Advice needed

[Scrumphie]

I bought a tank complete with plants and fishies
There's this thick layer of "dust" which makes the water cloudy

Do i dump the black sand away and get new soil/sand
Then get new plants?

[Scrumphie]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1443258850.373445.jpg

This is the brown dust or snow that gets the water cloudy


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[Scrumphie]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1443258914.983547.jpg
The set up in its heydays

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1443258990.313723.jpg
How it looks like now

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1443259013.942011.jpg
Any idea what are these fishies?


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[Urban Aquaria]

Looks like the tank has got a thick layer of "mulm" (mix of decomposed organic matter and disintegrated soil) accumulated over a period of time... i'm guessing the filtration or circulation wasn't very effective in clearing and trapping all that mulm.

It'll be best to siphon out all the mulm and loose dirt, and generally clean up the tank.

Those fishes look like pencil fishes.

[Scrumphie]

So it comes with black colored Stoney sand, do I keep those ?

I intend to buy new soil, then put lava rock as to top layer


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[Urban Aquaria]

Not sure if its stony sand that you are seeing in the tank... it looks more like old soil substrate.

Anyways, you can replace the old substrate with new aquasoil. Just shift out the fishes to a temporary tank for a while, overhaul the tank with new soil, let it cycle again for a few days, test to make sure the parameters are stable, then acclimatize the fishes back into the tank.

Usually most people put lava rocks under the soil as a form of base "bio-media" layer, not on top of the soil, otherwise it will be difficult plant in it.