brand new to the hobby - got a question

[johnastig]

I'm brand new to the hobby and to this site, I appreciate anyones help. My question is in regards to water clarity. I just added the saltwater and about 10 pounds of live sand to my 12 gallon tank. It's been a couple hours but the water is quite cloudy. Is this normal? And if it is, when can I expect the water to clear up. Thanks.

 

[jetaero]

A couple of days, and the cloudiness should sediment, you can easily add liverock in the mean time though...

-Josh-

 

[wrightme43]

Yes very normal. It will clear up in a few days at the most.
Welcome to reef frontiers. Glad your here. If you have a floss filter it will be sooner.

 

[johnastig]

ok cool.. does it help to settle it quicker by keeping the pumps off? or should i let the pumps run? thanks for the replies =)

 

[NaH2O]

I found it didn't matter with my 12 gallon nanocube, if I had the pump on or off. In time, the fine particulates in the water become weighted down by bacteria and will settle out. It just takes time. If you have some live rock, or a little bit of sand from an established aquarium, that will help jump start your populations.

Oh...I almost forgot...Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

 

[johnastig]

thanks for the warm welcomes everyone! i'm really glad i found this site since there are so many helpful posters. =)

 

[plack]

It's most likely the sand that's causing it to last soo long and as long as the water movement is not blowing the sand on the bottom eventually it should subside. The finer the sand and the stroger the water flow the longer it may take but I would not turn off the pumps.

 

[johnastig]

haha. this is embarassing but i have to mention it, but while i was trying to siphon new SW into my tank i accidently swallowed some SW and reflexively ended up releasing a mouthful of saltwater into my tank. is this bad? lol. im hoping it will only aid (and not harm) the process of acquiring a beneficial bacteria population in my tank. thanks! =)

 

[aquariumdebacle]

NO, this is good! you need to "seed" the tank and your mouth is as good a source as any!

 

[johnastig]

haha.. so screw the live rock then?

jus kidding.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! Lucky you got to spit it all out! I ended up swallowing water before and I had the siphon tube shoved in a patch of junk in the tank! I almost threw up!(LOL) Glad you are here man...And yeah, the tank will settle soon enough, then you'll wonder if there is water in there at times because it will be so clear

 

[WAFalconer]

Welcome ! Plenty of info on this forum ! Take it slow and read, read, read.....
As said above, add a little LS and this should quicken the process a bit.