Hello! I am hoping someone may have some insight here...I have just set up a 28 NC and I have very cloudy water. It looks as though it is smoky in the tank. I have nothing in the tank as of yet but RO/DI water mixed with Red Sea Salt to 1.024 and 20 lbs of CaribSea Arag-Alive sand. Now, I wouldn't be that concerned but I added the water and sand on Friday evening and it is now Monday and it definitely cleared up overnight once the sand was all settled but that smoky look is still there a few days later. Also, before setup, when I did my leak test I had tap water running for a few days in it, to which I added some API water declorinator and had the same smoky/cloudy after adding the declorinator.

Now that I have my set-up started, I am running filter floss (rinsed), chemi-pure (rinsed) and purigen (rinsed) which is what I had decided before set up to run. I planned on adding my live rock this weekend coming but don't know what is up with the water? I tested PH using API test kit (I figured there was no sense testing Ammonia, Nitrites or Nitrates considering I have no livestock yet) and it is on the low side at 7.8. Don't have my KH test yet but can low PH cause cloudy water? Is there something else I should test for?

Neither my Koralia 1 or either of the Accela returns are disturbing the sand. I don't see particles floating...just what looks like smoke.

Sorry for the long post!

Oops...but the "would this work" in my topic title was supposed to be in reference to putting a filter sock on the pump returns or something? Then forgot to add that part lol! Any help is appreciated.

I had a similar problem. Although it may not look like your powerheads are stirring things up, they are probably suspending up the fines from the sand. I'd take the flow down to a minimun for a day or so (maybe just the filter?) and see if that clears things up.

Hey, thanks for the quick response...I will give it a shot. I can't lower the pumps output but I can definitely power off the extra flow for a few days and see if it makes a difference. I was starting to wonder if I had that issue with the salt precipitation (am I saying that right) reaction of the salt not dissolving correctly because I mixed the salt in each of the 5 gallon buckets with the powerhead and dumped in the tank...no heating or anything and mixed the salt fast. Could that be an issue if the powerheads turn out to not make any difference?

Be careful about mixing salt without a heater. The SG changes with different temps.

Thank you. I certainly will be doing my waterchanges with a heater but I didn't think there would be an issue for the startup since there was no livestock in the tank. I just figured the Metal Halides and the heater would bring it up to temp quickly enough and that would be that. I didn't even realize there could be an issue with the salt mixing until doing searches on here for cloudy water. For the most part though, I only saw responses about alge or bacteria blooms, etc. I knew it wasn't either of those since I haven't added anything to the tank yet so was really stumped. Then I ran across the salt issue. If that is the case, would I need to drain and start over or will it eventually clear up on it's own?

I'm just sayin check your SG now that it's up to the proper temp. You didn't hurt anything by mixing it cold, but the SG will be different at a higher temp.

Oh! Sorry, misunderstood ya. Nah, it is 1.024 so I am good there. I will want to pull it up to 1.025 but there wasn't a big difference between the mixing and when I brought it up to temp. Maybe it is this brand of salt that is causing the cloudiness? Hmmm....still researching because the smoky tank is not the look I'm shooting for lol!

Ok then, I honestly would just chill out and let the tank do it's thing for a while. Cycling tanks are funny like that sometimes...

When I used Instant Ocean it took 3 days. When I used SeaChem Reef salt it took 7 days to clear. It may have something to do with the chemistry as IO was always lower Calcium than I wanted so I switched to SeaChem. Perhaps this is the reason.

Thanks for the feedback I will just wait it out. I am not cycling yet due to having no live rock in the tank...was planning on getting that this weekend. I don't think the sand would be enough to start a cycle but maybe I am wrong...it happens occasionally





Yeah, I was wondering if it had to do with the salt because there is nothing else going on in the tank. I will keep that in mind and just hang tight...I am assuming it will clear up at some point. Thanks!

oh and this is totally off topic, but has Garfield from "Parking Wars" ever booted your car?

when i added the sand the same thing happened to me. I turned off the pumps for a day and let the fine stuff just settle. After that i turned to pumps back on, and by day 3 it was crystal clear

I had same issue with bagged sand. Seems some clear in a day or 2 others a week or 2. I would not wait on the rock though. The sooner its all in the sooner your cycle will kick off more. (yes even with just sand you have some type of cycle starting.)

LOL...ummm...that would be a no.



Thanks, Kenny...I am going to try shutting the pumps down and see how that works out because I am on day 4 now...blah.

Thanks, I won't hold off on getting started...just wanted to make sure I didn't have some sort of chemical reaction with bad salt or something. Seems the consensus is that it is not an issue and should be okay. I just don't ever remember seeing anything like that in my tank I had years ago. It was strange...like looking into a smoky room? Weird.

I don't think I can hold off on getting started anyway! This patience thing is kicking me in the arse

My recent tank took 7 days for the haze to clear. Just let the tank be and change the floss daily.

Will do! Thanks, Lawnman

Appreciate all the feedback