what should I do?

I filled up my 120 gallon few days ago bought dry sand and put it in. the water is soooo cloudy can't even see in and it's been 2 days. should i leave it be?
The only thing that is connected is the return pump so if i turn it on would it just run the dirty water around and around.
i have no rock's yet, no salt in the water, skimmer not connected to the system and no fuge yet either.

What would help me clear it up?

 

Did you rinse the sand first? If not it might take awhile for water to clear. I would say don't run the pump, it will just keep it cloudy.

 

If you didn't rinse at all it could take awhile to clear. I rinsed my sand and the tank was cloudy for close to three days.

 

you are having a bacteria bloom.
Why do you not have salt in the system nor running the pump? Part of the cycle is cycling the filter? The skimmer and the fuge is fine not to have connected but you need to have the pump running.

You need to connect the pump and put some live rocks in the tank. You might even want to get a handful of sand from a display tank and place it in your tank help with the cycle (I would recommend that)

I am also concerned that you do not have any salt in the water? You killed everything that was in the sand....and that intensified the bloom. Before you put anything else in the tank you need to add salt to the system. You should NEVER add salt inside the tank but I think in this case you will have to, (as the sand is dead, and there is nothing live in the tank you can do that) However remember when you add it you will have to keep testing a lot and will have to add salt over period of time. You MUST have the pump running and I would even put more pumps in there to mix the salt. Salt is not going to all the way dissolve....so it can fall to the bottom and just sit there and dissolve over the next couple days. When you add salt make sure you do it slow and right in front of a powerful powerhead or something.

 

I would run the return pump and stuff some filter floss in the sump to catch the bits.

I also would have added salt first as it will be difficult to add salt now and make sure it mixes without stirring up your sand. I guess you could add the salt to your sump

 

Well I missed the no salt part. But he added dry sand so there was nothing to kill off. As for the salt at this point you might just want to drain the tank, then make up salt water and add in. Draining the tank will help get rid of a lot of the crud from the sand. Plus its easier to mix salt first not in the tank. Just a thought.

 

Sorry to see your troubles. Although I am working on a 150 that should be set up in the next 5-6 months and I have been wondering how I will accomplish the initial fill up and salting the water. My RODI only makes 75GPD so it will def. take a while!

 

Buy a couple Brute trash cans to make enough water for your tank, over a couple days. 50 gallon Brute trash cans work well, as you know how much water you have and will be able to just add the 50g bag of salt into each can.Once you add the salt, add a powerhead into each can and let it sit overnight with the powerheads running for 24 hours or so. Test you salinity of the water. Depending on the location of the RO unit you can hook a hose to the pump and then use the pump to pump the water to the tank.

 

I never rinse my sand if it is to be a functioning deep sand bed, its the fines that make a sandbed what it is. Once the salt level is where it needs to be add a few cups of real live sand from a friends system or a trusted LFS, the one by me keeps sand in their live rock bins for seeding a sandbed. Once the bacteria takes off the sand will settle like a rock.
You can also add some live rock as it will also have some colonizing bacteria to give it a jump start.
The milkshake or sandstorm is only a temporary annoyance but will be worth the wait in the long run.

 

Yeah, my RODI unit is under the sink but the hose runs under the floor to where my tank is. The sale I use is a bucket good for 159 gallons but I know how much it needs to make the salinity correct so thats no big deal. It will just be a little cumbersome for the initial fill up.