The Puffer Forum

Being used to FW tanks and sand I don't have to rinse before using, I really didn't think before dumping a bag of Aragamax select into the tank that is to be my first SW tank. I filled up with water, and it all went absolutely milky white. OK, I should have rinsed this one before using. Several days and several water changes later, and the water is still milky white. Aaargh! I don't have a spare filter I can use to take up any particles from the water either. I have experienced some dusty water from sand I used in FW earlier on, but nothing like this.

Any advices to clear up this mess? Or do I just have to do daily water changes for a month before this tank becomes suitable for fish keeping?

do you have access to a diatom filter?

Or just keep stirring the tank prior to water changes?

Good ol aragonite sand and its abilty to make water into milk and now all you need is some Nestle chocolate milk powder... . Nah, I had some experience with this many yrs ago. A good friend of mine added about 135 lbs. of dry crushed coral in his 125 gal. and it looked like pure milk. It finally cleared up in about a week with afew water changes and 2 AQ 110 HOB filters. I also agree with J-P or could just let it settle. It will clear in due time though.

Chris,

If this is all that is in the tank, I would cut all water movement and let it settle w/o disturbance. This is slow but painless. As already stated above, Diatom filtration will clear it faster, but it actually costs you a little bit of easily soluble material. Just letting it settle, the finest suspended material will dissolve and the larger will settle out. And yes, if/when you add LR or inert decor, you will stir up some fines, but after a few weeks the tiny stuff tends to be gone anyway. If you can be patient (never easy, I admit), it is a self-curing problem.

For crushed coral in BW/SW, and for Flourite (plant substrate) in FW, the traditional stir in a bucket with water technique is counter-productive. Stirring such friable material generates almost as many fines as rinsing removes. If you haunt yard sales or better, estate sales, you might come across a soup strainer. I picked up a ~12" fine-mesh stainless strainer quite some years ago (an over $100.00 US item, I paid $1.00) that I use for such. Just dump some in the strainer and run water through it, then dump in a clean bucket, It is as clean and fine-clear a it is likely to get.

Lazy people do find ways to simplify their life, but they also need a lot of storage space.

HTH

RTR wrote:Lazy people do find ways to simplify their life, but they also need a lot of storage space.

Well, in FW I've found sand that doesn't need to be rinsed. That's the best way to be lazy.

Today I can see the bottom of the tank! There's hope!

In FW, that is great. But for alkalinity support, I haven't found anything that does does not need or could use at least some rinse - or a lot of patience.

And now it has cleared up completely! It went a lot faster that I expected. So now Bolla can move into her permanent home. The poor thing has lived on too small space for too long. I really look forward to see her in her new home, to see her face when she sees all the room she can move around in. Unless, of course, she chooses to sulk for a few weeks because of being moved.

Great! Congratulations to you and to Bolla.

Bolla has now moved into her new home, and she is being a true puffer: she is stressed out, and spending her time window surfing. Why not enjoy her new space? I had to laugh at her when I let her out in her new tank. Puffers are so expressive. She was sceptical, moving very slowly around, definitely nervously looking around, staying in the back of her tank. That sceptical look on her face and all over her body was priceless!

...but there's definitely nothing wrong with her appetite.

New surroundings always equals "threatening" in the wild. Puffers are just bright enough to show it to those who know them. Be glad that you cannot hear them cursing at you - I'd bet that they do. And they definitely pout.

RTR wrote:New surroundings always equals "threatening" in the wild.

Not for all kinds of fish. For cories it's a well known trigger to make them spawn. They understand the change as a sign of the rainy season, and in the rainy season it's spawning time.

Be glad that you cannot hear them cursing at you - I'd bet that they do.

I'm impressed by Bolla. She has already settled in! There's no more glass surfing. She has found her favourite spot behind the filter (like she had in her old tank. She still has a filter, as I haven't upgraded the tank to marine yet - it still is BW), and comes peeping out everytime I stop by the tank to watch her. She seems pretty curious. I guess she is hoping for food, but there's no food for her today. I think she is happy with having a bigger tank. And she will get even happier when I start adding some dead LR, for giving her a more complex environment. I love making fish happy!

I believe that new water, preferably a bit cooler than then pre-change condition, is the Cory cat spawning trigger more than new surroundings at the same temperature. My Cory conditioning for spawning was always in-tank - I never bothered to separate sexes for conditioning. All that was needed was a cooler water change.

Cold water is also a trigger for cories. New, fresh water, for some species, but not all. Some species prefer to spawn in "dirty" water, like C. concolor. Moving cories between tanks is a well known trigger among cory breeders. It's not only because of colder or fresh water when they are being moved, as you can make them believe they have been moved by redecorating the tank. It works! More triggers are lowering the PH, adding water that's been filtrated over peat (it's not only because it lowers PH, but also because of the other stuff you get through the peat), lots of fresh or frozen food, after a period with boring food, filling up the tank after keeping it with low water, adding water from a tank where they do spawn, into a tank where you want them to spawn, increasing circulation in the water, and, well, there's probably some more I've forgotten right now. Different species react differently to different trigges (like fresh or old water), but there are some that all react to: lowering PH, increased circulation, adding cold water and moving the cories (or redecorating the tank).

The probable reason why they react on new or different environment is that in the rainy season, things around them change quite a lot, like things being tossed around and new areas being under water.

Yes, I do breed cories.