sand storm and coral dust

[fishcounter]

Well, I just added the sand to my system a few days a go and of course it was a huge sand storm. I rinsed the sand first really well, but I still have a lot of that coral dust making my water cloudy. Should I let my pump and skimmer run or should I turn everything off? I did turn everything off for a few days and it all settled fairly well, but when I turned the pump on, it all got cloudy again? Will the stuff ruin my pump and skimmer? Should I be trying to get the dust out of the system using filtration or should I just let it settle for a long time and then turn everything on?


Just another quick question, I want to post some pictures in this thread to show you how it all looks. How do you post the picture directly into the thred so you can just see it when you scroll down?

Thanks all for all the help!

[fat walrus]

generally most people just let it settle down. but that dust is abrasive to a lot of pumps. you might consider shutting down your pumps, draining out the water and refill it again with plastic laid over the sand. there was discussion about it in the thread dreams'110. simply shutting down the pumps to let it settle won't do a whole lot because once you turn the pumps back on the dust will pick up again because it would only have lightly settled down on any surface area.

[gwen_o_lyn]

I would just give it more time- I think it took a few weeks for the sand to settle in my tank. You can do a few water changes to get some of the debris out. I emptied my tank out and regretted it.

On your toolbar, use this button to insert images into the thread. For some reason, it doesn't always work on this reef board for me.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by gwen_o_lyn

On your toolbar, use this button to insert images into the thread. For some reason, it doesn't always work on this reef board for me.

yes, this will work if the image is already on the internet somewhere.
if you want to upload an image, you have to scroll under the reply box (only on the reply page, not for "quick replies" and there is a spot manage images and you can upload there too