Rinsing media

[RyanU]

I have a question about rinsing anything that you put in your tank. Specifically filter media that is new out of the box. Is it OK to rinse it under tap water. If so what is the process after to make it aquarium safe.

I just added purigen to my tank last night to remove the tannins from drift wood. I took some tank water and rinsed it as best I could. I woke up this morning with no tannins but a whiteish hhaze.i can assume from not riding the purigen well enough. 

 

TIA

[lefty o]

you can rinse brand new stuff in tap water. you just dont want to rinse of used filter media /sponges etc in tap water as you can kill off the good bacteria.

[RockMongler]

Rinsing new stuff in tap water should be fine, as long as you have treated water in your tank.  The amount of water left after rinsing something compared to the volume of water in your overall tank system will be just fine, and shouldn't hurt your tank.  

I've never used Purigen myself, but the whitish haze in your tank might just be because of a bacterial bloom.  How new is this tank?  Is it cycled?

[RyanU]

It's been running for a few months. It's definitely cycled. I was going to give the tank another 24 hours to see if the haze is still there. If it is then I guess it's a bacterial bloom. what can I do to get rid of it? I did a pretty thorough cleaning this past weekend trying to combat brown algea so it may be from that. I did check this morning and my ammonia and nitrites are both 0. 

[Jess]

3 hours ago, RyanU said:

I did a pretty thorough cleaning this past weekend trying to combat brown algea so it may be from that.

I'm no expert, but I'd agree with you here.  New tanks are in a state of flux for awhile, and bacterial blooms are common especially if you do something that disturbs it (like a thorough cleaning, or like I did once: a 50% water change without dechlorinating the water).  You just have to wait for it to go away on its own...which is will do.