Just read over this thread and it looks like you got some great help. Here is a little section I pulled from my book I wrote on Fish Keeping.
"A very common occurence in a newly set up tank is a Baterial Bloom. This is where the water seems hazy/cloudy. At this point, beginner fish keepers will seek teh aid of products that claim to clear "new tank syndrome" when in fact theu will not. This is what the hazy water is. There is another type of bacteria called Heterotrophic bacteria. What happens in a newly setup tank is when the fish keeper sets everything up abd hadds water conditioner to their tank. The water conditioner quickly enables the water to support life. This allows the Heterotrophic bacteria to quickly colonize in large numbers and go to work ont he organics in the water. So, the hazy/cloudy water is actually millions of Heterotrophic bacteria feeding off the organics in the water, and this is relatively harmless. Since Heterotrophic bacetria are larger than our friendly Autotrophic bacteria, Hetertrophic bacteria cannot attache themselves to surfaces, so they are free-swimming and this is what we see. Over the course of a few days the Heterotrophic bacteria will soon dies off and the water will become clear, once again."
You can contact me if you want to read the full book online. It takes you step-by-step througha fishless cycle and goes into some good detail about other things as well.
So far you are doing great. And are you aware of when you can tell your tank is fully cycled? It will be the 12 hour mark, not the 24 hour mark. When you can take 5 ppm of ammonia and bring that down to 0 ppm (along with nitrite) in 12 hours then you are fully cycled. There are still some things to do at this point, too.
Keep up the good work!
[SIZE=12pt]A very common occurrence in a newly set up tank is a ‘Bacterial Bloom.’ [/SIZE]This is where the water seems hazy/cloudy. At this point, beginner fish keepers will seek the aid of products that claim they clear “New Tank Syndrome” when in fact they will not. This is what the hazy water is. There is another type of bacteria in our water source, a type of bacteria that is not beneficial to us at all. This type of bacteria is called Heterotrophic bacteria. What happens in a newly setup tank is when the fish keeper sets everything up and then adds water conditioner to their tank. The water conditioner quickly enables the water to support life. This allows the Heterotrophic bacteria to quickly colonize in large numbers and go to work on the organics in the water. So, the hazy/cloudy water is actually millions of Heterotrophic bacteria feeding off the organics in the water, and this is relatively harmless. Since Heterotrophic bacteria are larger than our friendly Autotrophic bacteria, Heterotrophic cannot attach themselves to surfaces, so they are free-swimming and that is what we see. Over the course of a few days, the Heterotrophic bacteria will soon die off and the water will be clear again.
[SIZE=12pt]A very common occurrence in a newly set up tank is a ‘Bacterial Bloom.’ [/SIZE]This is where the water seems hazy/cloudy. At this point, beginner fish keepers will seek the aid of products that claim they clear “New Tank Syndrome” when in fact they will not. This is what the hazy water is. There is another type of bacteria in our water source, a type of bacteria that is not beneficial to us at all. This type of bacteria is called Heterotrophic bacteria. What happens in a newly setup tank is when the fish keeper sets everything up and then adds water conditioner to their tank. The water conditioner quickly enables the water to support life. This allows the Heterotrophic bacteria to quickly colonize in large numbers and go to work on the organics in the water. So, the hazy/cloudy water is actually millions of Heterotrophic bacteria feeding off the organics in the water, and this is relatively harmless. Since Heterotrophic bacteria are larger than our friendly Autotrophic bacteria, Heterotrophic cannot attach themselves to surfaces, so they are free-swimming and that is what we see. Over the course of a few days, the Heterotrophic bacteria will soon die off and the water will be clear again.
[SIZE=12pt]A very common occurrence in a newly set up tank is a ‘Bacterial Bloom.’ [/SIZE]This is where the water seems hazy/cloudy. At this point, beginner fish keepers will seek the aid of products that claim they clear “New Tank Syndrome” when in fact they will not. This is what the hazy water is. There is another type of bacteria in our water source, a type of bacteria that is not beneficial to us at all. This type of bacteria is called Heterotrophic bacteria. What happens in a newly setup tank is when the fish keeper sets everything up and then adds water conditioner to their tank. The water conditioner quickly enables the water to support life. This allows the Heterotrophic bacteria to quickly colonize in large numbers and go to work on the organics in the water. So, the hazy/cloudy water is actually millions of Heterotrophic bacteria feeding off the organics in the water, and this is relatively harmless. Since Heterotrophic bacteria are larger than our friendly Autotrophic bacteria, Heterotrophic cannot attach themselves to surfaces, so they are free-swimming and that is what we see. Over the course of a few days, the Heterotrophic bacteria will soon die off and the water will be clear again.
