Help needed with my substrates and fert!!

[hebi]

hi all. i just went to teo's farm this morning and bought a packet of JBL fert and gravel. Have to agree that the person there are really nice, taught me alot and also gave me a bunch of HG and small grass like plant for free haha.

ok before that, my tank already has gravel and plants and 3 suckerfish(or rather catfish?) with 13 ghost prawns?but i decided to do as instructed by the person that i can just drain the water out and shift my gravel to one side,pour in the fert then cover it, follow by the other side. but then, i don't see any layer of fert, is that ok? because the instruction stated a 2cm layer of fert followed by another 3-4cm of gravel. instead, the whole tank is now extremely cloudy and has 0 visibility. i do not know what to do with my plants that i have removed and my fishes, is it alright to leave my fishes in a bucket and the plants in a small tank? and should i on the filter or just let the fert settle down ? really do not wish to see all the ferts go to waste just like this..

*sorry mod. did not read the rules carefully before posting, will not happen again=)

[bossteck]

Hi hebi,

Great that you have cleaned up your post.

Here's my views/thought.

It is ok that you don't see the base fertilizer, you can be assured that the roots of the healthy plants will be able to reach them.

Did you top up your tank water carefully after adding the base fertilizer? You should so that there will not be too much stirring. Suggest you drain all the water again, this time, place a piece of large plastic sheet on the gravel, you can cut a few plastic bags to achieve this, then top up water slowly. Alternatively, if you are using a hose to fill your tank, you can use a fish bag with it's bottom cut out, use rubber bands to secure the fish bag to your hose, the key is to minimize the amount of splashing while the tank is being filled.

It is fine to leave your fishes in a bucket for a short time, to be safe, add a air stone.

Cheers!

[hebi]

thanks bossteck for the tips. sadly, 2 out of 3 of my catfish are dead due to lack of oxygen i think. i release the only one left back into the murky tank.
ok, the thing is that i dont think i even managed to 'hold' down the fert in the first place, it just seems to float up and cloud the water as soon as i tried to cover it using the gravel, probably because i didnt drain even water off. this was made worse as i fill the tank with more water, but i did that carefully minimising splash, but the fert has already clouded the tank water. this morning i decided to on the filter and came back to see that at least i can see 2cm of the gravel from the front. haha. the thing i am worried is whether the fert will still be trapped into the gravel and whether its alright to turn on the filter?

[benny]

Besides turning on the filter, you also have to do a water change. If you leave a previously working filter turned off for a day, then the contents will start to breakdown inside and the output will be ammonia and nitrite. Very, very bad for your fauna.

As for keeping the water clear, you might want to go out and get another pack of gravel to top up the substrate. Usually, the base fertilizer is just a thin layer and the layer holding it down from above is a thick one. This prevents the fertilisers from leeching into the water column and thus causing a water chemistry challenge.

Cheers,

[hebi]

ok thanks all for the help and advice. my tank is much clearer now, with a visibility of around 5-7cm. strangely, the gravel on the top seems to have fert clinging onto it, as it has a slight reddish-brown colour, compared to the original white beige. think i will make a trip to teo farm again to buy another packet of gravel this weekend,hopefully by then most of the fert will have settled down.

[chenkingdom]

Bro, in the first place i think you should have start all over again... doing what Teo's have advice you will cause you alot of problem if not careful enough... i have gone through what you have though..haha...

Now you can just add another layer of gravel and make sure you dont on your lights for too long.. now your tank is prone to algae outbreak..

Good luck!

[hebi]

haha ok , thanks everyone.