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Caribsea African Cichlid Substrate

iamzrad

Members
CS0220_99.jpg


I recently bought this substrate for my 125gal. I mixed in last night with substrate (other african cichlid mix, I think it was eco-complete crushed coral/shells) from the tank I was switching over.
I washed it as it instructed to, and this morning the water is still cloudy.
(*lol, it says on the front that is keeps water crystal clean)

I'm running two Eheim 2217's (one with my media and a coarse filter, the other with coarse and fine polishing pads) and one Magnum 350 that has the fine polishing filter and some ammonia remover).

Has anyone used this kinda of substrate before?
 

maddog10

Members
I am sure I have had it in one of my tanks at some point. The cloudiness will go away over time. Whenever I add substrate to a tank, I drain the tank as low as I can take it and slowly add the substrate. Then I refill the tank VERY SLOWLY. It took 2 1/2 hours to fill the 150 when I set it up. There will almost always be a little cloudiness, but it only lasted an hour or two in the 150.
 

Andrew

Members
It's shell dust floating in the water. Let it clear on its own or use a water clarifier to help speed things along.
 

iamzrad

Members
I quadrupled rinsed before putting in the main tank.
And when filling, I left the python on 1/2 opened (to prevent further cloudiness)

I even added "cloudy water" remover, but that really did not help.

We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. It's not crazy cloudy, but when looking on the sides of the tank, you can probably only see 1/2-3/4 of the way, can't see the other side. Might just ditch the magnum and the polishing eheim and get an FX5 or something.
 

fischfan13

Banned
Used it.
I actually think that it is very high quality substrate, but it needs to be rinsed as mentioned here.
I believe that the first time I used this substrate I waited for a few days for the tank to clear.
 

Julie

Members
ditto what the others said.

When it is extremely bad (like when I've been too lazy to rinse at all :D) I've used polishing filters with diatomaceous earth to clarify in just hours.
 
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