new tank Cloudy water

F

Fish Outta Water

Okay, so I'm getting ready to bring my salt water animals home for the summer (I am a teacher) and this is the first time I've tried the whole dsb thing. The tank at school had a crushed corral bed. I cannot get the water to clear out. I have live rock in it so I am afraid to turn off the circulation. Any suggestions?
 
And the live rock should be okay? Along with all the little critters? Do I need to feed them? There are a ton of brittle stars. They seem like they are a little irritated. Climbing the walls and such.
 
If your not running any filtration ATM I wouldn't. The rock should be fine. Let it settle, check your parameters, then add the livestock when everything is in check. And pay close attention to salinity and do frequent water changes. Again: IMO.
 
Couple of questions. What type of substrate did you use? Was it from another tank or out of the bag? How well did you wash it out? Typically the sand will settle down in 2-5 days really depending on how fine it is. I would not kill the circulation just be sure and keep the jets point upwards away from the sand as much as you can.
 
Well I had a hardcore powerhead going on but I decided to buy a filter to pull out the cloudiness. I bought the "live argonite (sp?) sand" in a bag. Yes I know I probably threw my money away right there but I have to get this tank set up ASAP, I'm running out of school days. On the package it says if it is a new a tank you do not have to wash the sand and a lot of the bacteria is in the sand that you would be losing. Plus, I don't have a bunch of RO water laying around to rinse it with. I went and bought a filter that said it was compatible with salt water aquariums. I just wanted to run it long even to clear the water. (I know this is bad but if I didn't need it in the long run I was going to take it back.) I also got a cup of live sand from a fish store. I know you can tell I barely know what to do but I really am trying to educate myself everyday on salt water. Thanks for everyone's input!
 
If you're using one of those "carbon" filter bag things I would rinse it out several times to keep it as clean as possible. Instead of taking it back, how about selling it in the for sale section of the forum... that will work much better for you. I would personally run it for quite awhile instead of just short term. The carbon will help you with chemical filtration and keep your water from going cloudy or green on you. Also... IMO... next time I would setup the tank with dry sand. Live sand basically seems like sand that will auto cycle because a bunch of stuff has already died in it causing the ammonia cycle to start without you having to move it forward with a decomposing shrimp or something...
 
A few copepods may get caught in the filter but they proliferate quite rapidly and the filter will not affect your overall long-term population.
 
They won't be in the water column to get sucked up. They stay in the sand and on the rocks. If you have enough that they are getting into the filter... I wouldn't worry about the ones that do, you have plenty more that are where they usually stay! :)
 
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