WOW! Now I am in trouble!!

[FreshwaterQueen]

ooookay so my plans to plant my tank have taken a turn for the worst. I bought FLORA MAX today, and I put it in the tank and have the filter running. The bag says "Fast settling" And its been about 30 minutes I dont know what the average Settle time is for a tank. The Tank is a 35 TALL tank. I dont know how long I should expect this to be cloudy. I did not rinse it, the bag says you dont have to. now I feel like I should have. Has anybody used this?? can any one tell me how Long i should expect to see it like this? I have all my fish in a small tank right now and I need to know when it is safe to add them back. I saved about 20% of the 35 gallon tank to top off the new water. I dont want to add it and then have it ruined and Ive already added the start right and some water clearing chemical. any suggestions?? Here is my tank now:

 

[unseenone00]

turn the filter off, small particles can clog/ruin the motor of the filter

planted substrates do this normally

It may take 24-48hours to clear so if the small tank the fish are in doesnt have a filter, try taking this tanks filter off and put it with the fish to help keep them alive, adding in an airstone can help the fish keep slightly less stressed

 

[jennibee]

^^ Good advise!

 

[petluvr]

I don't suggest turning the filter off, it will help clear the water. Stop putting those chemicals in they aren't doing anything, really. If I am thinking of the right stuff it is pretty fine, it is going to take at least over night to clear up.

 

[constevens]

Ive dealt with this stuff before.. If im correct its the Caribsea Floramax Substrate. Its basically a combination of a sand and small grit. Its made from crushed lava rock with crushed, baked laterite intermixed. Its VERY VERY Dusty stuff and while the package says dont rinse you really want to rinse it very very well and its a pain to rinse. It is cheap for a planted substrate. It can be a bit of a pain to get plants to stay in it very easy, Specifically stems. Make sure you have tweezers and long ones at that. The stems won't stay in unless they are at least an inch deep. It does a decent job of helping grow plants with fertilization of root tabs and such. No better though then my pool filter sand does though.


Here is a couple major drawbacks that I saw. This substrate scratches glass VERY easily, so be careful while moving stuff around like hardscaping. Its VERY rough and something you wouldnt want to have cory catfish on as it will rub their barbels off their faces. Very light, hard to clean the substrate without taking some of the substrates with it. Also if you have to move plants or rescape its VERY messy as when you pull the plants out it clouds up and dusts the tank.

If its the stuff im thinking this is it.....

 

[FreshwaterQueen]

THat is exactly what i have; only midnight black. which is even darker lol. Upon manually filtering it (Taking out dark water, adding clean water then repeating) I found the small white pouch which had the "Free Bio Magnet Clarifier Inside" I thought it was just mixed with the gravel rocks. But it cleared the water FAST. It took under an hour after I added this to actually be able to see through the other side. The tank is now settling completely. It is almost done; after 5 hours of cleaning and filtering. I added the fish back, all are alive and well. And look great! I lost 2 fish during the planting. but its okay my puffers were hungry lol. I will post pictures soon! Thanks to everybody for the help!!