# Sand and Cloudy water



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

Hi guys!! I seem to be having a bit of a problem... Last night I switched out all of our gravel for sand. I bought the Quickcrete play sand from Lowes and I did rinse it, but apparently not enough. My tank is cloudy as [email protected]%% My Cichlids are in a 20 gallon long for the time being but when will they be able to go back in? Does the water have to be perfectly clear? 
I did one water change last night but it didnt seem to do any good :roll: It has cleared up a bit overnite but its still pretty bad. HELP :-? This proved to be quite an adventure...my husband and I have been keeping fish all our lives and we were both stumped lol


----------



## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

yeah it'll clear just do a water change everyday and also check and clean your filter media if you can everyday. should take a couple days. yeah the sand you have to rinse for an obscene amount of time and when you think you have rinsed it too much rinse it that much again...but worth it when everything comes together


----------



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

Thanks. I was pretty much freaking out thinking that I made the wrong move, but *** wanted sand for soooo long now. How much of a water change should I do and how long should I keep the fish in the other tank? I really hate the fact that they are in there :?


----------



## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

if the sand tank is fully cycle which i assume it is id say give it one more day then put em in. do 50% waterchanges...you can do them twice a day as long as your filters are stacked with a bacterial colony and on that note are you doing something to keep up the bacterial colony like household ammonia???


----------



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

The tank has been up and running for about 2 years. Ill do the water changes and see if that helps. We got new filter pads yesterday but havent put them in yet. I wanted to run the old ones for a while so the tank didnt cycle again.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You can put the old pads in the tank to keep the bacteria alive, and still put in the new pads to see if it helps your cloudiness.

I'd be tempted to remove the substrate and wash it outside the tank to get it overwith. :thumb:


----------



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

Ohhhh i was afraid someone would suggest that lol I thought about it last night but was too **** tired to deal with it anymore. I was just poking around in it a few minutes ago and its just settling, the second i touch it, it reclouds!! UGH!! I have the day off and it supposed to be pretty nice out so i guess i know what im doing. I just dont think I have the patience to sit and wait for it to clear up on its own. Ok on a positive note, from what i can see its going to look bad a$$ when its done :thumb: And my fish are gonna love it!


----------



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

Ok...just finished and it came out much better! Still fairly cloudy but nothing like it was before. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed...forever...and ever and then i rinsed a few more times  I thought i had killed my husbands emperor filter but i got that working again, thank goodness because was opposed to this sand thing from the get go. 
My neighbors were enjoying their morning cup of coffee while i was out there washing my dirt in my pj's...interesting, now they are definatly terrified of me.


----------



## robertw (Aug 6, 2009)

I really wouldn't worry to much about it. Just continue to do frequent water changes, and stir up the sand with your vacuum when doing the water changes to get anything that may have settled and wasn't caught up by your filter. After a few days put your fish in and just do your routine water changes. Same thing happened to me, I freaked out a bit too, but I just continued my normal routines. Took me about 2 weeks to have crystal clear water. GL.


----------



## ~Bella~ (Jun 21, 2005)

A few hours later with the filters running I can see the back of the tank now, still slightly cloudy. I need to put all the rocks back in still so im sure that it will recloud some. Ill start water changes afterwards. Thanks guys for all your help! :fish:


----------



## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

~Bella~ said:


> A few hours later with the filters running I can see the back of the tank now, still slightly cloudy. I need to put all the rocks back in still so im sure that it will recloud some. Ill start water changes afterwards. Thanks guys for all your help! :fish:


Can pretty much guarantee you will cloud it up again adding your rocks. 
That is the problem with play sand.. 
Surprised no one mentioned getting your rock/decor in before adding the sand. 
Now you are faced with scrunching the rock down, through the sand, so it rests on the bottom. 
Why, I looked at the picture of your tanks crew..bunch of "diggers"..Those guys will work on that sand around your rocks until they shift. 
Best case..just scare the bejesus out of them..Worst case, a rock could tap on your glass in just the right way for it to break.


----------

