substrate question

[Klacroix]

The water in my tank is really cloudy and I am scared to proceed. I added RO water and salt and really mixed it up well. I ran pumps and powerheads all day long. I just added 3" of arragonite that I rinsed really well (5 or 6 times). The water is really cloudy. I think that it is dust off the arragonite that will settle. One store person thought that it might be an algae bloom, but there is no live rock in the tank yet. He also told me that I will never get rid of the dust as the arragonite keeps breaking down to form more.

Should I turn the pumps off, let everything settle, and vacuum it out? or is this normal, and should I just proceed with adding live rock to start the cycle?

I know the dust is unsightly, but is it harmful? Also, there is no harm in skimming before I add the live rock, is there? I am thinking that it might help to remove some of the suspended solids

[Mckitrick]

When are you putting live rock in there?
Throw some shrimp in and it will help establish the bacteria. However, without live rock, there's not much for the bacteria to establish itself onto...

[Michael_Lambert]

leave everything running and toss in the live rock! and let your tank cycle!

the Dust will clear up, just takes some time!

[afss]

agreed with above, and i also suggest you find another store to shop at if thats the kind of advise you are getting. Once you get some bacteria going in your tank your dust will settle out. There will always be small particles on the bottom that can get stirred up, but once the tank is established they will settle out fairly quickly. If you know any other reefers get some sand from their existing tank/s as this will help the process along.



Scott

[pbutkovich]

If you have an old canister filter, fill it full of filter floss and run that for a couple of days. This will speed up the settling of the dust. Make sure you take it off after a couple of days though. It will be filled with sediment.

[kentracey]

Great advice from everyone. I agree with the notion that you find a new store. Secondly all (most) of us here have aragonite sandbeds and our tanks aren't all cloudy. For the first couple of days they were.............. I still can't believe the guy at your LFS told you that. Thirdly, toss or should I say place the rock in the tank and get everything started. Lastly, be patient and don't plan on adding fish to the tank for at least a month. There are lots of things to watch in the tank anyway. In a couple weeks or so (once you've cycled the tank) you'll be adding a clean up crew and they can start doing the work for you. The time frame depends largely on the live rock you've purchased and how much die off you have. Have fun and keep reading and asking questions. The choices you make now are important. Hopefully you can make the right choices the first time with everyones help here and not have to redo things (over and over). Many of us here including myself have learned a few lessons the hard way and will do our best to make sure you don't make the same ones. Remember, you've got a blank piece of canvas that you can do anything with to make the picture you want. The sky is the limit. The trick is how you put the paint on to make it your own masterpiece. I like many others here am still learning to paint although there are a few master artisans in the crowd.

[Klacroix]

Thanks everyone. I will see what the tank looks like tonight. If it is still cloudy, I will test the filter floss idea.

Next step is to jump in with both feet and add the rock. It is like there's no turning back now! A big milestone.

[Reef Mike]

You will never clear the tank without LR and/or LS.. This happened to me and I was panicking. I was running for a week and it was just dust storm with less then an inch of visibility. Once I could see enough to actually put the LR in i did, which in turn stirred the sand even more and I could not see any of th 100+ pounds of rock..

Woke up the next day and the tank was much clearer. The whole thing cleared to crystal clear water in about 3 days.

Add the LR and don't bother with the filter.. You want all those small grains in the tank anyways.

Mike

[Klacroix]

Thanks, "Reef Mike". You made me laugh because I only have 1 or 2" visibility, too. I actually removed all the arragonite last week and washed it again because I thought I must not have done a good enough job! I started over adding salt, etc.

I didn't want to tell everyone that so I didn't look like a nincompoop. Uh, did I just say all that out loud?