Was IMPATIENT and now I need advice!

[ChrisKhan]

So I wanted to start a small 5 gallon planted tank for a betta and maybe a few pygmy corys and was inspired to aquascape it like all the pros and cool photos on the internet so i proceeded to buy a whole bunch of stuff. Hardscape wood, ADA soil, driftwood, variety of plants, etc. I got the tank and soil first so I dumped the soil in and leveled it how i wanted the tank to look in the end. I didnt recieve much else besides the very small driftwood pieces so i thought, hey might as well water log them. I put them in the tank and poured about a gallon of water into the tank. Big mistake. The soil leveling was ruined and the water was so terrible. So i kept pouring treated water thinking it will eventually settle down. I waited a day and night and lo and behold, nothing changed. So i plugged in the filter thinking THAT would help. nope. AGAIN NOTHING CHANGED.

So by now I received marimo moss balls (which are each like 90% brown, can I revive these? or should I toss them? This is a whole other issue, but i digress here) and my LED light for the tank. Remember this is a small tank so the light is relatively powerful for 5 gal. I set up the light and throw some seachem flourish in the tank to help the moss balls. About 4 or 5 days go by and i take a good look at the driftwood. They are absolutely COVERED in this fine white hair algae! The water is still very murky but not as bad as before. I still had the filter running so that might have contributed to the mess. Anyway i took the driftwood out and scrubbed it clean and dumped 95% of the water in the tank. I thought the algae was some kind of fungus or something extremely harmful so i panicked (AND DIDNT DO MY RESEARCH). Then I thought i should put regular tap water in the tank to help disinfect the soil and whatever stuff was in there. I figured the chlorine in the tap was enough to deal with it. SO.

What should I do from here out? Im kicking myself for not waiting for everything to arrive and set up the tank the way pros do in their tutorials and also basically draining the soil of its nutrients Im still waiting for live plants and other hardscape materials to arrive by 1/2/19.

Any suggestions?

 

[King Fisher]

Throw everything out, scrub the tank good with dish soap and rinse well. Buy sand or gravel for substrate and use liquid fertilizer or root tab fertilizer......that's what I would do. Lol.

 

[Autumnsky]

Which "soil " is it exactly?

Amazonia or Amazonia Light or ?

Frequently when the soil lets off additional ammonia it takes the tank a bit to accommodate the increase and you get the water looking bad.

DW grows fuzzy stuff sometimes.

This part depends of what the soil is. If it is literally soil, that is usually capped with a top layer of sand.

Drain the soil in a mesh sieve/strainer like with screen over a bucket. Start over like you want when the rest of your items come.

 

[UntimelyLord]

With my batch of ADA soil (edit: ADA Amazonia, the little spheres), after some of it had broken down I was able to rinse it in batches in a bowl (edit: gently, because if you crush it into loose soil you will need a cap of sand or gravel) by letting the loose dirt get kicked up in the running water and pouring it off, eventually leaving clean-ish ADA spheres in the bowl. It’s tedious but ADA is expensive, ha ha. When you fill the tank (once plants are here), pour the water slowly into a plate or bowl so the substrate doesn’t get disturbed. ADA soil has a ton of nutrients and ammonia when you first get it, so it is a recipe for algae with a lot of light and no plants to use nutrients. Marimo moss balls need very little nutrients and light. If they are brown, though, I’d try to get an refund on them.

 

[King Fisher]

I second Autumnsky. It should be capped. But I also think that soil isn't necessary.

 

[Autumnsky]

If it is Amazonia or Amazonia Light, then capping in not needed, or wanted in my thought. They come out with so many kinds of soil aka substrates it is hard to keep up.

Dirt soil would be capped.

 

[ChrisKhan]

Thank you all of you for your quick responses! I didn't think I'd get this much advice!

Yes, the substrate is ADA Amazonia (little sphere balls). This stuff is hella expensive. If i knew I could've uses regular dirt I would have just done that and capped it with some gravel or sand T-T

I contacted the marimo moss ball sellers but no reply as of yet (more T-T).

I received my driftwood, java moss and some monte carlo so I'm going to try and restart the tank tomorrow morning (its 10:58 EST now).

Is there a best way to stick the java moss to the driftwood? I saw that some people use just a dab of super glue or tie with specific string (or just cotton?). I have fine black cotton thread, would that work?

Also I should let the tank stabilize for about 3-4 weeks before adding and fish/shrimp right? And just keep checking amonia, nitrite and nitrates?

Any other suggestions or things that I'm missing? I think the tank will be set up like this

5 gallon tank
small casscade 20 HOB filter
preset heater
13 Watt LED Light
ADA Amazonia sub
3 pieces of driftwood
1 8"spiderwood

1 culture of monte carlo
3 small baggies of java moss
1 amazon sword
1 small anubias nana petite (12 leaves which is a total ripoff IMO bc i paid 8 bucks for that and its rather tiny)


How often should I change water?
Should I even change water or let it sit?
What about liquid ferts? I have flourish and excel but I recently read that excel is basically poison. Is this true?

Thank you all again for being so patient with me! My lfs is petland and they are unhelpful and make me want to cry.

 

[stooker]

That Amazon sword is going to get too big. I recommend java fern instead for a 5g. Unless you're really going for a massive centerpiece plant...

 

[Ironworker161]

If you have any cycled media that you can take from another tank...that would help knock down the ammonia much quicker. Other than that, just try to be patient and let things work themselves out. The water will clear on its own, make sure your filtration isn’t causing the soil to be continually churned up.
Hope this is helpful and good luck.

 

[Autumnsky]

Black cotton thread is fine. If using super glue, it turns white in water so a tiny dab will do and you can take some dust from the substrate and sprinkle it to the glue dab after attaching moss to adhere to any left over glue and mask the white.

Anubias nana petite is not a super commonly available plant at lfs plant and grows kind of slowly, so not the worst buy ever. and you now have it to get going, so think of it as an investment in your tanks future. Afterall you bought Amazonia, you are willing to make an investment there.

The thing with barbershop glutaraldehyde is a contentious sparing of thoughts...
https://www.sunkengardens.net/blog/...-liquid-co2-and-the-dangers-of-glutaraldehyde

I have a brand new never used generic Glut gallon under my aquarium right now... for over a year.

When you buy Excel you have some degree of security knowing it is created specifically for an aquarium.

Then there are the plants which will melt away if using it... Also what about fish and shrimps?

 

[ChrisKhan]

Stooker - good call, I moved it over to my 10 gallon, it looks good there but everything in that tank is a holding tank so its a total functioning mess.

Ironworker161 - Is the cloudiness in the water caused by the soil leeching amonia into the water column or by the fine dust and debris in the substrate? Ppl recommend big water changes everyday but I dont really have the time (or energy honestly) to keep doing them. Also when everything was left sitting in the water it was covered in a slimy brown film. Is this from algae or the substrate?

Autumnsky - I learned that lesson the hard way, now I have white spots all over my driftwood pieces with java moss T-T looks kinda ugly so might have to do something about that later. Im holding off on the excel for now. Maybe once I have a demanding plant load in the tank I can dose a teeny tiny bit regularly.