! problem with black sand
- Thread starter thorzep
- Start date
LOL Sand always needs to be rinced double what they tell you to. I would scoop out the floating sand and stick a sponge prefilter on your tank and and try to let it all settle. I have never worked with black sand before and Im not sure what kind it is. I have only worked with playsand, and thats what I did. Do you know what brand it is and what its made of? Like silica or calcium carb?
Black sand is notoriously messy to set up. I'm guessing you poured your water on it way harder than you should have, hence why it's so stirred up. It probably should have been rinsed double and then had water trickled over a solid object for the first 5+ inches.
Keep collecting the film off the top, replace some water slowly and hopefully it will settle soon. It's going to take a lot longer than it would have. Also, while your filter may speed the process up it can also be damaged if it takes in too much sand. I'd just wait it out.
Keep collecting the film off the top, replace some water slowly and hopefully it will settle soon. It's going to take a lot longer than it would have. Also, while your filter may speed the process up it can also be damaged if it takes in too much sand. I'd just wait it out.
I had the same thing happen with the black tahitian moon sand when I used it a few years back. I scooped out the sand blobs and just squished them in the net. Have some decent surface agitation like a hang on back filter or aerator and the sand should settle in a day or so.
and make sure you cover the intake of your filter with a sponge or something similar like previously stated.
