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Permalink Reply by Peter on October 26, 2013 at 1:10pm

Redo ur tank or plant a lot of foreground plants to hold dirt gravel mox down

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Permalink Reply by seth roach on October 30, 2013 at 7:42pm

haha i like this post coming up after the adding dirt to a already full tank post..... you still pretty much have the same options pull it all out clean up and restart...Or you can always clean it as is and vacuum out the dirt, i would just be cautious of doing a huge water change if your tank isn't real old and healthy and sure it and your fish can take it. how big of a tank are we talking here, i would just drain half your water into buckets throw your fish in there, ditch the other half for a water change push half the gravel to one side throw some dirt and ferts down scoop the gravel onto the dirt and repeat on the other side. Level your gravel back out, rescape, throw a bowl or cup or something in there SLOWLY re-add the original water and your fish and finish the water change. I've done it several times...just be sure you have some sort of quick to suck up nutrients plants (najas grass, most stem plants, duckweed, water hyacinths, anyhting with roots in the water column will really help)  so you dont get any funky algae or water issues. Woops just realized you already said 30 gal. easy-peasy it shouldnt even take you more than a few hours...goodluck!

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Permalink Reply by hoyttt on October 30, 2013 at 8:01pm

no fish!

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on November 5, 2013 at 12:50am

I stopped using a cap. Originally, I did it to promote infusoria in tanks with newborn Rams (which are too small to eat baby brine shrimp). But it looked so cool I started using it in most of my tanks. I even use it with my Discus which require extra clean water. But Seth Roach is right: make sure you have plenty of Water Sprite/Duckweed on hand in to suck up any extra ammonia and nitrogenous waste. Any plant with roots in the water and leaves in the air will do. Floating plants are the natural way to dose with Co2 because air holds way more Co2 than water. 

Dirt also draws out natural behavior and colors in fish. Put your tank in the sun and you'll really see their colors explode. I let live blackworms become established in the soil so the fish can hunt for their dinner. Sometimes when my Discus and Dwarf Cichlids spot a worm they freeze and go into stalking mode. They strike like a Cheetah and if the worm is in their mouth they win; if not the worm wins. A little dirt is kicked up but it just dramatizes the event even more. And no... the water doesn't become cloudy. 

Like Peter says, a carpet of foreground plants like Dwarf Sag will keep dirt in place. Native fish like Sunfish or large cichlids like Oscars may not work in a dirted tank. Not sure. 

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