Gravel To Sand Cloudiness

[Floyds mum]

Ive swapped the gravel in my tank to sand and of course ater is cloudy, ive rinsed it like you do gravel but its still cloudy, how long roughly will it take to clear?Its been up and running for about 2hrs or so.
Also if the water has not cleared by the morning would doing a 75% water change work? i need to get plants and fish back in asap as i have about 15 fish and 2 pygmy cories in a small 26L tank, temporarily of course

 

[anwhyte]

Ive swapped the gravel in my tank to sand and of course ater is cloudy, ive rinsed it like you do gravel but its still cloudy, how long roughly will it take to clear?Its been up and running for about 2hrs or so.
Also if the water has not cleared by the morning would doing a 75% water change work? i need to get plants and fish back in asap as i have about 15 fish and 2 pygmy cories in a small 26L tank, temporarily of course

i wouldn't bother with a water change, it will settle, might take a day or so though. In my experience silty water wont hurt fish or plants.

 

[Floyds mum]

Ive swapped the gravel in my tank to sand and of course ater is cloudy, ive rinsed it like you do gravel but its still cloudy, how long roughly will it take to clear?Its been up and running for about 2hrs or so.
Also if the water has not cleared by the morning would doing a 75% water change work? i need to get plants and fish back in asap as i have about 15 fish and 2 pygmy cories in a small 26L tank, temporarily of course

i wouldn't bother with a water change, it will settle, might take a day or so though. In my experience silty water wont hurt fish or plants.

Ok thanx, ill leave plants in the bucket of old tank water and add them tomorrow morning then add fish to

 

[Josh16v]

Go buy some Accu Clear, that stuff works in my experience.

 

[rebrn]

Hi I recently switched from gravel to sand, and I too had cloudy water, even though I rinsed the sand very well. I think just by adding the water back to the tank you inevitably stir the sand up. My 12 gallon completely cleared up in less then 12 hours, I would say about 6-hours, my 55 gallon cleared completely in about 10 hours, and the 5 gallon took about 24 hours and 75% water change, but that was because I mixed the play sand with naturally coloured quartz sand (otherwise known as pure non calcium reptile sand). The quartz sand is much finer ground then the play sand, so some of it just floated on the top and would not settle. But after 24 hours and the water change, no problems. But from my understanding, you can still go ahead and add your plants and fish back, it won't cause any problems (but remember I am new to fish and new to sand). In fact, I added my plants back straight away (artificial mind you) and it didn't cause a problem, the only thing is a very small amount of sand settled on the leaves, which for me was not a big deal, as my plants are artificial, I felt it gave them a slightly more natural look.

Edit: Also if you have an air stone, make sure it is above the sand, I think my 12 gallon would have cleared faster if I did that earlier. With the air stone under the sand, the air coming up through the sand just constantly stirs the sand and it won't completely settle. At least in my experience.

 

[Floyds mum]

Ok than i wont worry too much

 

[Floyds mum]

Well plants and fish are back in, water is still a little bit cloudy but alot better, ive left the lone assassin snail in the 26L tank he's all lonely cos his mate died last week

 

[Joe97]

R.I.P little snail. I hope your other snail feels better soon. In my experiance the water will settle very soon.

 

[Floyds mum]

This is my smaller tank, now with sand.
Currently has 3 female guppies awaiting to "drop" Planning to possibly get another small tank to house some of the fry.
Let me know what you think.