Onyx Added - Water is Cloudy

[soccerstud652]

I just went to my local pet store because I am going to plant some live plants in my small (6 gallon) tank. The dealer told me to buy Onyx Sand and I did. I do not have anything else in the tank but the water and the Onyx sand and I turned off the filter and airstone. I put it in my tank about 12 hours ago and it is still cloudy. Any suggestions on how to clear this cloudiness out of my tank? I have about an inch and a half worth of Onyx in the tank right now. Thanks for your help!

 

[JRagg]

Did you wash the sand at all? If not the cloud (dirt) won't go away any time soon. I just went through this with my new aquarium.

What I did to get it cleared up (it's crystal clear now) was to siphon out as much water as I could, carry my tank (only had a 10 gallon) outside and set it on a towel in my driveway (so as not to crack the glass with any rogue rocks. Then I put a garden hose in the tank and just let it flow. I tried to stir up the sand and keep "good sand" from flowing out of the top by not blasting it too hard, but eventually you'll dilute the the dirt enough to where it wont cloud the tank. It took a little while for me, but the sand I bought was absolutely filthy.

Note: Don't try to do this in a bathtub... I made that mistake and now I've got a lot of sand in there.

I'm not sure if anyone else has other suggestions, but that worked for me.

 

[soccerstud652]

Actually, I washed it pretty well, for about 45 minutes before I put it in. I was thinking about doing a water change too if it does not clear up by tomorrow morning. Any other suggestions?

 

[rich311k]

A water change will help. It is normal, it could take a day or two to settle out, just be patient.

 

[JRagg]

Maybe I should have been more patient with mine.

I also did some "creative filtering" to polish what was in there. I cut out a square from an old (clean) t-shirt and put it over the regular filter. It was covered with grey dirt after a few hours (and i just pitched the square), but it cleared up the water pretty quickly.

 

[soccerstud652]

Would adding some water clarifier hurt the situation?

 

[lmw80]

Is there any difference this morning? I have onyx sand and I washed it well also. It was cloudy that night but had cleared up in the morning.

 

[malkore]

Would adding some water clarifier hurt the situation?

I never advise the use of clarifiers. Some cheap ones can harm fish gills, and they can easily clog up your filter media prematurely.

Do a water change but don't touch the sand's surface, and then just sit it out. If its anything like Flourite, it could take a full 24 hours to settle back down.

 

[soccerstud652]

It has cleared up pretty well. What I actually did after a water change was remove most of the Onyx from the front of the tank, I just kept it where I planted the plants, and about 2 inches around the plants, and put normal gravel around the rest of the tank. Is this an ok procedure to do?

Also, on a side note, do plants in a tank create enough oxygen to replace an air pump?