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Curious

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  • Curious

    I am curious as to what your thoughts are. I am not happy with the sand in my tank. The reason is the fish keep messing with it and it looks like sand particles constantly are floating around the tank giving the water a cloudy appearance. My first question is, would the quartz by 3m do the same thing or would it actually settle to the base. My next question is if I want to tank the sand out in order to put quartz in, should I gradually take the sand out to reveal an all glass bottom before I put the quartz in or should i take it out all at once. I just dont want to run into any problems like before with killing my bio filter and having to start over. I do want the sand out though. My water just isnt as clear as it used to be with the gravel. These sand particles floating in the water are driving me nuts. Thanks.
    Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

    Been in hobby since March 2006

  • #2
    Re: Curious

    I have the 3M color quartz in two tanks and don't have any particulates floating in the water.  Even when cleaning the bottom it settles right back down.  I thought sand did pretty much the same thing.  

    Not doubting your diagnosis, but are you sure it's sand floating about?
    Reasoning with some people is like trying to nail jello to a wall...

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    • #3
      Re: Curious

      i have tahittan moon sand and some other white sand and after it settled it was all good, no floating or what not.
      700g Mini-Monster tank

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      • #4
        Re: Curious

        When I moved, I completely changed the substrate, and the tank was empty (and dry) for a couple of hours. My tank was not overstocked and I kept all my filter media damp. I have a penguin filter. I closely monitered, as in twice a day for 2 weeks, the ammonia and nitrate, and I never saw any of either. I also didn't do any water transfer. I made sure to only feed them lightly, once a day, and I only fed flake, nothing messy. It worked well for me to just do it, BUT my tank isn't heavily stocked.

        I also have had playsand in my tank before and it didn't ever cloud up the water. Did you clean it well before putting it in?

        Ellen

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        • #5
          Re: Curious

          HHHMMMM. It looks like sand particles and sometimes gets pretty clear, but then the fish play "grabass" (sorry if I offended anyone) and it gets all stirred up. Maybe I should clean my filter and see if a lot of sand has managed to clog it up a little. Thanks.
          Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

          Been in hobby since March 2006

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          • #6
            Re: Curious

            Sounds like you have some small sand particals, some fine sand particals and some verry small sand particals.

            The obvious solution would be the remove fish and plants, add a syphon about midway up in the tank and then rince the sand with a hose untill all the verry small sand particals are washed away.

            Then you have to start the tank cycle all over again.
            'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust ...'
            He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

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            • #7
              Re: Curious

              AAAGGGHHH, what if i just take the sand out, let the water clear up, then add (thouroughly rinsed of course) 3m quartz.
              Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

              Been in hobby since March 2006

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              • #8
                Re: Curious

                Have you had a chance to look at the filter?
                "Millennium hand and shrimp!"

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                • #9
                  Re: Curious

                  No not yet. i have to wait till tomorrow when i get home.
                  Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

                  Been in hobby since March 2006

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                  • #10
                    Re: Curious

                    how should i properly clean my filter. I have an eheim 2215 or 2217, cant remember. I dont want to kill my bio filter, so should i replace all the filter material inside the canister and rinse it out or reuse some of the old material?
                    Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

                    Been in hobby since March 2006

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                    • #11
                      Re: Curious

                      I don't have an eheim, so I'll leave that to someone else. When I clean biomaterial, I clean with dechlorinated water so as to not kill all the bacteria.
                      Scarecrow : I haven't got a brain... only straw.
                      Dorothy : How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
                      Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
                      Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Curious

                        Originally posted by PhishPhreek";p="
                        Sounds like you have some small sand particals, some fine sand particals and some verry small sand particals.

                        The obvious solution would be the remove fish and plants, add a syphon about midway up in the tank and then rince the sand with a hose untill all the verry small sand particals are washed away.

                        Then you have to start the tank cycle all over again.
                        Co-Sign. It looks as if you need to clean your sand again.
                        Fish, Fish, & more Fish.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Curious

                          our sand did that I added a extra box filter till it cleared up then everything worked out fine after a couple hours.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Curious

                            I have eheims 2213's on both tanks that have sand substrate and what I do is syphon some water into a bucker and rinse my biomedia with that and the sponges get rinsed as normal or replaced.

                            With my sand I lost a good portion of it cleaning it but this was when it was new. Rinse in bucket and whatever floated went into the flower bed. I did notice that the clumps that floated stuck to an air bubble which kept it afloat. After it went into the tank I slapped whatever floated and it sunk, whatever else fell to the bottom eventually.

                            When I first put the sand in I used a little hob marineland 100/150 to circulate the water till everything settled and then ran the eheim but if you are trying to keep from cycling again maybe put the eheim on another tank if possible.

                            Most likely if you have to tear down the tank you'll probably have to re-cycle. There's a good article somewhere about cleaning the bio-media on the web somewhere but I'm on my phone right now so multiple pages is a no go.

                            Think the article was on greg watson site they sell plant fertilizer if not there it was on either aquaticplantcentral or the planted tank.net.
                            700g Mini-Monster tank

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