cloudy sand in tank... will it hurt them?

[fishwatcher]

I just changed my tank over to sand. Although I rinsed, rinsed and rinsed some more, it's cloudy in the tank. Should I go ahead and put the fish back in it, or will it hurt/stress them? (They are in a big bucket with a bubbler going right now.) I know this isn't an "help, they're dying" emergency, but I just don't know if it will kill htem to put them in there. And if I wait, how long can I?

 

[WILDER]

Yes it should be ok to put them back, has the sand settled if so fill filter with alot of filter floss to remove the dirt from the water, then remove it after a couple of hours and add some new filter floss, good luck..

 

[fishwatcher]

I don't have filter floss.... and the closest lfs is over 30 minutes from here. ANy thing else I can use... pantyhose?

 

[WILDER]

No filter mating, if not it will clear on it own but it will take longer.

 

[fishwatcher]

what is filter mating?

 

[WILDER]

Vertually same as filter floss, any big bags of cotton wool.

 

[fishwatcher]

so other than filter floss, nothing else can be used? That sucks... well, I hope the fish and frogs will be ok. I changed it to sand for them, and to think it may hurt them now...

 

[WILDER]

It won't hurt the fish, don't no about the frog i'm afraid, you can put them back in the tank.

 

[fishwatcher]

ok, here goes! I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Thanks for the quick help!!!

 

[fishwatcher]

OrkyBetta, do you know if it'll hurt the frogs?

 

[OrkyBetta]

Maybe you could turn the filter off for like a half hour to let everything settle. the dust shouldn't stay suspended in there forever, it will either settle or go float to the top.

EDIT: I didn't see your post asking me about the frogs til after I posted. I doubt it will hurt them, actually. If you consider what murky, cloudy water they live in in the wild, they should be ok.

 

[WILDER]

Don't panic they will be fine.

 

[cla55y19]

i once heard that if you have the water coming into your filter by drip tray you can add a few clenex to it as when its wet it compacts down and will do as media for a little while in emergency like this

 

[fishwatcher]

ok, I'm sorry... I'm just new at this and I guess I feel I'm responsible if they die, you know?

 

[OrkyBetta]

Don't worry, I feel responsible whenever something happens to my fish too. I've only been fishkeeping for like, 2 months. maybe you remember my spaz attack over my broken filter yesterday...I racked up my phone bill to like, a million dollars on the phone to customer service, since my computer was down and I couldn't come here