Argh. Muddy water!

[DesoShade]

Ok so I got some crushed coral and put it in my tank. I guess I didn't rinse it off good enough because I started filling my tank today with distilled water and to my misfortune, the water is MUDDY/CLOUDY because of the cc. Um.... is that going to filter through and clear up during my cycle process? :grumble:

 

[hibye]

dont clean when you cycle but becuse its cloudy did you put sand in first then pour water in a bowl with the water going over the rims.but if you did do that sypon the gralvel

 

[hibye]

with a gravel cleaner

 

[yote]

Yeah,it'll clear up in a day or 2.

 

[DesoShade]

I didn't use sand. I used crushed coral. the water is awful looking. I guess I'll wait a few days then and see if it clears up.

 

[hibye]

sorry and first wait for the Crushed Coral to settle then sypon with a gravle cleaner

 

[MikMcgyver]

It will clear up, even if you do sand, it will cloud up as well.. Be patient..

 

[reeffreak]

If you have a filter that has mechanical filtration(filter floss,sponge),it will clear up in a few days.Everybody gets the cloudy water when first setting up a tank.....it will past.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah it sucks, but it's normal, and there really isn't anything you can do to avoid the cloudiness, but like Freak said, running your filtration will help.

 

[Piggy]

We all went through it. I'll be fine in a couple days.

 

[DesoShade]

Yaye! It's cleared up. Water is looking alot better now. Phew. I pick up a few jugs of water here and there to put in the tank and it's half ful now almost. I just bought 12 jugs today so I think that will finish up my tank. Slowly but surely, making progress. Oh, also, I bought a background for my tank today and what's the trick to get that on the tank? I've heard of people using olive oil or something to get it to stick to the back and look clearer and brighter?

 

[Bifferwine]

Uhhh olive oil? Just take some tape and tape it to the back.

 

[yote]

Scotch tape.

 

[DesoShade]

yeah scotch tape works, but I've found that if you put water or some sort of oil between the background and the tank, it will miraculously show up 60% BRIGHTER and more clear. I did that with my 10 gallon tank. I wet the back of the tank with a sponge and spread it all around, then placed the background on, secrured it with tape and took a credit car to squeegie the excess water from between the tank/background and I was totally AMAZED at how bright and clear it showed up. But with water, it's hard to do without getting little air bubbles and dry spots in the background, so there are spots and areas where it's dark, and areas where it's really bright and clear. I had read somewhere to use some sort of oil instead of water, because it won' tdry up and leave the bubble/fade spots.

 

[yote]

Olive oil will do the same thing over time.Only it'll leave the glass smeared up and you'll end up wishing you had done something a lil bit different.

 

[DesoShade]

Olive oil will do the same thing over time.Only it'll leave the glass smeared up and you'll end up wishing you had done something a lil bit different.

oooooh. hmm. :shock: