what can i do?

[glin7]

When I was filling my aquarium with water, I made a little mistake. First I poured in 50gallons of saltwater, then I added about 3 inches of live sand. It took about two and a half days for all of the dust to settle on the ground. And when it did, about 1/8 of the sand was covered with the dust. (the dust is so soft that if you touch it, it will set off into the water.) Can I use my gravel vacuum to suck out all of the dust, or is it important for the aquarium?

 

[auqua man]

When I was filling my aquarium with water, I made a little mistake. First I poured in 50gallons of saltwater, then I added about 3 inches of live sand. It took about two and a half days for all of the dust to settle on the ground. And when it did, about 1/8 of the sand was covered with the dust. (the dust is so soft that if you touch it, it will set off into the water.) Can I use my gravel vacuum to suck out all of the dust, or is it important for the aquarium?

What kind of sand are you using? Is it new sand?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Probably east coast play sand such as from Home Depot (extra fine aragonite) typically needs washing first. You washed it, but IN your tank, hope no livestock was in there.
Yes, vaccume the dust layer out and replace the water. Will be good as new.

 

[Krish]

I guess you missed my reply to you on your other thread... :shock: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20386&page=2

It's best to put in the sand in first and then put something like a dish in there to pour the water on so it doesn't scatter the sand everywhere

In any event, I agree that you could just vaccum it up. Other than that, you can use a power filter with a micron cartridge in it and stir the bed some and allow the power filter to pick up all the dust. As for if the dust is important for your system, I highly doubt it. Depending on what type of sand you used, some need rinsing first to remove dust particles like you are experiencing and some (like caribsea aragalive) doesn't require any rinsing at all.

 

[glin7]

What kind of sand are you using? Is it new sand?

Yes, it's brand new.

 

[burning2nd]

sand + hand to reseave water being poured in = less sand storm?!


krish ill have 2 remember that equation, when i do mine ill be sure you use your mathamatical formate

 

[Scooterman]

If you have a skimmer run it as wet as you can, it will help settle the dust, keep stirring the dust until it is all skimmed out, also if you have a sock filter use it & clean it daily, this will clean up your storm overnight.