Got my tank.. questions

[Alerin]

So I finally went and got a 10gal setup. I was thinking about the eclipse 12, but decided on putting together my own 10 gal setup. I got the aquaclear mini, 10 gal tank, flourescent hood, plant gravel (whatever you call it), 50 watt heater, some testing supplies and a sunken log decoration. On the bag of my gravel it said to rinse well before use. So I rinsed it for about 15 minutes before I put it in. When I filled the tank with water it was REALLY cloudy (white color), and now, 16 hours later the tank is mostly clear, but it has a really noticeable white haze to it still. Is this normal?

 

[OnyxFishies]

... On the bag of my gravel it said to rinse well before use. So I rinsed it for about 15 minutes before I put it in. When I filled the tank with water it was REALLY cloudy (white color), and now, 16 hours later the tank is mostly clear, but it has a really noticeable white haze to it still. Is this normal?

In short; yes it's normal.

Do you know the type and brand of the gravel you bought, and how much you put in? (lbs) The remaining dust/cloudiness should settle out in a day or so. You said most of it is gone, and that is good. Basically, you can rinse all day long and still get some cloudiness.

Is this your first fish tank? If so, welcome to the hobby! Read the "cycle" sticky at the top of the forum, there is tons of good information in there. I recommend doing a "fishless" cycle.

What fish are you planning on getting? You mentioned you bought some "plant type" gravel, do you intend to get some live plants? Which ones are you thinking of? If you want live plants, you can put them in pretty much right away even if you do a fishless cycle. (Silk/plastic plants are fine too, they are much easier to care for! )

 

[Alerin]

This is the gravel i got: SeaChem Flourite

My tank is cloudy again because I moved the gravel around a bit and a bunch more dust came out. Do you clean plant gravel as much as you clean normal gravel? Because if that's the case, everytime I touch the gravel it's going to cloud my entire tank. I think I should use the tank cleaning hose thing to suck a few tank fulls of dust out of the gravel?

I have read the cycle posts, but was unsure about plants being in there for the cycle. I'll have to go grab some tomorrow to make it look a little better!

Thanks for the info.

 

[Alerin]

bump..

 

[phanmc]

For a planted tank, you don't need to gravel vac very often if at all (depending on how heavily the tank is planted). The mulm from the fish waste is a good source of nutrients for plants. Just lightly go over the surface to suck up the extra waste when it looks messy.

Plants can be added to the tank right away, they don't need to go through the cycling process. They will mess up your readings for the cycling process though, because the plants will suck up the ammonia and nitrate so you may not see the ammonia level spike at all. Check for nitrites though, as plants don't consume it.

 

[Alerin]

Thank you that's exactly what I needed to know!