sand substrate wont settle??

[jackamory]

hi im new here and i have bought some sand for one of the aquariums that i am going to put red bellied piranhas in and mixed it with gravel... i put it all in first then filled the tank with water... the tank waters a murky yellowy colour and has only cleared a little bit...
is it just the sand needing to settle or have i started some sort of water super virus? lol
any help appreciated.... jack

 

[seamus]

What kind of sand is it? Did you rinse the sand?

 

[jjdsplace]

yeah rinsing the sand is a must

 

[monty_javier]

How fast did you fill it up. With the very fine sand if you fill it up to fast you might as well chill for a day because its going to be a minute before it settles. I will say I never rinsed my sand before using it, about 200lbs total of black sand from the petsmart.

 

[andyjs]

It's just dust from the sand. Depending on the type of sand, it could take forever to settle if you didn't rinse it. I personally use pool filter sand and didn't rinse it at all. There was a very slight haze for like 12 hours and that was it.

 

[Gator]

Go buy cheap poly fiber fill from wal mart and stuff it in your filter then change it once or twice a day till it clears.

 

[jackamory]

cheers for all the help... its settled now after link 30 hours haha and yea i did rinse the sand well befor use but the water is still kinda yellowy....
il try n get a pic up

jack

 

[jackamory]

also the wood that i bought wont stop floating lol
i have a net under the lid at the moment pressing it down.......
any tips?

jack

 

[LisaH]

The yellow water is from the driftwood tannins. Mine cleared up in about 5 months.
I used stainless steel bolts and washers to weigh my driftwood down. After a month, the wood would sink without the hardware.

 

[CHUPA CABRA]

i have a piece of driftwood on mines for about 5 month and still havent sink, so i left it upside down here is a pic