Help, please! I have a tank full of mud!

[Timberwolf]

I finally set up my 37 gallon Eclipse to take the place of my 18 gallon Via Aqua VA-680 aquarium. The substrate is divided between flourite with live plants in back and silica sand in front, to provide an open viewing/swiming area for the gang. My problem is that the flourite has clouded the water to the point of almost being opaque. I have packed the cartridge side of the filter housing with filter floss under the filter cartridge (Marineland Rightsize H) with the polishing pads and 1/2 of the ceramic media from the older tank on top of the cartridge for additional mechanical filtration and to seed the biofilter. I also took about 5 pounds of gravel from the old tank and 10 gallons of water from it, to help establish the bio-filters.

I have had to tear down the 18 gallon tank, so everyone has already made the move to the new tank; not the way I'd like to have done it, but nobody is showing any sign of distress. Actually, everybody (except the Banjo Cat, who just vanished into the sand) seems to really like the additional swimming room. The happiest of the lot seems to be my hybrid syndontis, who has been patrolling non-stop since the move. Everyone is eating well, too.

Is there anything that I can do, short of tearing down the whole tank and pitching the @#%!!! flourite that will help me to clear up the water? I have seen additives that (supposedly) bind to particulates and improve the mechanical filter's ability to remove them, but at what cost to the filter? Do they work well enough to justify the cost and do they hurt the fish? The water was relatively clear tonite, before I changed out the 10 gallons to make room for the water from the old tank. Adding the new/old water really stirred things up. Obviously, I am doing something wrong. How do I add water without clogging everyone's gills, or is this just something that I am going to have to live with until I've done enough water changes to remove the fine particulate?

[MatsP]

I'm pretty sure any of these three things will make the tank clear up:
1. Letting the "dust settle". Even if there is a lot of cloudiness in the tank at the moment, the particles are heavier than water, so they will sink to the bottom.
2. Filtration with floss. The fine particles get caught in the fine-grain filter media.
3. Vacuuming the substrate.

I've occassionally found the tank is "dirty" because I haven't wasthed the substrate properly - especially with fine substrate, it can take a lot of rinsing to get rid of all the small particles.

--
Mats

[racoll]

I'm pretty sure any of these three things will make the tank clear up:
1. Letting the "dust settle". Even if there is a lot of cloudiness in the tank at the moment, the particles are heavier than water, so they will sink to the bottom.
2. Filtration with floss. The fine particles get caught in the fine-grain filter media.
3. Vacuuming the substrate.

You forgot water changes Mats. A twice daily change of 10-20% for a few days will help considerably.

I've occassionally found the tank is "dirty" because I haven't wasthed the substrate properly - especially with fine substrate, it can take a lot of rinsing to get rid of all the small particles.

Indeed. Really thorough washing of new substrate should prevent the worst of it.

[Timberwolf]

I've guessed already that I didn't rinse the substrate well enough. I never really had an issue with it before, because I always used the pre-packaged gravel that has some sort of epoxy coating on it. I chose the flourite this time, because everything I read about it said that it is the best substrate for live plants. The sand is almost talc-fine and I have found that vacuuming the sand simply suck it out of the tank, so I'm going to have to re-invent my tank maintenance methods. I am looking forward to any advice you all may have.

In the 2 hours since I began the transfers, I would guess that the water has cleared up by almost 50%, so the boosted filtration (including some floss) is working. I'm not sure how much the powerhead that drives the filter will let anything "settle," but things are noticably improving.

[MatsP]

Unless you are running a very large powerhead on a small tank, it won't keep particles in suspension forever. Yes, if you have a power-head that turns over the tank at 20x the tank-volume, it will keep the particles suspended for longer than a small power head, but there is no doubt some calmer places in the tank where the circulation isn't strong enough to keep the particles suspended. If you find that it piles up in a corner, then you can vacuum there...

--
Mats

[Timberwolf]

Thanks, Mats and Racoll.

The powerhead in the tank is the standard unit that comes with the Eclipse 3 hood, but with the fine particulate in suspension in the water, which you can see moving with the currents created by the powerhead, it looks realy impressive! the tank is clearing faster than I thought it could; 2 1/2 hours ago, I could hardly see the plants that were 3 inches back from the front of the tank. Now I can see (albeit somewhat murkily) everything in the tank.

My Better Half suggested that tha haze looked more natural than a perfectly clear water column. Maybe, but I take pride in my water clarity (at least I did) and this is really driving me nuts.

[MatsP]

My Better Half suggested that tha haze looked more natural than a perfectly clear water column.

Yes, it would resemble a white-water habitat - this often looks like "coffee with a little bit of milk added", with a visibility measured in a few inches.

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Don't panic, it'll settle down. But as you found out, specialized plant substrates are often made from fracted clay, so if you just plop it in there with no rinsing, it's cloud city. Flourite is notorious for this. You have really too choices when you first put it in. A lot of rinsing, or to add water without disturbing the substrate. It's the latter you can do now. You can do some rather large water changes to get rid of the current cloud, and when filling, refill slowly using a gravel vac from a python, or if using buckets, put a dish on the substrate and pour water aiming for the dish.

[L number Banana]

2wheelsx2 wrote:

Don't panic, it'll settle down. But as you found out, specialized plant substrates are often made from fracted clay, so if you just plop it in there with no rinsing, it's cloud city. Flourite is notorious for this. You have really too choices when you first put it in. A lot of rinsing, or to add water without disturbing the substrate. It's the latter you can do now. You can do some rather large water changes to get rid of the current cloud, and when filling, refill slowly using a gravel vac from a python, or if using buckets, put a dish on the substrate and pour water aiming for the dish.

Totally confused. I'm a flourite addict and It's Never clouded my water!! But my lovely white silica sand did. Big time even after I thought I had rinsed it to oblivion. Many people don't ever rinse their new flourite because they don't want to wash away the tiny particles - something to do with iron ?? Forget that part but it's on the web somewhere in a planted tank forum. Seachem is the brand I use, was yours different or are they they only ones that make it? Their website says it clears in 2-12 hrs.

New tank pics soon?

[Timberwolf]

I have one small one up, as I updated my tank info. I'll post some more as I can get decent ones. I am really happy with this new set up. it's about 80% clear, so I should have some good ones soon. Among this community, it's probably not anything special; not a biotope, or species tank, just a reasonably well-planted, very diverse community tank. My cats range from a quintet of otos (rescued from my wife, who was frustated with them harrassing her prized goldies and was ready to flush them) to a hybrid syno, who is almost 10 inches long. In between, I have pairs of rubberlips and pitbulls, 7 corys (6 albino aeneus and 1 delphax), a banjo and a farlowella. Above the substrate are rainbows, killies, tetras, danios, minnows, loaches, barbs, livebearers, and one red, white, and blue betta.

Like I said; very diverse.

Everybody is doing well and eating well, showing no signs of conflict or of stress.

Most of the murkiness that you see in this picture has, indeed, settled out. When I set it up, I took about 10 gallons of water and 5 pounds of gravel (along with the bogwood and all of the plants) out of the old tank to help seed the biofilters, so the water has a very faint greenish tint, which, rightly or wrongly, I tend to regard as a sign of health in a planted tank.

I don't remember what the flourite brand is and the bag is gone. I got it from the local PetSmart.

My Better Half and I are trying to relocate back to the Portland, Oregon area and I hope to be able to set up my 55 gallon tank once we have done that.

[MatsP]

Looks nice. I would replace/rinse the floss in the filter, so that it has a better capacity to trap small particles.

--
Mats

[Timberwolf]

Thanks, Mats and L-number

It looks much better now. I did have to remove the floss from the filter, because it was causing the filter to overflow down the back of the tank. The tank is clearing up pretty well, anyway.

[MatsP]

Thanks, Mats and L-number

It looks much better now. I did have to remove the floss from the filter, because it was causing the filter to overflow down the back of the tank. The tank is clearing up pretty well, anyway.

That probably means it was collecting particles in the filter. You should add it back in and clean it frequently.

--
Mats