Changed Substrate - Water Cloudy

[alysonpeaches]

Today I changed the substrate by taking out all the fish, putting them into temporary tanks, syphoned off all the water, put the plants in the temp tanks, then put new (washed) playsand in.

I replanted the tank straight away and put in new (well soaked) wood. The tank is still cloudy, and its around 3 hours since I completed the work. I am running the established filter in the tank. I have added some carbon to the filter in the hope it will clean up the water too.

I really want to get the fish back in, as Im not happy with them in the temp tanks, they arent very large and the filtration is a bit basic. I have put a couple of platys in, just as scouts really to see if they are OK.

How long should I leave the tank before putting the fish back in?

 

[Liam]

The fish will not mind the cloudy water, the only possible problem is with the loss of bacteria from moving out the old substrate, l would feed less than normal and keep a close eye on the fish for any problems. You could move most of them back now leaving a few in the temp tank to lighten the bioload.

 

[Paavn]

you shouldnt have a problem at all with a loss of bacteria, as long as your filter media didnt dry out. there's not much bacteria on the substrate, most of it will be in the sponges. i did the same (but without having fish) just put in some fine floss/a water polishing sponge and it will be clean in no time next time you have to move stuff

 

[Truck]

the fish will mind the sand in the water, as it will get into there gills, carbon wont remove sand, floss will