# Milky/Cloudy Water



## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

So I recently purchased a bag of tahitian moon sand. I split the amount I was going to put into the tank into two piles. I washed each pile about 4 times. I then placed it into my tank and waited a day for the sand to settle. Sand settled, but now I have milky/cloudy water  . When I look closely, I see fine particles floating around (not the sand). Does anyone have any solutions? 

Recently bought 15 gallon
Filter: Elite Hush 20

Note: I know it's not bacteria growing because I didn't put anything Ammonia-related into the tank :S

Thanks for your time guys!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Welcome to GTAA!

Is there anything in the tank now (live)?

If you have a power filter, just throw some filter floss in there, and change it after a day - after a few changes, your water should be completely clear.


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## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for the tip and the welcome  . 
I don't have anything live in it, so I'll give filter floss a try.
Thanks again.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

I find that even just a 25% water change after disturbing the substrate (playground sand here) makes a remarkable difference. Just be sure to fill the tank with a siphon held up against the glass (I put the bucket on a chair on top of my table). The disadvantage being that you have to reign in your mad planting/replanting instincts...

I will also try throwing some filter floss into my power filter. Seems like it might be an easy fix, though the tanks seems to have settled down, and even major substrate shifts are no longer giving me much grief...

Good luck


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

it is probably a bacteria bloom. it will settle down after awhile once you have established beneficial bacteria in there.


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## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for all the helpful advice! I'll try the water change, pick up some filter floss and then just wait for the bacteria in the tank to establish. Hopefully, it will clear soon


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## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

Hey, looking at my tank more closely, I see its really really tiny bubbles and not floating particles. Is this just gas escaping from my sand or a bacteria bloom?


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Ok, total noob to sand here. How do you clean sand?


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

I used play sand (4$ a bag)

To clean my sand, I filleda 5gal pail about 1/5 with the sand, then to 1.2 or so with water, and stirred it up with a stick, poured off the silty water, and repeated untill the water ran mostly clear. It took quite a while. I think I probably did 15 washes per batch.

There was still a bit of a cloud when I first added the sand, but not too bad, and it went away after a day or so...


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

AquaNeko said:


> Ok, total noob to sand here. How do you clean sand?


If you are talking about after it is already in your tank (i.e. cleaning the sand during your regular water changes), you obviously cannot do gravel vacuuming, as the sand would get sucked up.

Instead, hover your siphon over the surface of the sand, and it should pick up all the detritus/mulm without sucking up too much of the sand.


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## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

My tank is still cloudy =/. I've done weekly water changes. Placed filter floss for a good while. The problem is that there seems to be a lot of micro bubbles floating in the tank. There is no ammonia in the tank. It's been cloudy since the beginning I put the water into the tank. I hope someone could give me some insight to my problem.


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## davec (Jan 19, 2010)

*flocculent*

I tried some flocculent and it seems to help somewhat. You might consider rewashing the substrate.


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## Merman (Nov 23, 2009)

...patience


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

If it's still doing it it's the result of overfeeding, or more likely, as mentioned, something in the tank like substrate just didn't quite rinse off well. A thorough gravel vaccuuming ought to help. You're leaving the airpump on and this is still happening?


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

If you haven't added fish yet drain all the water. If there are fish remove 75% or more. It looks like fine dust from the sand.


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## davec (Jan 19, 2010)

My tank took about 3 weeks to clear up. That was after 2-3 flocculent treatments and lots of filter floss. Moreover that was despite washing the flourite substrate for over 1.5 hrs in small batches with a collander. For the first few days I could barely make out the back of the tank.


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## shrtmann (Feb 15, 2009)

Id say just patience if its a new tank....keep changing floss..try not to disturb the sand


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## Fish_Noob32 (Jan 10, 2010)

I re-washed my sand and it seems to be fine now. Thanks


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