Cloudy water in my new/used tank and starting to smell... Help

[Keelynnsreef]

I picked up a 185 gal tank with water,sand,live rock, eel,fish last week. I did not know I should have rinsed the sand after the move. They had put the sand in a big trash can and we moved sand with water to my house and they just put the sand and water back in the tank. I have done a 35% water change and the levels are still high. I am going to do a 50% today and was thinking I should either rinse the sand now or replace it all together. What should I do? I put clarifier in it and no help.

Can I put some live aggregate on top of the sand so the eel won't kick up as much sand. Or will this hurt the eel?

The water is still cloudy and starting to smell. Give me some suggestions I don't want to loose my fish. When I seen it set up at the other persons home the water was clear.

[Pennies2Cents]

Hi Kristy,

50% Water change is good. Use a filter to catch all the particles and stuff that hasnt settled. If you havent had any casualties todate you should be okay with water change, filter and skimmer all on. Taking the sand out and rinsing will only stress everyone out more and lots more work for you. But if thats what you want to do, thats okay too..

Everyone is different and you will get different answers.. But I hope this helps.

[Big_Pun]

your options are to use a product to speed up the cycle or kick it offor a product to just clear up water . you can use microbactor7, api has a quick start, and dr tims has a few products. now with cloudiness it could be a bio bloom or actual debri, a product designed to clean up cloudy water usually has a flocking agent that will bind those lil products to one clump so filter pads can hold them.
just keep up with test and water changes and ride this out, i wouldnt do too many changes at once. your tank will eventually settle in and balance out.

[LuckySingh]

i definitely suggest to use a strong carbon....such as brs rox8 and change it after a 7 to 10 days untill problem is gone