Cloudy Water!

[king neon]

Hi,
Im new to the hobby and the forums. Yesterday I bought my first tank which is 90 Litres. I am using a fluval 2 plus filter (which came with the tank.)
I have a air pump and heater with it. And yesterday I added two things which came with the tank which were to formula's 1. increasing the bateria and 2. helping to remove chlorine from the water. And today I wake up to find my tank water cloudy!!! I got worried and began reading my book and discovered tthat I had planted my plants wrong! I had left the brown coating around the roots. So I replanted them this morning in the correct way. And now I have no Idea what to do about the cloudy water. Please could I have some advice.

 

[2day]

maybe its just a bacterial bloom? A water change will get rid of some if not most of the cloudyness

 

[Matty P]

One of the first and most important things you have to do before you buy any fish iscycle your fish tank. Cycling your tank builds up "friendly" aerobic bacteria (from the Nitrobacter genus) which consume harmful ammonia (fish waste). These are broken down into nitrites and then into nitrates which aren't as toxic tfor your fishies.

EDIT: an effective way of ridding bacterial blooms is a UV sterilizer.

 

[king neon]

Oh ok thanks for the help, how long do you think It will take to clear up?

 

[Matty P]

Are you buying a UV sterilizer or just doing water changes??

 

[king neon]

I think I will just do water changes but could it just settle on its own or could the filter clear it all?

 

[2day]

if you give it time, it will eventually fade away, not too sure as to how long it will take. but if your not keen on buying a uv steriliser, you might want to continue doing water changes every second day? About 10 - 15%? Hopefully that will remove the cloudyness

 

[king neon]

So does this happen all the time to new aquriums? And im going to follow out water changes.

 

[GRJ]

My tank went cloudy when i first set it up, it settled of its own accord in around 3 days so i wouldnt worry too much about that. You do need to get yourself a test kits so you can keep an eye on levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and PH. Whilst your tank is cycling, you will see a rise in ammonia and nitrite which is very toxic to fish. Eventually these will drop and the nitrate will go up, thats when your tank has cycled. Do you have any fish in there? Try to read as many articles on cycling as you can as you need to be very clued up on this. Occasionally, yoour water will go cloudy during cycling from a 'bacterial bloom' but these settle down of their own accord. Good luck. GRJ

 

[king neon]

Oh Thankyou so much! You have put me at rest of all this worring. I bought a test kit luckily yesterday... what tests should I do today or should i leave it for now? I dont have any fish in the tank yet, since I have been told to let the tank run for a week. And so should I bother with the water changes now or not?

 

[Matty P]

Ammonia and nitrate tests are the most important ones during the cycling period. You shouldn't add any fish until your tank is cyclyed with sufficient bacteria to chomp on your fishies waste. This may tank longer than a week... I would test your water levels today.

EDIT: Forgot to add for your fishless cycle to work you need a constant source of ammonia, the easiest way to do this is go out and buy some fish safe pure ammonia.

 

[GRJ]

I wouldnt bother with the water changes just yet, the important thing is to get that tank cycled before you put fish in there. If you reasearch any information on here or the internet in general on fishless cycling (i didnt do a fishless cycle and lost fish because of it!) and get going with that. With me not doing one myself, i cant really tell you how to go about it, but there is plenty of info out there. This is whre you will have to be really patient as it can take a while to cycle your tank.Some say its done in 2 weeks, other say months. It just depends on your cicumstances. Research research research! As for testing, i would do a tap reading test of your PH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, so you know what the water is like direct from the tap, then test your tank water. When you begin to cycle your tank, test daily for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate from your tank and make a note of it. You will see ammonia go up, then nitrite will rise, then they will drop and go to zero as your nitrate goes up. I know its a lot to take in but its essential you understand it and it really isnt that bad. Sounds worse than it is. Need any help, either post on here or send me a personal message and we'll do what we can. Welcome to the forum! GRJ.

 

[Matty P]

Fishless cycling

 

[GRJ]

Fishless cycling

I was trying to do that! Thanks, i am a right dunce!

 

[Matty P]

Don't worry mate, we were all at that stage at some point