Cycling...why is my water cloudy?
- Thread starter Joelb58
- Start date
marcah
Reef enthusiast
it is perfectly normal for everything to take a few days to settle down...
Smitty
Reef pro
+1 Marcah...it'll be cloudy for a few days, but it should clear up nicely.
JustinsReefTank
Reefing newb
Yeah it took three days for mine to clear up.. Just give it a few and it'll be fine
clancaster23
Reefing newb
What they said! :) Will take a few days for to to all settle down but it'll look so nice once it does!
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Oh and ditch the biowheel-- the live rockand live sand is sufficient biofiltration. The biowheel is best left for freshwater.
sen5241b
Reef enthusiast
I had cloudy water in one of my 20Gs and after a month I put carbon filtration on it and it went away overnight.
This is normal, the current cloudiness is probably caused by your sand getting tossed around in the tank.
You may get cloudy again due to the bacterial bloom from you initial cycle, which is normal as well.
Also, a little off topic, but are you using anything to measure the salinity in the tank aside from just measuring 1/2 cup per gallon? If not you should be measuring it with a hydrometer at a minimum or a refractometer. Using the measuring cup method can be very inaccurate over time.
You may get cloudy again due to the bacterial bloom from you initial cycle, which is normal as well.
Also, a little off topic, but are you using anything to measure the salinity in the tank aside from just measuring 1/2 cup per gallon? If not you should be measuring it with a hydrometer at a minimum or a refractometer. Using the measuring cup method can be very inaccurate over time.
DAvis
Reefer Madness
Hi Joel,
I'm not sure what order you did things, but in starting a tank, it's good to start with washing the sand. This gets a lot of the fine dusty silt out. I put mine in a 5 gallon pail and filled up and stirred around, then decant off the murky water. I repeat this until fairly clear. The salt water should be made up ahead of time, though with a new tank not absolutely necessary.
Most people place the live rock on the bottom and then fill with sand, and slowly add salt water. Any way you do it, it will be stormy for a few days!
That will clear in a few days, but then you will have a bacterial haze as the tank cycles. In a few weeks, it will get crystal clear. Then you are getting there!
Good luck!
