Day 1 of water in tank.... should i be worried?

[bkostuch]

I just got the tank all filled, got all the pumps and skimmer running. I come back after about 5hrs and the skimmer is already producing gunk.... maybe I am under informed on skimmers but I thought that I wouldn't see any crud until I started cycling. All the rock was bleached, sand was brand new, pumps cleaned. Maybe I am missing something??

 

[butch]

Is the tank and equipment new? If not, there may have been some residual gunk that the skimmer is pulling out.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

What color is the "gunk"? What you may be seeing is the skimmer picking up dead remnants from the rock and/or particulate from the sand.

 

[bkostuch]

All parts are new or used, but cleaned. Though my wife I clean the house horribly, if that's any indication .

Gunk is a yellowish almost mustard color. I'll try and get a picture.

Tank, Skimmer, Pump, wp40 are all used
Refug, Heaters are new, and of course plumbing is new also.


thanks guys!

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

More importantly....what color is the tank water?

 

[bkostuch]

LED ON, water is cloudy

http://www.kabweb.com/tank/DSCF8457_1.JPG" alt="" />

Gunk in the skimmer
[IMG]http://www.kabweb.com/tank/DSCF8459_1.JPG" alt="" />

Ref - clear water, stuff on the bottom is the reflection
[IMG]http://www.kabweb.com/tank/DSCF8460_1.JPG" alt="" />


No light clear water
[IMG]http://www.kabweb.com/tank/DSCF8462_1.JPG" alt="" />

 

[snowmansnow]

That's just sediment from the substrate imo


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bkostuch]

:up: Thanks, I'll sleep a little better, even though i just found a small leak in my union just above my pump. I think i might have a pressure problem at my gate

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I agree with Brandon. That sand looks to be pretty fine. If it's as fine as it looks, it will get constantly stirred up and will be in your water column so the tank will look a little cloudy with lights on. As for the skimmer....just residual gunk.

 

[jdavid]

I just set up a tank and had a yellowish foam all in the sump and top of the tank- pretty sure it's just from using live sand.

 

[bkostuch]

Thanks, so with the sand that fine will I ever get a non cloudy look? Or should I add some dense sand?

 

[ringo®]

It will settle in a day or two.

 

[wildernets]

Yea, just give it some time. Sounds like everything is working well. I use fine sand with no problems. Well other than the movement around the tank. You will be somewhat limited with which direction you can point your power heads.

 

[bulkrate]

That fine-grained a sand will always be prone to clouding the water to some degree any time it gets stirred up. It'll also tend to form furrows and get blown away from the bottom/corners of the tank wherever there's enough flow to move it. That said, if the stuff looks the way you want it, go for it... nobody else's opinion on the matter really matters.

But you could grab a bag of poly-fil (the non-flame retardant kind), put a dense wad in whatever filter/overflow you're using and intentionally stir up the sand a few times over the next couple days to get the bulk of the fines. Change the padding out a couple times a day & repeat stirring as needed - between that and your skimmer getting the really, really small grains of sediment you should be golden.

I've also read stories of people just putting a wad in a fish net and sweeping that around the tank for a few minutes or positioning the net/pad in front of a powerhead to improvise a water polisher. Or if it gets really bad you could use something like Clarify (a flocculant - binds the fines together into larger clumps to aid settling/filtering). But I prefer to add as few chemicals as possible to a tank once it's running.

 

[russ-iv]

heterotrophic bacteria unless you stirred the substrate. there is carbon on the new plastic that needs to be covered. you can do the same thing dosing vodka sugar or introducing biopellets. usually it happens on day 2 of filling. goes away after 5 days or can linger past the cycle.

barebottoms will get that cloud.

if it bugs you throw carbon in there

 

[bkostuch]

Thanks, tank is clearing and skimmer is what i expected now, clear and barely building any head.

 

[russ-iv]

bkostuch;1034996 wrote: Thanks, tank is clearing and skimmer is what i expected now, clear and barely building any head.

yeah id say it was just the carbon eating bacteria when you chuck plastic or pvc in there. pretty common during "break ins"