"Hammer" wrote in message oups.com...
Hi. I am attempting to start a Deep Sand Bed Salt Water Aquarium. As
recommened on more then one web site I obtained play sand from home
depot and put in my empty aquarium. Then I put in the power heads,
filled the tank with water, added salt, and turned the power heads on.
This has been about 2 week ago and I can not get the the sand to
settle. The tanks IS VERY CLOUDY..more like muddy. I have found if I
turn the powerheads off the tank starts to clear a bit but as soon as I
turm them back on the tank gets cloudy again. The power heads are not
pointing towards the sand. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong, or
how I can clear this up?

You need bacteria activity to glue sand particles into bigger chunks.
Time to add live biological material. Start cycling the tank with live rock.