Hey mike a quick fish question please...

I know this is the fish board and sorry if this pisses anyone off.. but I just bought an aquarium today and I added the water but of course after I notcied that it said that it was pre washed gravel however it should be rinsed... is this abig problem?? It is really cloudy right now and I am affriad that it wont clear.. any advice would be appriciated and I wont be asking any more fish questions just this one hehe...
thanks again!

 

I would remove the water rinse the gravel and try again just to make sure that the gravel does not contain anything that could be harmful to your fish.

When my cleans her aquariams they water is a little cloudy at first when she puts the water back in but she has a water filter and air pump in her tanks as she has tropical fish she also has a goldfish tank which houses cold water fish.

Tropical fish are fresh water fish so there water needs to be clear and pure.

Sorry if i could not be of more helo..

Mike

 

Are there any fish in the tank now?

Was is cultured gravel from the pet store tanks or just a commercial gravel straight from the bag?

If it was commercial you'll need to wash it. I always find there's dye left over and when I wash it the water that I use usually changed to the color of the gravel. If it was cultured you may not want to wash it as the chlorine might kill the beneficial bacterial already in it.

If there are no fish in it now make sure you get your tank cycled before you put any fish in. There's lots of info on the fish board about cycling your tank.

Also what size tank and what are you planning to put in?

 

Thanks for your reply, well I took everything out and stared over... I did sections of hte gravel at a time in a bucket and just stiring it with a hose about 15 times a peice... it looked clear by the end but never perfect is this normal? I am about to go and buy a hose to fill it up slowly as possilbe/./ yeah i have a filter etc but I am going into this blind so I have a lot of reading to do LOL thanks man...

 

The gravel in the first tank (multicoloured) came out pretty clear when I washed it but in the gravel in my second tank (dark blue) kept the water tinted a blue color for a few days. Once the filter was on it cleared up within a couple of days.

 

I have a 16 gallon tank... the gravel is one that the pet store recomended because I am going to have live plants in my tank.. no there are no fish in it yet.. im gonna wait until every thing is perfect before that... thanks ill have a look at hte fish board.. Do you think the method that I washed it is good though.. just in a bucket flushing it and dumping out hte water...
thanks

 

That's how I've always washed mine (except I put the gravel in a small garbage can I have and use the shower head). Just don't use soap because it is toxic to fish.

 

Hi i asked my mum and she said you can by oxygen tablets that go into the tank and helps clear the water you can buy them from any good petstore.

She also said the size of your tannk you need to make sure you have 2 water filters and are on all the time and this helps keep the colour ok.
She also said you can place a plek fish in the tank and this keeps the tank clean.

Mike