[cruiserfj45]

I am relativity new to fish keeping (5 months). I started with a 20 gal half moon. My first tank only had aquarium sand which doesn't make for a very good substrate. I have some Anacharis, Dwarf Hairgrass, Java fern, something that looks like Anubias hastifolia, and some other plants that I am not sure of the name.

My fish stock is a Dwarf Gourami, Flame Dwarf Gourami, Gold Twin Bar Platy, Silver Molly, Red Wag Platy, 3 male guppies, 4 neon tetra's, 4 albino neon tetras, 7 glowlight tetras, 3 mystery snails, 2 ghost shrimp, 2 ram horn snails, 6 trumpet snails and I don't know how many cherry shrimp.

I recently found a 46 gal bow front. So after some research I figured I would get the best of all worlds if that is possible. I have a thin layer of MGOPM about 1 inch. I have then added one bag of Flora Max to the top of that. I just added 3 gal of water to try and let some air pockets escape. Well now I have a floating substrate. I think I will let that stay that way for 24 to 48 hours to see if it settles down. After that I have a 20 lbs bag of eco-complete and a 16.7 lbs bag of Fluval Stratum that I am planing on mixing and topping it with. I figure I am going to run my tank for 1-2 months before I start moving my fish stock over.

Any ideas would be great or tell me I am doing it all wrong. Thanks for your input.
Jacob

 

[cruiserfj45]

After some work I got the substrate to settle. I have filled it to the top with water and am letting it run for a couple weeks so all the air pockets will come out. I have a eheim ecco easy 60 running right now and the water is definitively tinted. I want to try some of this stuff Seachem Clarity

Have anyone had any luck with it. Also any idea if it will take a couple of weeks or not for all the air pockets to come out?

 

[shift]

I have a couple inches of MGOPM and an inch or two of eco-complete. I never worried about the air pockets.. they bubble up once in a while, or if you poke the ground. As long as you do water changes once a week i dont see any issues