# Newly planted dirt tank cloudy



## NeMox69x (Aug 1, 2013)

You need to remove the bio wheel and keep the filter pad in the filter in there , I have a dirted tank myself . I love it works great for all plants and your gonna have to do a 50-65% water change just to aid your filter and to remove the particles . What did you cap the dirt with ??


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Have you tested your source water before you put it into the tank ? Did you already have this filter before on this or another tank,
because it would seem logical, if the bio-wheel is not recommended for these type tanks, to use a filter that allows YOU to decide 
which media to use such as an Aqua Clear. BTW which size tank is this ? As the picture lends little for size references I'd guess
it to be either a reg 20 or a 29. Playing/w this idea because most use two filters on tanks larger than 20 G tanks. An Aqua Clear
or another HOB with only poly fill would remove that. For that matter so would a cheap sponge filter or just placing a sponge
pre-filter over the intake of your present filter.
Just as a curiosity...if this tank is not cycled, then there are no fauna(fish/shrimp etc) so where might ammonia or nitrates come
from ? A certain amount of ammonia is expected from the "organic" in the soil. But this would help a cycle to work as some Beneficial
Bacteria will be introduced by the plants anyway. Other than what comes in/w the source water(one reason to check it) nitrates
should only come after a cycle has happened.
Though not present in most well capped dirt bottom tanks, cloudiness is rather a "goes-with-the-territory" type thing in dirt tanks
when starting them up. I have no experience but that which I have read on forums about dirt substrate tanks so check anything I
say/w others before using that info. Thought it might be fair to give that info to you also.
But the reason I mentioned "goes/w the territory" is that it will clear it's self up over time if you do nothing at all. The more plants,
the quicker this will be. But it will take weeks by it's self to clear up if you don't "help" it.
And it will also get cloudy when your bacteria get started but that part goes away faster just by it's self.
P.S.
I think that by using smaller sized topping material, other tanks don't get that cloudiness(as much). If the number of fish is small
as in a low stocking level of less than 50% which you can check/w the link provided, you will not get any large spikes but they still
will happen. Just change 50% water each time they get to 1. When you change water you drop the percent of pollutants by the same
percent each time so a 20% water change does little to help those fish.
http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor....AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&AqSearchMode=simple


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## MoodyMaMa (Dec 22, 2013)

It's a 20 gallon tank I have been running for two years with plastic plants. I just converted it to a dirtied tank with gravel capping, there are amazon swords, annubius, dwarf sag, java moss, and rotella, planted yesterday. 

I have 2 glo light tetras, 5 neon tetras, and 3 algae eaters (don't remember the exact type but they won't grow any more than 1.5-2 inches I was assured)

The water I used to refill the tank is the same as I took out of the tank before adding the dirt, so it shouldn't need to cycle. Right? (I did a 30%water change two weeks before making this switch and it did not need to be done again). Or will switching to dirt cause a second round of cycling?


So for the cloudiness, a 50% water change and a sponge filter on the intake tube, and patience. I can do that. Thanks

What about the ph should I adjust that the fish don't seem to mind. Though the book says neons prefer a lower ph. Maybe they would be more active...


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

When I change a number of things at one time, if something happens, I can't know what caused it.
Did you check the water before you put it into the tank for Ph and nitrates ? It might be good to do
this just before the next water change. I would be a lot more concerned/w the ammonia level as
Neon's are very sensitive to it. If that water source is what they have had till now, they are used to the Ph.
With Neon's I wouldn't let the ammonia get over .5
Some of the cloudiness could be a "mini" cycle/bacteria bloom. If so that will fix it's self.
It may or may not interest you but a friend who had a 29g tank had cloudy water and cleared it up by tying 
floating Hortworth around the filter pick up. The water then had to go through it.
It grew up towards the surface and he just trimmed it at the surface. He said he just put that in there to
hide the filter but it cleared the water also. Took a while. His was more particles though.


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