Clay mishap >:/ a filter questions.

Okay long story short there was a mishap with red clay and my tank looks like a mud puddle, I already did a huge water change and it doesn't look much better.

1)Do I wait it out and let my filter do it? Do I add a filter? Any suggestions?

2)Also what makes a filter a "good" filter, what do I look for?

3) is carbon filter media necessary?

Thank you I'm advance! You guys help make this hobby easier!!

 

Substrate? I think letting the filter (s) do their job, then thoroughly clean them. Fine filter media should help a great deal as clay can have a bunch of tiny silty particles

 

So almost 24 hours later... no real noticeable change.... any suggestions?
More patience?

About an hour ago I added a second filter with a 250 gal per hour flow rate so hopefully that helps...

 

Are you using filter Floss or similar? The cloudy bit is a bunch of fine particles. Maybe a water change but don't disturb anything filling it back up

 

No I was just using two standard HOBs:/ welp here's to 100 more buckets of water:/ lol

 

Clay mishap >:/ a filter questions.

When you pour the new water in, hold the bucket with one arm resting the lip on the edge and place our other hand at the water level and pour the water over your hand and let it spread out. I do this in my sand tank and never disturb any at all.

 

Realizing now that the color probably has a lot less to do with clay and a lot more to do with tannins I forgot I also added two new pieces of mopani

 

I don't think they'd really produce that much color. Activated Carbon does help with Tannins.

Can we get a pic?

 

I didn't soak them as long as I should have, I should have remembered from my first piece it turned my water DARK red. I'm in the middle of setting up a new tank/aquascaping this one, (I bought a new hood and the filter cut out is on the opposite side
(-_-) any way I'll post a picture after that thank you for your replies!!

 

How long did you soak it?

 

The original piece only 24 hours the other two about 4 days. The rescape turned up more clay; I rinsed the filter in tank water. Hopefully it improves :/

Question: if I had fish when I did the dumb thing with the clay, would they most likely be dead?

 

I can't answer that. I know iron is quite difficult to overdose, though not impossible by any means. I wouldn't know about that particles though with fish

 

Clay mishap >:/ a filter questions.

Realizing now that the color probably has a lot less to do with clay and a lot more to do with tannins I forgot I also added two new pieces of mopani

I totally read that as the substrate was being disturbed!

Well ... after reading more ... are you using red clay as a substrate or have red clay pots?

 

I totally read that as the substrate was being disturbed!

Well ... after reading more ... are you using red clay as a substrate or have red clay pots?

It was, and I'm using it for my plants under my substrate only I did it wrong I didn't dry the clay first (whoops) so it made a mess lesson learned! Went much better in my ten gallon which is perfectly clear lol

I had to rescape my 30 though which stirred it all up again so now I can see the tiny little particles moving around and being sucked toward my filter.

 

It was, and I'm using it for my plants under my substrate only I did it wrong I didn't dry the clay first (whoops) so it made a mess lesson learned! Went much better in my ten gallon which is perfectly clear lol

I had to rescape my 30 though which stirred it all up again so now I can see the tiny little particles moving around and being sacked toward my filter.

Maybe turn off the filter and let it sit for a couple days and let everything settle ... then anything still stirred can go through the filter, just clean it regularly.

 

Wouldn't that basically restart my cycling process?

 

I'd just start with frequent water changes and activated carbon. Keep your filter cleaned, especially around the impeller. Your issue should start getting better.

 

I'd just start with frequent water changes and activated carbon. Keep your filter cleaned, especially around the impeller. Your issue should start getting better.

Will do thank you for the reply I'm just annoyed that I'm cycled and can't add fish because of it but oh well lol

 

Be sure to keep your cycle going then

 

You can't tell in the picture but I can finally see through to the back of the tank! This is a SLOW process.... :/ I need to rig up a water polisher for mistakes like this:/

 

Maybe a little canister filled with lots of fine media and activated carbon? Patience is a key in this hobby. Just keep doing what you're doing now and it'll get better. Keep us updated on how it's coming

 

Okay! Making some slow progress but it's better than no progress. It looks a lot better in person and my water was already reddish from my mopanI and then I added a plant light which is pinkish so that's why it looks so red now. But for the most part it looks as if the clay has finally settled/been filtered out.
Tomorrow I'm going to trim dead leaves and do a good water change and rinse some of the clay out of the filter in the tank water.

 

Let us know how that goes. Just trying to help

 

MY WATERS FINALLY CLEAR View attachment 1470548737007.jpg Now I just need to clean the glass and rescape now that I can actually see what I'm doing unfortunately I have to hold off on a sand vac till I'm fully cycled.

Anyhow thank you for your replies
*side note eventually I'll invest in a fixture that allows two bulbs/tubes so it doesn't come across quite so red

 

Congrats! Be sure you clean your filter, just in case.

A 6500k and a 10000k bulb together generally make a great combo for looks, but you'll have to experiment

 

Congrats! Be sure you clean your filter, just in case.

A 6500k and a 10000k bulb together generally make a great combo for looks, but you'll have to experiment

Awesome!! Thanks for the tip!! Right now it's just the aqueon "Floramax" tube, I had a tank years ago where I had 1 of these bulbs and one of their "Colormax" bulbs and the color came our great.
That was a much smaller tank so this may be different!