# Changed to sand and the water is never clear



## Malawi Male (Sep 21, 2014)

Hi! Guys.
Last week I changed from gravel to white cichlid sand & the problem I have is that all the minute dirt & poop particles would get trapped under the gravel before and the water used to look crystal clear, however now the dirt remains on top and keeps circulating in the water and that looks pretty bad.

I have a sunsun 304b canister and a power head in the tank and they dont seem to pick up most of the small particles.

Any suggestions???


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

I'd probably add another filter or powerhead. Also, to help clear debris, make sure your powerhead is pointed toward the sand (not straight down, but at an angle). I like to set up a circular current in my tanks where one output or powerhead is in the back-left of the tank facing right, and a second output/powerhead is in the front-right of the tank, facing left.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

I have sand and gravel tanks. I personally find gravel easier to clean but the water clarity should be the same. Sand may just be settling in yet give it another week and do some extra water changes and it should be back to normal. also with sand when i do water changes it usually takes several hours longer than gravel to clear up completely.


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

Are you using any sort of fine filtering media?


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## bbolto (Oct 18, 2014)

I've recently started a cichlid tank and used sand. Had a lot of silt in the water at first that was getting stirred up by my large pleco. Local fish guy recommended putting some polyfil in the filter box. This was dense enough to catch the fine particles and removed was it was clear. Did a great job and now I don't have the problem anymore.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

The powerhead can be easily made into a DIY overflow filter and help catching the debris and other particles in the water column.


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## Malawi Male (Sep 21, 2014)

Thanks for the advise guys.
I have added some base rock to the tank and the dirt & poop is trapped under all the Rock and the water is now crystal clear besides the hassle of moving the rocks every week while I do my tank maintenance.

Other wise sand is the way forward. Really like the look.

As mentioned above in my post I have a canister and a powe head and I'm actually thinking of getting rid of the power head and add another canister, what do u guys think would that be over kill!

Cheers


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## dsiple3 (Mar 4, 2014)

I over filter my tank with 2 canisters. When I stir up everything in the sand, it usually takes a couple of hours for my tank to get crystal clear after water changes. I don't remove rock to clean under them, I just syphon around the edges.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

dsiple3 said:


> I over filter my tank with 2 canisters. When I stir up everything in the sand, it usually takes a couple of hours for my tank to get crystal clear after water changes. I don't remove rock to clean under them, I just syphon around the edges.


over filtering is fine but when you do water changes syphoning around the rocks and not picking them up to get the debris underneath is a bad idea. I find my largest amounts of waste when i move the rocks around during tank maintenance. leaving that in the tank could lead to disease in the long run.


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