Cloudy water, no fish, please help?

[Mangofish]

Hello,
I’ll start by saying i am a massive beginner in this hobby and i’m just looking for some help
My tank is a 10 gallon tank with a filter, heater, and bubbler. it has four fake plants and a piece of wood, all of which were rinsed thoroughly with water. the gravel is from petco, and was also thoroughly rinsed and cleaned with water, and put in after the water. It doesn’t have any fish in it yet but once the problems are fixed im planning on adding guppies.
Basically, I put the water in the tank (purified water from gallons), put in startzyme, conditioner, and correct ph. Then i put in rinsed gravel and rinsed fake plants. then i put in a rinsed wood decoration. Then i put in the heater, filter, and bubbler and plugged it all in. It’s at 77 degrees right now according to the thermometer. The water was completely clear when i set it up last night. I woke up this morning and the water was really cloudy and i am concerned. People online have mentioned bacterial bloom but i can only find people talking about that in tanks that already have fish but this tank has not had fish yet.
What can i do to clear up the water? Is this just a waiting game, and if so, for how long? When do you think i can put fish in?
Thanks for listening and hopefully helping.
Mango

 

[Lynnzer]

Here you go. Just follow fishless cycling

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum and well done jumping online to find answers at the start as it really helps to learn as much as you can early on.

I would suspect that you have a bacterial bloom in the tank which will be the result of one of the products you used. Which can help but is not 100% perfect - as Lynnzer mentioned have a look up about the fishless cycle and read up on the nitrogen cycle. The fishless cycle is to help set up the tank at the start then the nitrogen cycle is what happens the whole time the tank is set up.

I put the water in the tank (purified water from gallons), put in startzyme, conditioner, and correct ph

Just want to ask what some of this means. What is the purified water you are using? Is it RO water? I'm not familiar with Startzyme but probably some kind of bacteria product? The Conditioner is that for dechlorinating? And lastly correct ph, if the purified water is RO that makes sense but if not why are you using this - I'd guess someone in a store told you but you might not need too so just want to double check the advice I think you've had.

Lastly, just wanted to ask about your gravel and fake plants. Substrates in a tank are an important choice and gravel is not always the best option especially if you want any bottom dwellers like cory catfish or loaches. Sand is much better as a substrate as it is softer on bottom dwellers and better to plant into Live plants can be scary at the start but they are quite an important part of a tank and something to try and incorporate. Check out some youtube channels like George Farmer or MD Fish Tanks for some ideas of whats achievable even in quite simple set ups.

Wills

 

[Mangofish]

Hi welcome to the forum and well done jumping online to find answers at the start as it really helps to learn as much as you can early on.

I would suspect that you have a bacterial bloom in the tank which will be the result of one of the products you used. Which can help but is not 100% perfect - as Lynnzer mentioned have a look up about the fishless cycle and read up on the nitrogen cycle. The fishless cycle is to help set up the tank at the start then the nitrogen cycle is what happens the whole time the tank is set up.



Just want to ask what some of this means. What is the purified water you are using? Is it RO water? I'm not familiar with Startzyme but probably some kind of bacteria product? The Conditioner is that for dechlorinating? And lastly correct ph, if the purified water is RO that makes sense but if not why are you using this - I'd guess someone in a store told you but you might not need too so just want to double check the advice I think you've had.

Lastly, just wanted to ask about your gravel and fake plants. Substrates in a tank are an important choice and gravel is not always the best option especially if you want any bottom dwellers like cory catfish or loaches. Sand is much better as a substrate as it is softer on bottom dwellers and better to plant into Live plants can be scary at the start but they are quite an important part of a tank and something to try and incorporate. Check out some youtube channels like George Farmer or MD Fish Tanks for some ideas of whats achievable even in quite simple set ups.

Wills

Thanks for replying! I just want to get everything as good as possible before i add fish because I don’t want to harm them so that’s why i’m on the forum, thanks for being welcoming.
It was purified and it says on the back of the gallon that it was through reverse osmosis (im guessing that’s what you mean with “RO”). I’ve attached a picture of the water start care kit i used that i got from one of my friends who has a fish tank and she said she had leftover. after i look it up i don’t think it’s on the market anymore so maybe it’s expired? that might be my problem. I got most of my starting-a-tank advice from a woman at petco and after reading on forums i realize now that might not have all been accurate information.
I’ll definitely get sand and live plants when i get the chance, they sound better and i want cory cats so that sounds good.
thanks for your help

 

[Colin_T]

green cloudy is an algal bloom
milky cloudy is a bacterial bloom

you can have a bacterial bloom without fish. it's caused by organic matter on the gravel and ornament (driftwood, rocks, etc) being broken down by bacteria.

drain and refill the tank with dechlorinated water and see how it goes.

 

[Lynnzer]

RO is Pure Water as you say, BUT it is devoid of all elements you need to have present in fishtanks.
There are additives to give you those. It may be that the "conditioner" you used was one of them but you'll need to let us know what it was.
StartZyme isn't one of them for sure. It's like Prime which is meant to remove chlorine from tapwater. Of course RO water has no chlorine so it really was advised wrongly. Typical carpetbagging fish shop employees again. Sell them anything just to make money.
So what conditioner are you using?