New Soil Substrate & Cloudy Water

Hello fish fam!

I just changed my substrate to soil and capped it with an inch of gravel yesterday. The first time I filled the tank it was completely black so I did a 100% water change. I filled the tank back up and now it’s a cloudy. So I left the tank overnight and woke up without much change. (Picture below)

This is an already cycled tank and not a new tank. Will this just go away with time or is there microorganisms in the water that’s causing this cloudiness?

Before soil my water was crystal clear so slightly discouraged with this choice... How do I fix this?

Thanks,
Ben

 

Be patient. It will clear up in a week or two. At least, that has been my experience. You could do another water change if you want. Yes, there will be some bacteria from the soil, but I haven't had any problems myself. It seems to balance out between the plants and beneficial bacteria in my tanks.

 

Be patient. It will clear up in a week or two. At least, that has been my experience. You could do another water change if you want. Yes, there will be some bacteria from the soil, but I haven't had any problems myself. It seems to balance out between the plants and beneficial bacteria in my tanks.

Thank you! Will frequent water changes be bad for the fish?

 

Thank you! Will frequent water changes be bad for the fish?

Some fish handle water changes better than others. I've had tanks of the same species that reacted differently. If you do frequent small water changes of 10%, that shouldn't bother them as you're not vacuuming a lot, but that won't help you much in this particular situation. To really reduce the cloudiness, you're looking at 50+%. You wouldn't be vacuuming (that would just make more dirt clouds), so that should be ok for the fish unless they tend toward melodrams The main issue in that case would be to put the new water in very gently so as not to stir things up all over again.

 

Some fish handle water changes better than others. I've had tanks of the same species that reacted differently. If you do frequent small water changes of 10%, that shouldn't bother them as you're not vacuuming a lot, but that won't help you much in this particular situation. To really reduce the cloudiness, you're looking at 50+%. You wouldn't be vacuuming (that would just make more dirt clouds), so that should be ok for the fish unless they tend toward melodrams The main issue in that case would be to put the new water in very gently so as not to stir things up all over again.

thank you for the tips! I really appreciate it.

 

quick update. all the cloudiness is gone but now I have this yellowish tinge to the water. i'm thinking it's because of the tanines released from the dirt. I didn't wash or sift the wood chips before putting it into the tank. is there a way I can go about this or will I have to take out all my dirt, wash/ sift, and put it back in?

I also capped it with gravel and not sand so there may be pockets that are letting the dirt out.