Complaining about substate and Texas update

[oenology]

I bought a bag of the flourite substate to use in my soon-to-be-planted-some-day-when tank. On the package it says you don't have to rinse it as the dust will settle in 2 to 12hrs. I chose to be on the safe side and rinsed it and rinsed it and rinsed it and finally gave up and decided to believe the package. So I dumped the gravel in, instantly turned my tank into a muddy mess. Not to worry, in a max of 12 hr I should be able to see the back. Ha! it's been over 15hrs and it looks the same as when I first put it in. I'm not a happy camper! I'm leaving for a few days so at least I don't have to look at it. Maybe in 72hr things may have settled...

For those of you wondering how that big Texas cichlid is adjusting to life in the pond, he seems to be a bit agrophobic. He has found himself a fold in the pond felt and has claimed it. I only see him now and then as a grey ghost. As for the resident goldfish, I have a few I can recognize (like black sheep in a mainly white flock) and none are missing so I guess they are too big to be considered food. The babies on the other hand, who knows. Maybe I better get my BAPS points while I know I have some .