Aquarium water is cloudy and red after adding Quartz sand to my tank

[Urchin boy]

so for a few days now my aquarium water is cloudy and bright red/reddish brown which I am certain is because of the quartz sand I added recently.

Is this something I should be worried about or will this go away on it's own like with normal sand? also I added 40 kgs of sand at once so it makes sense why it would take a while to clear up.

 

[gbroadbridge]

so for a few days now my aquarium water is cloudy and bright red/reddish brown which I am certain is because of the quartz sand I added recently.

Is this something I should be worried about or will this go away on it's own like with normal sand? also I added 40 kgs of sand at once so it makes sense why it would take a while to clear up.

Is there anything else in the tank?

I'd normally wash any new sand very well until the water runs clear before putting it into an existing tank.

 

[Urchin boy]

Is there anything else in the tank?

I'd normally wash any new sand very well until the water runs clear before putting it into an existing tank.

It's currently empty

 

[Reefing102]

It should clear up, but I agree it looks like it was not rinsed well before being added. With that said, and I may be wrong, but quartz sand is silica based and not calcium based, which may lead to significant algae issues in the future.

 

[Garf]

Looks like red builders sand. eek

 

[Urchin boy]

Looks like red builders sand. eek

It's sandbox sand

 

[Waters]

It's sandbox sand

Yeah, unfortunately I would pull that out and start over due the silicates alone.

 

[GlassMunky]

It's sandbox sand

Yea that’s not something that should be used.
you want aragonite sand which is calcium based.

I’d rip out all of that sand and start over with a new bag.

Something like Caribsea like this is what you want.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-arag-alive-natural-reef-aquarium-gravel

 

[Urchin boy]

Yea that’s not something that should be used.
you want aragonite sand which is calcium based.

I’d rip out all of that sand and start over with a new bag.

Something like Caribsea like this is what you want.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-arag-alive-natural-reef-aquarium-gravel

I currently have a mix of different types including live sand and also aragonite as for removing the quartz sand I could do so but it would truly be a pain in the neck to do

 

[GlassMunky]

I currently have a mix of different types including live sand and also aragonite as for removing the quartz sand I could do so but it would truly be a pain in the neck to do

It will be a future pain in the neck with all the algae issues you will have using a silica based sand as silica fuels them.
So pick your poison, time spent now fixing it, or time spent later trying to fix it and maybe having to rip it out anyway.


Good luck.

 

[Urchin boy]

It will be a future pain in the neck with all the algae issues you will have using a silica based sand as silica fuels them.
So pick your poison, time spent now fixing it, or time spent later trying to fix it and maybe having to rip it out anyway.


Good luck.

I will have to see if I get any issues with algae which is certainly possible but I am willing to possibly accept some algae growth as I am not going to keep any corals only the rocks and sand possibly with macro algae or seagrass as I am going to be keeping mainly invertebrates specifically sand dwelling species like snails worms and copepods and only one fish species which is the yellowhead Jawfish.

My aim is to replicate a sea floor biotope which is why I am going this route

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m not particularly against silica sand, especially if it is smooth natural sand and not crushed rocks. The crushed rock type may be more problematic. The small amount of released silicate is not usually a big issue. I dosed quite a lot of silicate.

Anyway, using some mechanical filtration to remove the cloudiness will greatly speed the natural settling.

 

[Urchin boy]

I’m not particularly against silica sand, especially if it is smooth natural sand and not crushed rocks. The crushed rock type may be more problematic.

Anyway, using some mechanical filtration to remove the cloudiness will greatly speed the natural settling.

I have a roll filter working in my sump and it should help clear it up and when I get my protein skimmer up and running it should be even faster and yes this is indeed not the crushed rock type I only added it about 1-2 days ago so it's probably going to take about a week until it's done

 

[Garf]

I have a roll filter working in my sump and it should help clear it up and when I get my protein skimmer up and running it should be even faster and yes this is indeed not the crushed rock type I only added it about 1-2 days ago so it's probably going to take about a week until it's done

For what it's worth I had a mainly softy tank with silica playsand for 10 years without an issue.

 

[Urchin boy]

For what it's worth I had a mainly softy tank with silica playsand for 10 years without an issue.

I might keep sponges which do use silicates to grow

 

[Dom]

I'm curious; did you rinse the sand before you added it to the tank?

 

[Tamberav]

GHA is a nightmare with macro algae. It will grow right on it and smother them. And most things that will eat GHA would also eat the macro.

Just putting that out there If you see any excessive GHA.

 

[Urchin boy]

I'm curious; did you rinse the sand before you added it to the tank?

Nope because I have nothing in my tank and I prefer letting it clear up on it's own

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I will have to see if I get any issues with algae which is certainly possible but I am willing to possibly accept some algae growth as I am not going to keep any corals only the rocks and sand possibly with macro algae or seagrass as I am going to be keeping mainly invertebrates specifically sand dwelling species like snails worms and copepods and only one fish species which is the yellowhead Jawfish.

My aim is to replicate a sea floor biotope which is why I am going this route

Quartz sand will have no particular impact on any sort of green algae. Only diatoms, which are not usually a problem.

 

[Dom]

Nope because I have nothing in my tank and I prefer letting it clear up on it's own

In the end, I think you will conclude that rinsing the sand before putting it in the tank is the better way to go.