Please Help, w/ cichlid tank

Sweety

I have a new 60 gallon Tank, filled with Cichlids. It has been set up for 6 weeks now. I purchased the fluval filter system because the reviews were great. I decided to put sand in several weeks ago. My water is still cloudy. I'm starting to think, that the sand was a bad idea! I've always had rock and I have never had any problems.This is my first time, having cichlids and dealing with sand. I need help! I know, it's a new tank and I probably need to be patient. Does anyone have any ideas. I can see sand particals floating in the water. You would think that the sand would have settled by now. What should I do??? I purchased my sand at my LFS.

Tazman

Welcome to the forum.

Did you cycle the tank?

Thoth

Sounds like the sand was not cleaned well enough before it was placed in the tank. I would do large water changes 50% or more till the sand particles are gone.

I had the same problem when I first used sand. I thought I had cleaned it well enough. I ended up doing ~3 80% water changed and it cleared up. Lucky for me it was only a 20g.

willow

hi
sorry i don't get it,whats the fluval system ?
because i'm thinking that if you have an external filter and the input
is to close to the bottom of the tank,it will draw up sand and the inlet will
chuck it out into the water system again.

Thoth

Posted via Mobile Device

It's an external filter. It will filter the partials out if they are large enough.

Sweety

Yes, the fluval is an external filter. It's a canister. I looked online and saw that I can purchase water clarity products. I will try this. I cycled my tank for two weeks, after I purchased it.

Thoth

I used the water clarity products when I had the sand issue. It causes the particles to stick together so that the filter will catch the small particles that would normally move through the filter. Make sure you clean the filter as it will easily clog. The best thing to use to clean the filter is de-clorinate water that is a similar temperature as the tank.