Yellow...

[Reef69]

Hey guys, well, as some of you know im upgrading from a 90 gal. to a 125..and this morning i added the sand from the 90 into the 125. Well, I added the sand with water in the tank, and now its all cloudy and yellow :cry :cry :cry ..Is it going to settle down or anything??..Im running carbon and have the skimmer on...help?! :cry :(

[CD]

Is all the sand that's in there now the "used" sand from your 90G, or is it a mixture of new and old?

W.

[Reef69]

Its all new and old.. :cry

[::pete::]

Turn off and pumps that would stir it up and let it settle. I dont think its going to matter that its in there now as it in there.

[carlinsa]

i concur agree how ever you want to say it. it is just sand floating in the water happened everytime i moved or changed tanks

[Reef69]

So..shut down the tank..wait till it settles and syphon it out?

[CD]

...anyway - if you added the entire sandbed without rinsing it, SURE - you are going to have all the junk that your old SB has been harboring for ____ (however long it's been up and running). YUCK!
Sand is so cheap comparitively, I would've just used some of the old bed to seed, washed the rest of it before adding it in, and added new sand to fill up the void from upgrading.
As it is, I imagine it will take awhile to get all the nasty out of the system...water changes, aggressive skimming, carbon, etc. - whatever you can think of. The sand storm itself will eventually settle. Depends greatly on the amount of dust in the new sand (did you rinse??? LOL) and the grain size. On average, I would guess around 2-3 days. I would leave the PHs off though...you don't need flow right now. ;)

W.

[carlinsa]

wont be anything to syphon out it is just sand particals floating

[CD]

One other question I had...(since you said the water in your tank is yellow) - what did the old sand bed smell like when you were moving it over?

W.

[JimD]

If he used the old sand along with new, the suspended particles will be a combination of sand and detritus... Id skim heavily and run a powerhead to get the particles to the skimmer...

[Reef69]

Yeah, it smelled, but i did wash it and only added half of it into the new tank..i threw away the bottom half..

[::pete::]

Diego
The tank doesnt flush!!! :P

[Reef69]

..I want to cry...seriously..LOL

[::pete::]

Do a search on patience ... and Ill bet its in more than half the threads!!! Good things tank time. Did you braek down the old tank?

[Reef69]

yeah, took everything out..

[::pete::]

I remembered after that its be watched elsewhere.

[Reef69]

Well, Im just gonna leave it alone..im getting out of the house for a bit..its just ****ing me off..LOL..Thanks for the help guys! :)

[GaryP]

I've had the same problem every time I moved my tanks. I just gave it 24 hr. to settle out and did as much filtration as possible. I used sock filters and a Magnum filter to remove it. Also skim hard (wet) and run carbon. The dissolved organics are going to be high for a while and these will help. Change out the carbon every couple of days. You'll also need to go some large water changes a couple of times every few days. Don't be surprised to if you seen a hair algae bloom in a few weeks. Just be ready for it. Running some phosphate absorber and stocking up on algae grazers would be helpful.

What you are mainly seeing is silt that is the leftovers of detritus and other goodies that are leftovers from your fish and other critters. The result of this is that you are going to go through a minature cycle like when your tank was new. Keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrate levels too.

[Reef69]

Thanks Gary, I guess i forgot what patience was...ill be doing a water change tomorrow..and one the day after..im also adding some bio-spira to help with the cycle..

[::pete::]

I thought you were going out!!!! :P

[GaryP]

Chances are you already have a healthy bacterial culture from your old sand and LR. The biospira isn't probably going to be that helpful. You're problem isn't a lack of bacteria, but rather an excess of nutrients. Do what you can to remove the nutrients with skimming, carbon, phosphate absorber, water changes, and filtration and you will be good.

[Reef69]

I was going out, but i kept staring at the tank..lol

Thanks Gary..my skimmer is on "Blast" mode, its been skimming like crazy..Im also running carbon and have a filter on the drains..

[Reef69]

Well..This morning the water is "clearer"..not crystal clear but just down a notch. Today im gonna regulate the salinity (its at 1.012..lol)..going to take it to 1.025, and start doing water changes, gonna go for a big one daily..maybe 40 gal. WC's until its perfect..