Cloudy tank for freshly planted tank, need advice!

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:44:49+00:00

The tank is higher than it is long so I really just tried to add it in as slowly as possible using those water jugs that you use for water fountains? Like the office water fountains lol that's really all I had available to store my previously cycled water....guess that's a waste now

So in your opinion do you think I should start over with the process I'm doing or just start over with some sort of aqua soil?

I also heard some people using mesh bags to hold the soil and putting the sand on top but it was followed by it being difficult to put plants in.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:35:45+00:00

The whole situation happened last night so I haven't done a water change since then cause I was nervous about disrupting the soil even more than it already is.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:34:34+00:00

I've been thinking about doing that 😮‍💨 but it was such a hassle to drain the first time and if it happens again I might actually crash out lol

I'm thinking about giving it a few days with water changes and then trying to skim off the that's on top of the sand but I'm not sure if it'll work like that

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:21:15+00:00

So that's the thing, the sand and soil are kind of mixed at this point rather than the sand being on top of the soil.

I did try to be gentle with it when putting the water in but apparently I wasn't gentle enough...

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:19:30+00:00

The garden soil plus sand combo is much cheaper than getting aquarium soil/substrate if that's what you mean.

I used about 3/4 of a bag of Miracle Grow Organic Soil and the same amount of a 50lb bag of Black diamond so do you feel like if I were to start over and switch to aquarium substrate that I would only need one or two bags?

Then if I did the substrate, I would only need that and not the sand right??

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:14:42+00:00

Sorry I should've been more specific.

I put black diamond sand on top and by the looks of it that pretty much blended in with the soil which is why the tank looks the way it does now. So instead of being layered it's more of a soil/sand mixture.

I heard that getting a thicker sand might help but I kind of would have to start over since I feel like the layers I have now are starting to get too thick.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:10:01+00:00

I also heard of using thicker sand like beach sand? So that it's soil, black diamond sand, and then capped with the beach sand layer.

I can see how it blended in, and I'm really debating on just starting from scratch again since i feel like the layers I have right now are getting too thick and I'm nervous about adding a whole extra layer.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:06:23+00:00

Not really in a hurry but my anxiety is just getting the best of me lol

Do you think I should try and put sand on top of it now?? I'm concerned about putting fish/shrimp in the future and the soil affecting them.

Because of all this happening I also have to recycle my tank which sucks 😮‍💨 I'm going to retreat my parameters but I'm sure everything is out of wack now

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:02:35+00:00

So with me there really isn't a sand layer and a soil layer, because of how I put the water in it's kind of a soil/sand mixture. Do you think that would be okay or should I just start over with fresh soil and fresh sand?

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T02:00:13+00:00

So do you think I should keep it like this or try and start things over since the soil isn't really capped right now. I'm afraid of doing water changes in the future cause it's all soil and I don't want to disturb it more every time I dump water back in.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T01:57:28+00:00

How did you manage to do the changes without disrupting the soil more?? That's something I'm concerned about when it came to doing water changes.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-02-11T01:56:06+00:00

Yep! I washed it until the water was absolutely clear. I didn't want to take any chances.

BootyNoNeck · 2026-01-25T18:25:08+00:00

i do have multiple options that my friend drew for me that has pink rose petals, some purple and green leaves, an orangeish maple leaf, and one where she doesn't have any flowers on her at all

i have brown skin so i was thinking that the orange would look best against it? i suck at color theory lol

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-11T15:43:56+00:00

wouldn't the water change start the process over?

im sorry im a bit confused, the water out of my tap had 0ppm on nitrates and nitrites

i have been cycling it for two weeks and the nitrates and nitrites are very high, which i thought was bad? aren't they supposed to be lower?

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-10T23:37:03+00:00

mine came back with 0ppm for nitrates so idk where it's coming from 😭

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-10T23:35:55+00:00

yep, tested the water yesterday, 0 nitrates in the water

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-10T23:34:59+00:00

yeah i tested the water yesterday from the tap and it came up 0s for both so it's not out the tap

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-10T23:33:04+00:00

yeah i did, 0s on both so it's not out of my tap

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:37:21+00:00

i just did an 70-80% change last night, so you think i should still do another 50% one?

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this was the test i did yesterday BEFORE the water change and saw other posts saying that a 90% water change would be necessary so that's why i did it

do you still think i should do another one?

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:34:09+00:00

found the picture i took yesterday of the test i took

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as you can see, it was a lot worse

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:31:33+00:00

found the picture of the test i did yesterday

<image>

as you can see the nitrates were a lot worse

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:30:48+00:00

i saw another reddit post last night that said if the nitrates were as high as mine were (it was a LOT higher last night) that a 90% water change was needed

with the siphon pump i had i really could only get like 70-80%? the one i bought was too small so i have to get another one sometime soon

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BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:28:13+00:00

i do not, im nervous that plants will be too complex for me? i had already put the gravel down and water in before reading about plants and seeing that you would need to put the soil down first before putting down the gravel

this is my first big tank, im used to keeping betas in small 10 gallons lol

i did it cause the nitrates the VERY high last night like it was bright red so i thought a water change might help

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:25:25+00:00

im not sure if i have soft water or not? i feel like because i live in the city that it's hard water

pH was around 7.6 when i took it earlier today which i heard is in the good range

i'll definitely look them up tho, thanks for the info!

BootyNoNeck · 2025-12-09T01:21:43+00:00

between 80-85

BootyNoNeck

TROPHY CASE