Water color Doesnt look good

[Danny Daniel]

I finally got my tank up and running, took awhile but finally :).

 

I was in so much a hurry that i forgot to rinse off the clay pebbles before putting them into the tank, and the water got all dirty from the dust on the pebbles. i cant see the bottom of the fish tank.

 

its been bout 3 days its running and the water is just a little better then the first  2 days,but still pretty much the same.

 

Should i just drain the water and refill it? or should i just let it stay this way and it will clear up?

 

Im doing fishless cycling so there is no fish, in the FT.

 

 

[TCLynx]

Ah, That dust might be why your pH is high.  You can do a water change if you like or you can just let it cycle.  A little acid to counteract the oxides in the dust that brought your pH up and as the bio-filter starts cycling up, the bio-slime will collect the dust particles and pull them out of suspension.  But if you want clear water quicker, do a water change.

[Danny Daniel]

ya maybe i should just clear the water and start again :), thanks.

 

also this may sound stupid but, is the bio-filter the clay pebbles? or am i missing something LOL.

[TCLynx]

The bio-filter is the bacteria that will colonize the clay pebbles.  The pebbles them selves are not the bio-filter but their surface area is the home of the bio-filter.

[Danny Daniel]

OO ok makes more sense now thanks :).

[Danny Daniel]

there is alot of dust also settled in bottom of fish tank and on the pump i took it out and cleaned the pump but alot of the FT still has alot of this dust in it. will it eventually go away ? draining it all out is kind of hard right now its in a green house and to heavy to move.  so if i just leave it ill be ok?

[TCLynx]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.  If you were to stir it up a bit and place some sort of filter where the water flows into the grow beds (like a rag or put an old sock over it or a cloth nappy) it will collect some of that dust to help get it out of the water if you like but you can just leave it too.  When you get fish they may stir it back up a bit but it will clear again and once you have bio-slime the particles clear much quicker too.