How do you keep fine sand at bay?

[smcnally]

I filled my tank on Sunday, and the yardright just seems SO fine. Everytime I put a rock in it stirs it up. Should I put a larger grain on top of it to keep it down? I got 15 lbs of TBS sand with my order that is larger grain with crushed shells, but I know it won't give me more than a fine layer in my new tank. Should I have them send more? Or should I get something more like the grain size "Aragalive" comes in?

 

[Aquadiva]

Nope....it is supposed to be like that. As the bacteria grows and multiplies on the sand, it won't "float around" quite as much.

 

[~Flighty~]

don't do a larger layer, but you might want to rinse the sand really well next time (or start over and do it this time) You don't have to because the "dust" will eventually go away, but I was still having cloudy water for 6 months with my first tank. I am much happier with the well rinsed sand that never makes a sand cloud even if the fish dig.

 

[smcnally]

Yeah, I thought I rinsed it well enough, but I guess not. I filled the tank twice, and the first time, I mixed the sand up with a plastic rod to make the tank like milk, and then pumped all the water out. Then filled it again with plastic over the bed.

 

[CamaroJWeed]

If it is a new set up and nothing is in the tank yet, turn off the pumps for a few hours...try 6-8, that should help a ton, the fine particles just need to settle out and have the bacteria growth start...

 

[smcnally]

Thanks, I did turn the pumps off for about 2 hrs last night and it all settled down. The only thing I don't like about this sand is when it had it's first sand storm, the dust kinda formed a film on the glass. And it was hard, so when I used my magnet cleaner it took a few swipes for it to come off. The extra swipes would cause more to go up and then I was stuck with another sand storm...LOL. It's looking good though. I acclimated and moved my newer TBS rock from it's QT tank to my 37 with the rest of my setup last night and will start sharing water between the 37 and 75 today to acclimate everything to the new tank.

 

[heavydc2]

the best bet is to just let it settle, anytime yo start a n ew tank you will get some sort of a sand storm unless your sand is from another tank. the rock will help to speed that process along. This si the time you have to be patient, the next month will be agonizing .

 

[~Flighty~]

I rinsed it about 20 times in a bucket with a hose (summer) untill the water was mostly clear. Every time I poured off anything that didn't settle in 30 seconds.

Over time the actions of the critters in the sand bed will move the tiniest grains to the bottom and the largest to the top (like when you shake a can of mixed nuts and all of the brazil nuts come to the top and the penuts go to the bottom). When you stir it up and let it settle, the largest grains fall to the bottom first and the tiny grains settle last. Now with the tiny dust size grains that take the longest to settle all at the top, any movement will cause a dust storm.

Putting in the sand critters will help. Lots of people say that the bacteria makes the tiny sand grains stick together and sink. I'm not sure if that is actually true or an old reefer's tail, but that is the effect you'll see.

It isn't too late to hold a siphen tube a bit above the sand and siphen out that layer of the lightest dust.

 

[smcnally]

It isn't too late to hold a siphen tube a bit above the sand and siphen out that layer of the lightest dust.

I actually did that this morning . It's really starting to look great. Getting nice and clear, I was just worried about it stirring up again.

 

[nunofs]

I'm a little late here, but FWIW I used unrinsed Southdown in my tank (due to the theory that defends leaving the fine grains in place) and didn't a sandstorm at all (I used the plastic bag + bucket trick to pour the water in). I had to reduce flow in the tank during the first few weeks to prevent the smallest grains from being blown around (this is not the milky sandstorm that people usually talk about, just the effects of flow), but after that the sand settled nicely and I can have full flow without any problems.

Nuno