Is this saveable?
Admittedly, I fucked up pretty bad. I've been setting up this 38 gallon tank after a long period of having it empty and dry, and I wanted to save a few bucks. A few weeks back I tried listening to people online and putting organic soil and capping it with sand, but it ended up giving me 38 gallons of bubbling, fermenting manure water. After a good week unfucking that situation, I ended up removing everything, rinsing all the soil out of the sand, and replacing it.
It was fine for a bit, very cloudy, but my research told me that it was just a bacterial bloom as a result of the sheer amount of unfucking I had to do. It's looking better now (much clearer), but it's formed this weird crust on the bottom, and I've started seeing mosquitos collecting around the edge of the water. It also still smells weird (not quite fermenting manure anymore, but definitely not the usual tank smell).
Should I do another water change and sand vacuuming, or should I just leave it? I really don't want to have to get rid of the sand.... it was 9 dollar black diamond blasting sand and it has been the only part of this whole equation that hasn't betrayed me