# Brown Water?



## Turtle4353 (Jul 27, 2012)

Do I am starting a planted tank, and used Organic Miracle Gro Potting Mix under gravel. I rinsed it a lot but since I've filled the tank the water is tea colored, like tannins have been in it. Can I just do lots of water changes or do I need to do something else?Thanks!


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Make water changes until clear.....how deep is the soil and how deep is the gravel cap-what size/diameter is the gravel. Number and species of live plants, tank size and did you add any driftwood.

I don't normally rinse the dirt I use for my soil based tanks-since that can leach nutrients-plus its hard to work with....


----------



## Turtle4353 (Jul 27, 2012)

The soil is about an inch deep, so is the gravel. The gravel is pea sized. I haven't added any deco, fish or plants yet because I wanted to solve this problem first. The tank size is ten gallons


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Did you sift the soil or pick out all the larger pieces of organic matter-especially any large woody chunks.....

I would water change until clear and be careful when you add water so not to disturb the soil too much.


----------



## Turtle4353 (Jul 27, 2012)

Ya I made sure there were no wood chips.I use a plate when putting in water to. Thanks for the advice!


----------

