cloudy water

[ffemtjoe]

hey all sry if iam in the wrong section but i have a bit of a cloudy watter issue.. i just started my 75 gallon tank not even thinking i put the saltwater in , then put the sand it was cloudy for about a week, now its just about cleared up but i noticed a layer of a kinda mucky feeling ontop of the sand then below that is the good sand ... i am using live sand so is this the bacteria onton of the sand or what and as soon as i would stir a little of it up the water would become cloudy again is this normal? what can i do to fix the problem?
thanks

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the site...that is normal with brand new tanks, and will go away with time, but you need some water movement in there to suspend all the dust, and some sort of filtration to collect it and remove it from the water column.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 smitty It clears up eventually. Had you not used live sand, I would have said rinse it first to get as much of the dust off. But obviously rinsing live sand would kill the bacteria :) Just give it time and like Smitth said, water movement and a skimmer or sponge (that you rinse off regularly) will help.

 

[ffemtjoe]

ok thanks what about doing a water vchange?

 

[wontonflip]

That would help, but just make sure not to stir up the sand again when putting water in. I normally pour my water in through the sump, so as not to disturb the dt.

 

[ffemtjoe]

well i have let it set for about a week and a half with everything on and it has cleared up so i can actually see in the tank for the most part but it is still a little cloudy how long do i have to wait for it to finaly settle

 

[wontonflip]

Give it time :) It could also be just an algae bloom, part of the cycle. Quite normal! Don't worry....it will look crystal clear soon!!

 

[ffemtjoe]

ok il try lol not sure it is an algee bloom though i belive its the sand hopefully the live sand that i bought was still good. knew i should of added the sand first instead of the water damm