Southdown sucks!! HELP

[Ducman996]

Just added southdown to my tank. I can't work on the aquascape. Everytime i move a rock the whole tank clouds up. Someone please tell me how to do this. I am so frustrated, I was trying to level some of the bottom, but worked a little this afternoon about noon. Now it is 4:15 and the tank still has no visibility.

Please help me. I have nothing in the tank except LR (35lbs). My fish have been transfered to a different tank until I can get this one set up with the sand.

Please Help????? What are the secrets.

 

[Anonymous]

give it some time. Southdown does this. just put the live rock in there to get the bacteria started and then the silt will settle.

This is normal.

 

[mgk65]

What you are going through is normal with any type of sand that is the size and composition of southdown.

It took my tank days to clear up enough to see and then several more before it was crystal clear.

It will take some time for the bacteria on the sand to grow. Your live rock will help see that.

mgk

 

[dick182]

That is why when I just re-did my tank, I put the rocks in first, and the sand after, and the water last.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

......
Please Help????? What are the secrets.

Time

 

[danmhippo]

Dude, southdown does not "suck". You will just have to understand what's going to happen when you add them directly to your tank.

Going back on your old posts, I believe we have warned you this already.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p ... ht=#169329

But since you dump the sand into your tank already totally disregard of our previous warnings, all you can do now is wait for the sand grains to be coated with bacteria. If you attempt to siphone off or filter out the cloudy water, you are simply throwing your $$ down the drain as those fine particles are what people most sought after.

If you have to level the sand, I'd suggest you to remove all the rocks now, use a ruler to help you level it out by touch, and replace the rocks.

Patience, my friend, patience.

 

[Anonymous]

LOL I was gonna post to this forum but everything has already been said. Don't bother asking questions if you aren't gonna listen :wink:

 

[Desolas]

Please Help????? What are the secrets.

Dude. Man. Dude.. Did you read our advice? I hate coming off like a total jerk, or even edging towards a flame, since I really enjoy helping people, but you make me feel like we wasted our time in even trying to help you. The obvious was pointed out to you, and it is obvious you didn't pay attention to it - or you went ahead without fully understanding the concept of what you were about to deal with.

My whole effort towards telling you "my method" (in the previous post - not my method, just one of many known methods) was to avoid this problem. The sand has to be seasoned, it has to be bacteria laden, it has to be heavy. It all takes time for that to happen. Doing basic reseach should have told you what was going to happen - I know that because I didn't know at one point untill I did research, and I did the research, I learned, and I knew before I went through with something. I knew what to expect because I did the work to find out. Had you done so, or even paid attention to our help, your post here would have never happened and you would have known everything that has already been said time and time again.

The greatest form of disrespect is wasting someone's time.

Aiyiyi.

 

[Ducman996]

First let me start by saying that I do read and respect everything your guys/girls say. You have all been at this much longer than I have, and know a plethera about it.

Second you misunderstood my frustration. I just wanted to know how to move rocks around without causing a dust cloud. If all it takes is time that is fine. I was just looking to see if this is normal and if I was doing someting wrong. What I did was drained about 95% of the water and moved the tank to its new location. Next I added the damp sand to the bottom and next added the water. I also did about 20% water change at that time and also intagrated about 8 gal from my other tank, in hopes that the fish in time will be going into the larger tank(one with SD). The samller tank will be sold when this whole process is completed.

So in a few weeks the bacteria will be grow in the SD and I should be able to level the sand and finish the aquascape without having a huge cloud. Thanks for your help.

Sorry if I offened anyone on this board.

 

[esmithiii]

Patience grasshopper. Once the bacteria gets a hold on the sand you won't have this problem. The sand will settle in minutes (or seconds) as opposed to days now.

Ernie

 

[SPC]

So in a few weeks the bacteria will be grow in the SD and I should be able to level the sand and finish the aquascape without having a huge cloud.

-If it were me, I would go ahead and do all of the sand leveling and aquascape now. Even if you wait a few weeks, any major disturbance is going to cause the sand to cloud the water.
Steve

 

[willmsbrg]

I was really thinking about adding more sand to my existing set-up.. I really do not want to disturb what is going on in my system.. I suppose I can add more sand to the areas where there is open space?.. Next time I will know better about setting these things up... :wink: Mine has been running since mid October rock along with some snails, hermits and 2 shrimp.. but it appears I am getting something like a soft coral or 2 growing.. these are very bright orange.. (wishing I had a camera.)

 

[esmithiii]

The cloudiness is not that detrimental to your tank, IMO. If you have ever snorkeled on reefs after a storm they are quite cloudy. There may be a small cycle any time you mess with a sand bed, but that usually only causes a small, short-lived algae bloom if that. YMMV.

Ernie

 

[fishpoo]

i agree. Southdown blows all over and move a rock and it's a storm all over again. Set up over a year and it never "got covered with bacteria". It just continued to get on my nerves and i removed. To the sump it went.

 

[danmhippo]

Hmmm, unless your southdown is different from my southdown, otherwise, I never have that problem from the 3rd month.

 

[willmsbrg]

my southdown is just fine after being set-up for just over a month.. I even have one of my powerheads pointed downward toward the bed.. mine doesn't seem to really be any issue..

 

[esmithiii]

i agree. Southdown blows all over and move a rock and it's a storm all over again. Set up over a year and it never "got covered with bacteria". It just continued to get on my nerves and i removed. To the sump it went.

I don't have that problem at all. I will shoot some video and put it on-line if you would like.

Ernie

 

[Ducman996]

esmithiii,

If you can that would be great. It will be interesting to see what i have to look forward to.

Thanks

 

[Minh Nguyen]

i agree. Southdown blows all over and move a rock and it's a storm all over again. Set up over a year and it never "got covered with bacteria". It just continued to get on my nerves and i removed. To the sump it went.

My sump have a lot more current than the main tank. In my tank, at least, this will make the problem a lot worst.
I use all south down sand have 4500 g/hr in my sump ( a 125 g tank). I have about 10000 g/hr in my main tank (450 g). I have southdown sand in both my tank and sump and have no proplem.
fishpoo, you must have incredible flow in your tank to have the Southdown sand blow around that much. If this is indeed the case, then you can only use crush coral for your substrate, or else no substrate, because everything else would be too fine. Do you have a all reef crest tank? How big and what kind of water flow do you have?
Minh Nguyen

 

[esmithiii]

I will post a small 30 sec video tomorrow.

Ernie