My Beginner Planted Tank Is Very Murky And Poopy

[cooledwhip]

Hello everyone I am new to these forums and I had some questions about my tank..
 
I have had tanks on and off my childhood but they never lasted long, now I am older (16) I can apprechiate these tanks. I recently bought a 20 gal and want a really heavy planted aquarium with some water grass and lots of plants.
 
I plan on putting in some mollys, tetras, and maybe a female betta, Either way, yesterday I bought the tank, 2 bags of Seachem Flourite and some plants (Temple Compacta, Anubias Nana, Windelov Java Fern) and planted them in my flourite. I filled the water up to the top and had my 20gal filter run it all night and this morning it was almost crystal clear, but I went to move some plants and whenever I even stick the tip of my finger into the substrate and move my finger back in fourth the entire tank gets dusty and cloudy. 
 
I suppose this is because I didn't wash and let the substrate soak, which sucks and I am really pissed now. 
 
I put in some water conditioner and a bit of freshwater tank salt into the tank and after about 2 hours it is still murky. I wanted to see really how much dirt crap I had in there so I just took my hand and scooped it all up and swirled it around to get some dust in the water and there really is a lot. Plus there's like brown bubbles on the top of the tank? I am 99% sure this is because I didn't soak my substrate, but the question is..
 
What do I do now? Should I take it all out and soak it, is there anything I can buy, what are your suggestions? Thanks

 

[Munroco]

Normally with substrate you should put it in a bucket, fill with water, swirl your substrate around, pour off dirty water. Repeat as often as necessary until water is reasonably clear. With Flourite this will remove some of the beneficial ingredients. You can see the results of my using flourite here (http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/437503-10-gallon-planted/) It will clear eventually. Anubias and Java fern shouldn't be planted like most plants, they do better if anchored to a rock or wood.
 
As far as occupants go, mollies and tetras aren't a good mix. Mollies do better in harder even slightly salty water, while tetras are better in soft acidic water, My experience with flourite would suggest that species who prefer harder water would be best suited to your tank..
 
 
 

 

[Byron]

I concur with Neil.  I had Flourite Black substrate for two years.  It should be rinsed first, though Seachem if I remember correctly say not very much, but I found it rather messy even during the two years if I dug into it.
 
Rather than remove it now, leave it as Neil suggested.  What you can do (and what I always do with any substrate) is once you have the plants in it (those that need to be planted), and assuming there are no fish present, drain out all the water right down to the substrate but not digging into it, and then refill the tank carefully.  Run the hose or whatever into a largish bowl placed anywhere on the surface of the substrate, and this will allow you to fill without stirring up very much.
 
On the plants mentioned, I again concur with Neil.  Anubias and Java Fern should not be planted in the substrate (the rhizome if buried may well rot, killing the plants).
 
And on the fish, you have some issues.  Aside from differing parameters--and here, mollies absolutely must have moderately hard to fairly hard (even harder won't hurt) water or they will not last long.  Most tetras are soft water fish, though there are a few species that manage in moderately hard water.  Betta are not community fish at all, and will rarely be OK in such a tank.  They are soft water too.
 
Aside from this, mollies are not small fish (they can or should attain close to three inches for males and five inches for females, and a 20g is not sufficient space for more than perhaps two males.  Tetras will be more suited, depending upon species.  We can go more into this when we have the water parameters: GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) and pH.  The latter is connected to the GH and KH, but it is the GH especially that is particularly important for fish.
 
Byron.