cant...get.....clean >.<

Onna Shinigami

Onna Shinigami

AC Members
Oct 3, 2002
222
0
16
Tennessee
I decieded to get myself a new tank as a b-day present. It's a bowfront almost 50 gal for tank and stand for $100. Well I decied to add some crushed coral to it and 3 days later its still so cloudy that you can hardly see to the back of the tank. Anyone have any hints on how getting the gravel clean so you can see through it?

Onna
 
There is a difference in the need for crushed coral in a FW tank, vice a SW tank.

What fish do you plan on having in your FW tank? And what are your GH/KH readings on your tap water? You may not need the coral in the first place. Lots of water changes, proper rinsing to begin with and a diatom are all ways to minimize the cloudiness.
 
I'm actually planning on moving my Africans into the tank once it's set up. I'm not sure what the gh/kh is for the tap water but I've noticed if let to set for too long the ph drops down to 6.5 or 6.0 out of the sink it sits about 7.6 to 7.8. Most of the people that have africans around here suggest using the crushed coral.

Onna
 
Please get a GH/KH test kit so you can better judge the buffering capability in your tap water. I use coral in most all my cichlid tanks.
 
Are you filtering yet? Did You rinse it well? I have had crushed coral in my African tank for about two years and have never had a problem.......when I first got it, it was a b@*!# to rinse. Then when I put it in the tank, I found it still made my water cloudy. I actually have about a 60/40 mix of sand and crushed coral. I also overfilter. I manually mix it all up about once a month at which point the water gets really cloudy but within a few hours, all is good. In my opinion, either you didn't rinse it well enough or you aren't filtering enough.......
 
I thought I had rinsed this stuff pretty well, even went to the extent of putting a pound or 2 or 3 in a bucket and rinsing til it ran clean all 20 lbs or it. Put it back in the tank then siphoned any other gunk that might be sitting on the bottom, that seemed to help. I've got an undergravel filter in to see if this will help, before I put that in I've been able to see to the back of the tank, kinda shocking to see the wall now. Also thinking of adding some plain back and white gravel in with the crushed coral or should I just stick with the coral til it cleans up?

Onna
 
Did you just set this tank up? If so, then maybe the cloudiness is a result of your tank cycling itself........if the tank is established, then just give it a little time and see what happens.......you can add whatever rocks you like to it.......I personally don't like the "all white" look of crushed coral and I like to try to achieve a natural look so I've also added brown gravel to the mix to darken it a little...... by the way, what filter are you running?
 
I just set the tank up, actually an early b-day present for myself that I got for $100 for tank and stand. No filter running just yet, I've got an air pump running from one side of the tank to help try to pull the stuff under. The gravel I got is more of an off white/grey color with some redish brown pieces. What about adding an african sand mix, it comes pre-packaged wet has the supposed has the good bacteria needed for a shorter cycle.

Onna
 
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