Is there any good way to add sand to a tank and not get cloudy water? Starting with an empty tank, is it best to add the sand first or water first. What if I soak the sand first for a week or two in a garbage can. Will this have any effect? Also, is Caribsea oolitic sugar sized sand less cloudy than HD? I have heard both to rinse and not rinse the sand first. Any advice? Bob

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i would suggest(just my opinion) not to rinse either brands of sand, no reason other that that you are just gonna lose half of it and what if that lost half is the half thats benifical?also as for adding to an empty tank, i put my sand in, then place a wide bowl in on top of the sand then pour the water slowly and let the water overflow into the tank! it still cause cloudy water, but it doesnt make it real bad at all!

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Whoever invented salt water aquariums should be shot for taking all my money...everyday, oh well gotta have something to do!

If you have not filled your tank yet, and it is not live sand I would go ahead and put the sand in before the water. Put all of the sand in, then place a plastic garbage bag on top of it. SLOWLY, fill your tank with water. Be sure to not fill if all the way if you still have rock to add, because you will be having to work a little extra to take some water back out. After you put the water in, slowly remove the trash bag. It will still cloud up some, but not near as bad.

Also, some people like to put a outside filter on the tank for the first few days to help filter out some of the silt and dust that will cloud the water.

I would probably not worry too much with washing the sand. It will all settle and clear even if you just dump it strait in the water. I added sand to mine after the tank had been running for a few weeks. It got VERY cloudy, looked like milk, but it cleared.

Joe

If your aquarium is full, I posted something to this effect this past Thursday or Friday, where I said that I had this exact problem. I had to add it around a lot of existing live rock, which I didn't want to smother or have to clean up. The delivery "system" consisted of a long polyethylene funnel, with the tip cut off, so that the sand could get out easier. The sand came out an inch or so above the original ugly crushed coral bottom.

All of the fish cowered somewhere else, and survived just fine... as did Ernest the snail.

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Cheers,
Rob
New York City

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the help. Looks like I won't be rinsing it. I'll have to try the garbage bag trick to.Thanks,Bob

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Hey RWD
I just went through this and I will tell you what worked for me.
I was working with CaribSea' super reef and sugar sand. The super reef I rinsed in a large past strainer about 3-4lbs at a time. You cannot believe the dust that comes out of this stuff. The sugar sand I rinsed a little at a time through a large towel. The amount lost was very minimal ~1lb. The sugar sand takes a long time to rinse. I then added it to my empty tank. I filled my tank with ro/di water at an 80 gal. per day rate. Filling at this rate did not call for placing anything on the bottom, I just let it drip onto the sand. When the tank was full it was crystal clear.
Hope this helps!
Have fun!

why worry about it getting cloudy? I carefully rinsed an the slowly added my sand to an already running system. I put it in a large plastic cup and then poured it out right on the bottom of the tank. It still got cloudy...but that went away within 24 hours. If the tank has nothing in it, I don't know why it's a big deal if the water gets cloudy.

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I died once, but I got better

ravenmore,
I wanted the least amount of clouds because I wanted to add all the rock and corals as soon as possible after adding the sand. I am switching all the corals and rock from a 125 to a 300 and didn't want to wait more than a few days to be able to see what I was doing in the cloudy water.Bob

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Visit my web page: http://bobsreefermadness.homestead.com/index.html

if you have already bought your sand then this idea will not work, but the tropic isle sand does not cloud. i used a different sand in one of my tanks, and had cloudy water for a week, i added the rock and high water flow, and it cleared in an hour.

my .02

Jade