I have had it up and running for 3 days now with 20 pounds of live sand and 24 pounds of live rock.. its been running and it just wont clear it has had a white fog in it. i put two pumps in there to get the water moving more it just wont clear!! help??!!
2007-07-23 09:23:18 · 7 answers · asked by Michael B 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
It might be a bacterial bloom, or it might be from your substrate.
Is the live sand you bought actually sand, or small shell material? If the latter, it makes "dust" whenever it scrapes against itself (like when you poured it into the tank). The dust is just additional calcium-magnesium carbonate and won't harm your tank, it just doesn't look as good. Your filter should clear it eventually, or if it's really bad, turn your filter off and let the dust settle, then use your gravel vacuum to siphon the dust from the top of the substrate into a clean bucket. This won't remove all the dust (or all the water), but it will lessen it. You can then let the dust settle in the bucket and dip the clear water back into your tank.
If you don't have shell material, but sand, and/or you have a water testing kit, check your tank for ammonia and nitrite. New live rock will have some organisms die off either from exposure to air, poor lighting, poor water circulation, or because they were already dead when you bought the rock. As they die, they decompose and produce ammonia. In a mature tank, all the ammonia (which will be toxic to any organisms in the tank) will be converted to nitrite (also toxic) by the bacteria living on the live rock and in the live sand, then convert the nitrite to nitrate, which is less toxic. These bacteria will eventually colonize your substrate, filter media, and any dead zones in the live rock. Right now, if you are detecting any ammonia or nitrite, you don't have enough bacteria to process all that's present yet. So the bacteria are in a phase of rapid reproduction, and this "bloom" is the cloudiness you see in the water. Once the bacteria have multiplied to the point where all the ammonia and nitrite are being converted, the reproduction will slow down and the cloudiness will go away on its own.
To help prevent dieoff, make sure there's good circulation around and through the pieces of live rock. These should be placed so there are open spaces between the pieces for water to flow (and fish and inverts to hide), not stacked solid like a wall. You want maximum area for the water to flow through the rock so you get the full benefit of the biological filtration.
See this for more about the nitrogen cycle: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
2007-07-23 11:17:20 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
ur having a bacteria bloom this the first step to have a tank cycled it will settled down after a couple days and begin to grow on the live rock and sand which is what u want to have a healthy tank
2007-07-23 16:46:14 · answer #2 · answered by goldfish 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if it is a white fog then this is normal for new tanks. this is just bacteria build up in your tank. no worrys just let it run its course. read about the nitrogen cycle and the beneficial bacteria a tank must aquire to break down wastes such as amonia. here is a link that might give you a better idea of whats going on in your tank.http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa073199.htm
2007-07-23 17:02:11 · answer #3 · answered by craig 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its normal, just clean out the filter pads daily and that should help get rid of the dust, just make sure its dust and not bacteria, and the sand and rock are THE best way to filter, i do not like filter pads in reef tank period, the rock and sand work just fine, better in my opinion
2007-07-25 02:52:17 · answer #4 · answered by michael_j_p_42503 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, it could be the sand, but it most likely is going through the process of cycling, which can take at best, a couple of weeks, but on the average of 4-6 weeks, depending on what you do to encourage the cycling process. Read up on cycling so you understand what is required and what to expect.
2007-07-23 16:43:52 · answer #5 · answered by Venice Girl 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The "cloudiness" is actually particles of stuff (Probably dust in your case) that is too small to be caught by your filter. There is a red liquid available at most pet stores that you put a few drops per gallon in, and it makes stuff stick together better to make bigger clumps of stuff so that they will be caught by your filter, instead of just going through it.
2007-07-23 16:51:29 · answer #6 · answered by Ammon 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
no offense, but i wouldn't reccommend sand or live sand in any tank. that might be the problem. what do you mean by pumps? try a filter. or it that is your idea of a filter.
2007-07-23 16:38:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋