Brand New Tank, Bacterial Bloom?

[TheRandomHero]

Hello all, first time poster here
 
Now I dont want you to think I'm being naive, trust me I have read probably 8-10 different account on fishless cycling (what I'm hoping to do) so I know all about that. My question is, I bought a brand new tank on Wednesday, along with heater, filter and light. When I got home I rinsed my brand new gravel THOROUGHLY and placed it in the bottom of my tank. I filled it with water (35l Tank btw) and correctly dosed out my Cholrine/Cholomine neutraliser. I admired my crystal clear tank, turned on the filter and heater, and went to bed.
 
The next morning the water was slightly cloudy. I thought maybe I hadn't cleaned the gravel as well as I'd thought, or maybe there was some residue on the tank although I doubted it because it was brand new and boxed. Anyway I emptied it out, cleaned the gravel (which had developed the ever so slight 'filmy' feel desribed when mentioning bacteria) and cleaned the tank using warm water. I refilled the tank, again adding the declorinator.
 
But sure enough the next morning it was milky once again, leading me to believe it's definately a BB. Now I'd read about cycling and bacterial blooms so I figured it was related to my situation. I waited another 24 hours before speculating any more, but now the water has gone quite milky, and when I hold my phone's flashlight LED to the side of the tank, I can see a swirling of particles in the water current which can only be described as smoke
 
Even though I've kept tropical fish before, it was my old housemates tank and so it was up and running when he moved it to our apartment, so I've no first hand recollection of any of these symptoms.
 
Now I know I'm expecting a bacterial bloom as it's a new tank etc, but is this sort of 'smoking' normal? Will it clear up on its own accord? Any guesses as to how long? Am I safe to begin adding my Ammonia yet? (I have some pure Ammonia, luckily I live around the corner from an aquatics paradise and I'm friendly with the staff there )
 
I would go and ask them but I've just finished work and they're closed until monday
 
Any help would be much appreciated, and thankyou for your time!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

 to the forum!
 
 
Yes, I believe you are perfectly describing a bacterial bloom.  These bacteria will die as soon as their food supply runs out and the water will return to a crystal clear condition once again.  This can take as long as a few days or as short as a few hours.  I wouldn't worry about it, and I'd suggest you can start dosing ammonia now if you would like.   I'd recommend you keep the dose low - about 3ppm, and wait until it hits ZERO to dose again.  What test kit do you have?

 

[TheRandomHero]

Thankyou for the reply
 
I have the API Master Test Kit, only the best for my ventures
 
I'm assuming the 'food supply' you mention is fragments of organic matter found in our apparently 'clean' tapwater?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yup.  These heterotrophic bacteria are quite resilient.  Interesting information though is that some bottled water, that is supposed to be better for you than tap water (or cleaner) has been found in a recent study to contain 100s times more bacteria than our tap water, and much more foul chemicals.  The tap water is regulated, so you can be certain of a certain level of sanitation.  The bottled stuff isn't.    FYI.

 

[TheRandomHero]

Yeah I read up on that when I first looked into starting fishkeeping again, I had the idea of using mineral water or spring water, but even the 'bottled at source' ones pick up nasties from the bottles they're kept in especially when exposed to sunlight (which you can never be sure of because it's not like you bottle it yourself

)
 
Thankyou for your help, I'll start the ammonia doses tonight and hopefully the bacteria will calm down soon

 
One last question, how often is advisable between dosing and testing? because naturally it has to circulate... or should I just do some fancy maths based on my Litres, and the Litres p/h the pump circulates?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Use this.
 
Dose it and test 24 hours later... Keep testing at the same time each day.  When it hits zero, you can dose again.

 

[TheRandomHero]

many thanks again! Take care

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Hi...you mentioned you were friendly with an aquatic store near to you.... is it at all possible they could 'donate' a nice chunk of mature, bacteria filled media of some sort..? Doing this prior to or during a fishless cycle has been proven to speed up the cycle by giving you a base amount of nitrifying bacteria... you will need to continue a fishless cycle afterwards though, hopefully building a robust, healthy colony in no time.
 
Terry.

 

[TheRandomHero]

Well I intend to go down there first thing tomorrow and ask if they've ever had a problem with the water, considering it'll be the same source as mine. So I'll ask then
 
The water seems a little clearer today, but I don't know if that's just wishful thinking. I don't want to get a UV steriliser or anything, I want it to clear up on its own... but I've been thinking, once (if...) it clears up, wont in continue to occur with every water change?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No.  It happens quite frequently in new tanks... it is quite rare in established tanks.  It can happen, but it is usually precipitated by something else going wrong first.
 
Have a read through this.

 

[TheRandomHero]

Just an update for anyone still interested; water has cleared dramatically over the last 24 hours going from milky clouds to almost crystal! It seems it was 4 days of no progress, then BOOM. So if anyone's reading this in the same situation just hang in and let it iron itself out

Looking forward to my aquascaping and water testing now, and eventually stocking it

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[the_lock_man]

Excellent news.
 
How's the cycling going?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Glad to hear (read) it!

 

[TheRandomHero]

I dropped ammonia in until I got 5ppm 2 days ago and I'm still watching it drop so a fair few days off stocking yet

 

[FishFriendsForever2014]

So excited! When you get fishies please post pictures