Will washing GEX soil ruin it?

[redryder]

Hi all. I bought 8kg of GEX soil at the LFS based on a recommendation from the shop. No instructions were given to me, and I obviously can't read the japanese on the bag. I went home and washed it just like regular substrate. Rinsed it twice, and the water remained black so I gave up and went online to check how much washing it needed.

Turns out that I'm not supposed to wash it at all. Do I need to throw it out or can it still be used? I'm making a planted tank.

[Puffer]

Hi, I posted a thread on 'Regarding Gex Soil' on the Equipment section. Go check. I bought the soil (for plants and shrimps, the red packaging one) at C328 and you should not wash the soil. Fortunately, I only tested washing on a quarter of a bag. This morning, I poured in all the soil into my tank and top up water, Water was clear, only the surface floating with dirt and debris. If you have already washed all the soil, I suppose you can still use them by pouring all into the tank and wait for the soil particles to settle. Thing is the pellets are so soft.

[redryder]

I already tried washing all the pellets. When I poured the soil into the tank and top up water, it was very cloudy. Even using the pour onto plate method. After 4 hours it is still pretty cloudy. I would say only 10% less than at start.

I have fish in a pail with airstone waiting to be transferred to the tank. They have been in the pail for 4 hours. 2 angels, 3 corys, 3 danios and 2 small plecos. Getting worried now that the water won't clear up in time.

Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

[benjidog]

Never rinse GEX soil! It crumbles and You get cloudy water. I just used the red pack for my shrimp tank and green pack for a planted tank. even though I followed the packaging instructions not to rinse, there was mild cloudy water which cleared by the next morning. Relax, turn on the filter and the water should be clear by tomorrow morning. Use filter wool for the first layer if you are using an overhead filter or canister filter. You can rinse out the filter wool or discard if it is very dirty. After the water clears, add some filter medium aka beneficial bacteria to speed up the cycling. Your fishies should be ok in the pail overnight with the airstone and pump. The best thing you can do now is to get some rest after the hard work of setting up and you should wake up to a new clear tank! Cheers and all the best for your new setup