Newbie .. just starting out ... ITS CLOUDY

[Sam1969]

OK .. so I got me a tank with a sump, built a stand and an overflow.. filled it with water and turned on the pump .. it holds water and pumps it up .. time for salt ... level is 1.024 ... time for sand .. put in 80 lbs ( 44 gal tank with 30 gal sump ). Now its so cloudy I cant see the back of the tank or any of the plumbing, there is lots of foam on top ... and has been like this for several hours .. What do I need to do ? What did I do wrong ? should I turn off the sump and let things settle ?

[RicePaddy]

My tank was cloudy for a number of days. I would not think operating the sump/pumps with cloudy water is a good idea. In addition to making you sump all dirty, I would not think that the sand in the pumps is a good idea. Just wait until it clears up. The first bit of advise I recevied is to take you time. Rushing only leads to problems.

Will

[crystalz]

did you rinse the sand b4 you put it in? If you did then you will have to wait until you put in live rock for the water to clear up

[crystalz]

with a sump put some fine filter material in the sump before the pump and keep circulating the water.you shouldn't have to worry about pump damage. My water didn't clear up until I put in the live rock. Within a matter of a couple hours after I added the live rock the water was clear. If you're not going with live rock right of the bat just use lots of filter material to clear up your water.

[justinl]

did you rinse the sand before putting it in (assuming it was the dry stuff in a bag)? there is a LOT of dust that comes with it. if you didnt then filter. if not, then just give it time to settle out. turn off all flow/filters so you dont wear them out with the sand thats flying around.

[kwirky]

if there's foam it probably wasn't rinsed. You could be waiting months for it to settle, literally. hope not :)

[EmilyB]

I've never rinsed sand. Just use some filter floss and things should clear up quickly.

[marie]

I have never rinsed the sand :biggrin: , it should clear up when you get the rock in there and get the cycling started.