Dry Rock is Making my Water Cloudy, HELP!

[istrahd]

I washed my Dry Rock in the bathtub with the Hand-Held Shower Spray head that has a hose on it so I could rinse them really well. I spent about 5 minutes spraying each rock from all angles.

I used warm to hot water to rinse them off. I had a ton of fine powder & debris in the bottom of the tub when I was done...

Now that I have them Aquascaped in my tank and have the RODI filling the tank, my water is getting very cloudy from the fine powder that the rocks put out just like what was in the bottom of the tub after washing them.

Will this clear up when I add my salt & sand or should I stop filling the tank, and soak the rocks in the tub? What do I do?

Please Help. It will take my 75 gallon per day RODI 2 days to make enough water to fill the tank. I don't want to waste 2 days filling it up, then have to drain it, then rewash my rocks, then refill my tank.

My RODI is putting out absolutely crystal pure water with 0ppm TDS. The water didn't get cloudy until it got about 2-3 inches up on the rocks. I can see fine chunks of rock on the bottom of the tank under the rocks.

 

[istrahd]

A stupid question, but here it is anyways...

Should I wash my sand before using it? It is NOT Live Sand. It is Aragonite SW Sand but it is NOT Live... If I should wash/rinse it what is the best way to do so without it all running down the drain? I could put a hole in top of the bag to let water in then use a pin or needle to make drain holes in the bag.

I just don't want even cloudier water...

 

[istrahd]

Oh, BTW... I have a 125 gallon tank, 110 pounds of dry rock...

 

[chichimom79]

I have never used dry rock, but I would assume the debris your seeing will settle/filter out and won't cause any problems. I wouldn't mix your saltwater in the tank with the rock already in there, even if it is dry rock. Just my personal opinion and it may be fine but I'd mix in buckets.
The sand can be placed in a bucket and just let the water run over it while you stir with your hand and let the cloudy water run over while the sand stays in the container. Do this until the water overflowing is clear. Then place your sand around your live rock structure. Not a stupid question!!

 

[istrahd]

I have never used dry rock, but I would assume the debris your seeing will settle/filter out and won't cause any problems. I wouldn't mix your saltwater in the tank with the rock already in there, even if it is dry rock. Just my personal opinion and it may be fine but I'd mix in buckets.
The sand can be placed in a bucket and just let the water run over it while you stir with your hand and let the cloudy water run over while the sand stays in the container. Do this until the water overflowing is clear. Then place your sand around your live rock structure. Not a stupid question!!

Thanks Chichi, :bowdown: I wasn't sure if I should wash the sand or not. I know you aren't supposed to wash Live Sand as you'll kill what the packaging, shipping & drying out didn't kill...

Oh, while I'm thanking you, thanks for the link to the RODI you posted in my Introduction Thread https://www.livingreefs.com/new-sw-want-reef-tank-t47548.html It is working great. I love the dual TDS meter. I have 18ppm TDS before the last stage and 0ppm TDS on the output! Nothing but hydrogen & oxygen in my water! :^:

The water is clearing up as the RODI continues filling the tank. I am hoping that adding the sand will drag the fine particulates down as it sinks.

As far as mixing the salt with the dry rock in the tank... From what others have told me here and on a local reef site plus what I have read elsewhere its okay to do with Dry Rock, but NOT with Live Rock.

I have been adding it slowly, letting my power head stir it in the water and keeping the salinity under 1.022 I mix in about 1 cup at time and quit adding salt when my readings get to 1.018 to make sure the powerhead has a chance to stir all of the water in the tank.

Time to go break out the buckets & water-hose... I have 120 pounds of sand to wash...

 

[istrahd]

I was getting ready to drag my bags of sand outside to hose them off in a bucket, then thought I should get some clarification on whether to wash the sand or not...

I use well water. It has a lot of misc minerals and almost certainly silicates!

Should I rinse my sand or not? I don't want to add extra silicates to my tank...

I am attaching a pic of one of the bags of sand that I have.

 

[MitchReef]

I would not use high silicate water...you will certainly have a HUGE diatom problem if you add a lot of silicates....

 

[istrahd]

After running around all day, I just got home to find that the tank has cleared up :D and the RODI unit has cranked out more water than I expected. The water level has climbed considerably! It should be full by tomorrow morning. :mrgreen:

Hopefully my 120 pounds of sand won't make it all cloudy again when I add it tomorrow. I can't use RODI to wash it. That would be a huge waste! Not to mention, it would take forever to produce enough of it to wash the sand and I know my well water has silicates in it so that is a no go...

A lot of the fine particulate has settled to the bottom of the tank. I can see it on the glass. I wish I could find my fine tip Shopvac tools. I could just vacuum the stuff out. But once I add my sand, it won't matter.

When I do add my sand, I am going to add it slowly by scooping it out of the bags into a 2 Cup measuring cup, then wetting it with water from the tank and slowly lowering it into the tank and gently pouring it out where I want it in the tank. With any luck, that will cut down on the floating particulates, rather than just dumping the dry sand in from the bags at the top of the tank.

 

[ErinCahir]

The sand is going to cloud up the tank again.
The best way to cut down on that is pouring it through a length of PVC.

 

[2XAl]

I tried the 2 cup method, my tank was still cloudy for a couple days. I ran some carbon which really helped clear if up faster.

 

[chichimom79]

I would still wash it. It may create a diatom bloom but since you are filling with RO/DI, it should be short lived and is just one of those things a new tank goes through. As far as putting it in the tank, the length of pvc is a great idea.

 

[MitchReef]

It all settles after a couple days....no issues....

Are you making the salt water then putting it in? If not you are doing a long freshwater soak of whatever is in the tank already....

I would just pour the sand in and level it out with your hand, the currents are going to distribute it around anyway...

 

[istrahd]

I poured the sand in by cup, Instant Cloud. I tried funnelling it in through PVC, it just got clogged in the pipe... So, I just dumped it straight in, Mega Cloud... That was about 8 hours ago... I only have the moonlight running at the moment, however, I can see some of the rocks sitting at the front of the tank... It is slowly clearing up.

I put my old FW filter box after a bit of cleaning on the tank with a brand new filter in it hoping to speed up the clearing of the water. It couldn't hurt... I think. Anyhow, it will be removed after the water clears up. The filter is for a 30-60 gallon tank, so I am 2-4 times over its rated capacity with a 125 gallon tank. It will help, but not quickly.

I turned off my powerhead, hoping that the fine particulates will settle faster without a 1,500 gallon per hour turnover of the water. Should I have left it running? The only things in the tank are water, salt, sand & dry rocks.

By the way, My Ammonia, Nitrate & Nitrite are 0ppm. Tested before & after adding the sand.

My sump came in. I hope to have it plumbed to my tank & chilling unit soon. It may be a day or so before I can even start to work on it, I hurt my back while cleaning my room yesterday.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis & OsteoArthritis, so I may be laid up for a few days. It is far too easy for me to hurt myself... I am under pretty heavy medical restrictions on what I can/can't should/shouldn't do. I pushed myself too far AND the Barometric Pressure took a big dip. Both things can mess me up pretty badly.

Thankfully I have a sympathetic doctor who keeps me on a good pain med regimen!

 

[chichimom79]

Sorry you've hurt yourself. :(
Did you rinse the sand first or did you skip it?

 

[istrahd]

Sorry you've hurt yourself. :(
Did you rinse the sand first or did you skip it?

Thanks, Chichi. It is FAR too easy to hurt myself. The sad thing is that a rapid change in Barometric Pressure can hurt me worse than I can hurt myself. I spent 2 & 1/2 months laid up in bed from Thanksgiving Day until almost the end of January the year before last because of a flare-up of my RA. I couldn't get out of bed to make food or do anything else. I had someone coming by once (sometimes twice a day) to cook (or bring food) for me, take care of the animals, etc. A bad flare-up like that is uncommon. Usually they only last for a couple of days.

I JUST hobbled out to the Living Room to check my tank. The water is looking SO much better now! It hasn't cleared up completely but I can see all the way into & through the tank now. Yesterday I could only see the rocks at the very front of the tank. Now I can see everything, even behind the tank. By this time tomorrow it ought to be looking good again!

I turned off the powerhead when I put the filter on the tank to allow most of it to settle to the bottom. I don't know if that was a good idea or not but it is clearing up quicker than I expected.

To answer your question, Yeah, I skipped rinsing it... I didn't want to add all of the silicates and other misc particulates that are in my well water to the tank. When I change out the filters in my well house, they are full of sand, clay and who knows what else. I figured that whatever was in the sand would be better than adding all the misc stuff in my well water.

I don't know enough about SW yet to know what to do / how to treat a major algae bloom, etc. I figured, possibly erroneously, that I would be better off letting the sand just cloud up the water and wait for it to settle out than adding unknown contaminants to my tank. Although, there are plenty of unknowns in that cloud in my tank, lol..

When my water levels are ready for it, I will be adding a CUC to start sifting my sand.. I was thinking of adding a pair of clownfish as my first fish. My LFS has a beautiful pair of black clowns that are in the same tank and get along well together. They are either buddies or mates, who knows?

I haven't really given it a whole lot of serious consideration. I am still trying to decide what I want to ultimately stock my tank with, so I can make up a list and run it by the folks here to make sure I don't get incompatible species and to find out what order I should add them in.

I don't know much, but I know when to ask for help... and often that is enough in ALL aspects of life. If only other people had the same mentality, this world would be a far better place. Not to imply that I'm a dork or goob, I am acrually a very intelligent person with a high IQ, common sense, street smarts and a grasp of many subjects from history to astrophysics... I'm willing to admit when I don't know the answer to something and ask for help in obtaining the answers. A lot of people see me as a "know-it-all", though I know that I am Far from knowing it all and I find no shame in admitting it and asking for help.

I know I want a pair of clowns and wrasse but other than that, I am unsure of what I REALLY want to go in the tank.

I am more interested in a Coral Reef tank than I am a "fish tank", I love the look of the soft corals swaying in the current. I love the fan & branching corals, also. I love the brain coral Chichi has in her tank pics & videos. There are so many beautiful SW fish that it will take me some time to decide what I want in there. To me, the tank is going to be a piece of living artwork.

I will add a post to the tank build section with a couple of pics in a day or so, whenever I am feeling better and get back to plumbing the sump. I got a 3 chamber sump so I can use the middle chamber as a refugium. I will add sand and rock to it along with the macroalgae and copepods.

 

[istrahd]

My tank is SO much clearer now. It should be completely clear very, very soon. As soon as it is clear I will drop a shrimp in and wait for the cycle to start. I am looking forward to getting it going. Just out of curiosity, I have seen in many posts/threads about dropping food flakes in to get the cycle started, however no one ever says what type of fish food to use. There are SO many different kinds: Frozen, flakes, Tropical, SW, FW... What type should I use?

 

[chichimom79]

My tank is SO much clearer now. It should be completely clear very, very soon. As soon as it is clear I will drop a shrimp in and wait for the cycle to start. I am looking forward to getting it going. Just out of curiosity, I have seen in many posts/threads about dropping food flakes in to get the cycle started, however no one ever says what type of fish food to use. There are SO many different kinds: Frozen, flakes, Tropical, SW, FW... What type should I use?

They will all break down eventually into ammonia. It doesn't matter what kind. Shrimp will rot faster and kick off the cycle faster.

 

[ErinCahir]

They will all break down eventually into ammonia. It doesn't matter what kind. Shrimp will rot faster and kick off the cycle faster.

+1. Ghost feed the tank for a few days if you decide to go the flake route.

 

[istrahd]

+1. Ghost feed the tank for a few days if you decide to go the flake route.

I am just going to dump a shrimp or two in... The only flake food I have atm is some old Tropical fish food flakes from my last FW setup. Although I may toss some of them in as well just to get it kick-started.

What does Ghost feed the tank mean, exactly? Just adding flakes 1-2 times a day as if feeding fish? How much should I add & how ofter for 125 gallons?

Forgive my ignorance, it is just a term I have never heard before.

 

[istrahd]

By the way, the tank is almost completely clear now! I am ready to kick off my cycle and get my water parameters right so I can throw some critters in there!