# New aquarium tank water has turned black, please help.



## Talexander1123 (Jul 2, 2021)

I am new to fish keeping hobby. I bought a 55 gallon tank. I put in fluval black substrate and a large “dragon root” wood piece. I filled the tank with purified water from my local grocery store. I rinsed the substrate throughly. After a day or so it looked like the dragon root was leaking some tannins as the water was lightly brown, after a few more days it’s pitch black in the tank. After research I learned that chem-bio zorb was great at clearing tannins. I placed one in a week ago and I’ve noticed no difference it may have even gotten blacker? If that is even possible. I’m not sure if leaking tannins would be so severe it would make the tank look like this. I put in some api start up bacteria day one and also some api accu clear. I am unsure what to do to fix this. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Arthurfarris (Jul 20, 2021)

You just need to wait for the dirt to settle. However, if you have been waiting for a couple of days and the water is still blurry, use a water clarifier that contains natural enzymes. A good quality water clarifier will keep your aquarium looking clean all the time. This will make keeping an aquarium a lot more enjoyable and less of a hassle.


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## Anna Visser (Dec 4, 2021)

You could also take out the wood and boil it for a few hours before putting it back to remove tannins and other impurities.


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## sweetpoison (10 mo ago)

Arthurfarris said:


> You just need to wait for the dirt to settle. However, if you have been waiting for a couple of days and the water is still blurry, use a water clarifier that contains natural enzymes. A good quality water clarifier will keep your aquarium looking clean all the time. This will make keeping an aquarium a lot more enjoyable and less of a hassle.


Will this help with dust Up from sand? I washed completely and cleared up after three days beautifully, but every time I go in to move something around the dustup comes back😡

sorry to hijack your thread♥


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