I have had a freshwater aquarium for awhile now and I decided to make the switch to saltwater. I have a 56 gallon column style tank, Marineland Double-bright leds, 200w Hydor Theo heater, Rena XP2 Canister filter with different media etc. For right now I am just wanting to do fish and live rock. Yesterday I cleaned out my tank and got all the freshwater stuff out and then last night I put in live sand and live rock and started filling up the tank with my pre-mixed saltwater. The sand instantly clouded the tank to the point I really can't see in it. I figured it's probably normal since the sand has to settle. I turned on the heater so the water stays at the correct temp but the tank is still very very cloudy as of this morning and I can't see inside of it. Is this normal? Does this mean the sand is still settling and it should clear up? If so how long should I wait? I have also yet to turn on the filter so I was wondering should I wait until the tank water clears up before turning on the filter? Ok my last question. My filter is a canister filter and it has various media in it. Would I be ok to rinse it off and put it back in or should I use fresh media since I went from freshwater to salt water. I am not planning on adding fish any time soon I just want to make sure I am doing everything correctly.
*Help* New to all of this
- Thread starter Geradmg513
- Start date
If you didn't rinse the sand (which you really shouldn't if you want to keep it "live"), the cloudiness is probably still tiny little particles - if you do a large water change, it should take most of that gunk out. A big water change will fix the problem immediately (I did this with a FW tank), but changing out 45g of SW is a bit more expensive than changing out FW. Or you can give it a bit longer to see if it settles - it's not really harming anything except the aesthetics. Note that if you just let it settle, once you turn on the filter you'll have some more of it cloud back up, as the microparticles are going to still be in there.
If you have a cheap filter, that you don't mind the impeller getting chewed up by sand, you can stick that on there to filter out some of the particles. Keep an eye on it that it doesn't block up and overflow. I wouldn't run a filter that I cared about, dragging all that sand and gunk through the impeller isn't good for it. But it would filter those particles out.
You should totally change out the media in the filter, especially anything like bioballs or such. Any gunk in there will just degrade your water quality, and any FW bacteria will not survive in SW - they will die and degrade the water quality as well.
If you have a cheap filter, that you don't mind the impeller getting chewed up by sand, you can stick that on there to filter out some of the particles. Keep an eye on it that it doesn't block up and overflow. I wouldn't run a filter that I cared about, dragging all that sand and gunk through the impeller isn't good for it. But it would filter those particles out.
You should totally change out the media in the filter, especially anything like bioballs or such. Any gunk in there will just degrade your water quality, and any FW bacteria will not survive in SW - they will die and degrade the water quality as well.
Good, so you have legitimately live sand. The "live" sand you buy in bags is really just expensive sand. Not live after sitting on the shelves for months.
You will probably want to add a powerhead to eliminate dead areas around the rocks. But same as the filter, I wouldn't add one right yet in the sandy water. Once you've got everything running, you'll be able to see if you need more flow and where.
You will probably want to add a powerhead to eliminate dead areas around the rocks. But same as the filter, I wouldn't add one right yet in the sandy water. Once you've got everything running, you'll be able to see if you need more flow and where.
I figured I would be better off buying rock that was already cured and cheaper as well as the sand. The guy I bought it from had a very nice set up with a protein skimmer, wet/dry sump, multiple power heads, C02, water osmosis, digital controllers and even had his tank set up on his iphone to control it. He also had a ton of nice fish and lots of corals so I figured it was a smart move going through him. He also said to call him anytime I needed anything but he is out of town so I didnt want to bother him
