A club for owners of Parrot Cichlids

Hello,

I had 2 Blood Parrots in a 29 gallon tank together&as they grew, they became too big for it. Both parrots are about 2 years old now, and I bought a 54 gallon Bow Corner Aquarium to upgrade them into. The problem is that I made the decision to use sand as a substrate (they were in gravel before) after I had been doing so much reading on how sand is supposedly better for them given their tendency to nest. The new tank has been set up and filtrating the sand for about 3 weeks now...almost 4....and I can not get the water to clear consistently. I know that initial dust and debris from the sand is common, but no matter how many water changes are done, how often I change the filter cartridges, or how little the fish move around....the cloudiness continues. All ph levels, etc, have been monitored and are where they need to be. I guess my question is this: has anyone on here had the same experience with sand? No water clarifier is solving the issue because the dust of the sand is too great and continues to cloud the water when dug in by the fish.

How do I get this sand free of dust?

How do I get the water clear?

Anybody out there with experience with this??

Should I just go back to gravel?

Thanks so much,

Christina