New tank

[6LINE]

My 150 is stup now. But i have a problem. I put the sand in (southdown) and then put the water in REAL slow. The water was nice and crystal clear :) . But my plumbing wasn't right so i put in a powerhead to circulate until i can fix the plumbing. Well, the powerhead blew the sand and now this is the tank..... :wacko

There is nothing but sand in the tank. My question is, should i keep the powerhead on? or should i turn it off and will it settle? I am in no hurry but it is not clearing. And wasn't sure if i need to keep it circulating. Any suggestions would be great. And the only skimmer i have is a Berlin in which the pump i have for it is too big IMO. It was not doing anything to pull the gunk out.

[christerrell2k3]

turn off the powerhead for a day, go from there....

[ansonluna]

I just put sand in my 125 last weekend. I put 2 emperor 400s in it with some cut pieces of filter (from a big sheet from Alamo Aquatics) and it cleared within 4 hrs. They got rid of all the tiny, tiny particles of sand. I even dumped the two bags in the tank without rinsing....big mistake, but the good ol' emperors did their job.

[6LINE]

Thanks for the tips. It is starting to settle w/o movement . I will see how it looks tomorrow and go from there.

Thanks

[brewercm]

I can't see any pics for some reason but as the small particles beging to build bacteria on them they will settle. I'd go ahead and run the pump to keep some circulation going on in the tank, the sand will settle within a couple of days, otherwise once you get the flow going again you'll have a major dust storm.

[6LINE]

I don't know what happened to the pic.It just vanished overnight. And i don't see the option to add attachment like i have before.......???

[GaryP]

You might want to consider putting a 1" layer of special grade aragonite on top of the southdown. You be grateful that you did in the long run. Its the 1-2 mm particle size sand and a powerhead won't blow it.

[NaCl_H2O]

You might want to consider putting a 1" layer of special grade aragonite on top of the southdown. You be grateful that you did in the long run. Its the 1-2 mm particle size sand and a powerhead won't blow it.

Never used soutdown, but I guess it is like "sugar size" sand? When I setup my new tanks I used 80% special grade and 20% sugar-size - I am 10,000% happier with this than I was with the fine stuff. Even sand sifting gobies don't cause a big problem anymore! I have 30X turnover in my big tank, and with the fine stuff I would never have been able to use this high flow rate.

[dow]

Hmmm... What is this "special grade" sand? Where can I look at some? Might be worth putting into my new 65 when I get to that stage.

[GaryP]

I know Fin Addict carries it. I'm not sure who else does.

[NaCl_H2O]

Take look at This (http://www.carib-sea.com/Carib1.htm). Alamo Aquatics on Bandera had several pallets when I bought mine, but I don't think the carry it normally? Several on-line vendors carry it, but shipping will be high!

[6LINE]

Alamo Aquatics on Bandera had several pallets when I bought mine, but I don't think the carry it normally



How long ago did you buy yours? I think i will go that route. Thanks

[NaCl_H2O]

How long ago did you buy yours? I think i will go that route. Thanks

It was a long time ago, maybe 4-6 months ... maybe Dan can remember, he helped me load it :D