Cloudy Water!

[daniel_koch]

Saturday i got a used 30 gallon tank that is 30''x12''x18'' i cleaned with bleach and let dry for and hour then i began setting it up new gravels new filters new everything.. the tank looked great. then Sunday morning i bought a couple red tail black sharks, learning after i bought them they are not great companions, even thought there not fighting.. but anyway all day Sunday and Monday everything looked great. when i woke up this morning you cant see through the tank its so cloudy.. the first thing that hit my mind was the new food im using for them so i vacuumed all particles left from the 3 pellets i fed them yesterday and sucked out 5 gallon of water then added 5 gallon. and still CLOUDY!! what should i do?

thanks my camera is dead or i would add a picture of it couldy



The tank was this clear when i went to bed last night

thanks

 

[daniel_koch]

Found some batteries for my camera




thanks please help!

 

[aly_starh]

No fish should have been added yet, your tank has not been cycled.
Read the pinned sections on New To The Hobby.

The cloudiness may be due to the new tank set up and should go within a few day.

 

[razer121]

id say an ammonia spike due to lack of cycling, im not to clued up on it all but have you ever heard of cycling??

 

[daniel_koch]

no i have not im still new to the site and not read much on here.. but this is the third thank ive had and the first time having this problem, so i kick my self for not reading lol... but i still have the question on my mind what do i need to do, will my fish be okay? what should i do now?

 

[shane87]

we al make mistakes but we all learn from them ...but id go with ammonia ...have you tested for it, when i had a huge ammonia spike i had white foamy stuf on top of the water

 

[razer121]

well, if you do have an ammonia spike then i would start of with 50% water change now, id wait for say an hour for the water temp to settle then do anouther 50% water change, once again wait for an hour then test the water, if you still have ammonia then i would start doing 25% water changes untill ammonia is gone, then you should start with a fish-in cycle located here...

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306

good luck

 

[daniel_koch]

ok thanks!

 

[drobbyb]

That looks like green water in the 2nd pic. Changing the water will not clear it as it will just come back. Ammonia spikes trigger green water so until you get your ammonia under control, you will have this type of outbreak.

After you get your ammonia under control, black out the tank and leave the light off for 3 days. You must make sure that no light gets in. After the 3 day black out, perform a 90% waterchange and refill the tank using dechlorinator.

The blackout works most of the time except in cases where sunlight hits the tank triggering the green water again.

 

[daniel_koch]

sorry its took me so long to reply i had to leave the house... i just tested my ammonia lvl and looks to be around .25ppm mg/l ..... to me the water doesn't look green which im not an expert so idk



and no white foamy stuff on top of the water

 

[daniel_koch]

is .25 a bad lvl?

 

[daniel_koch]

just done a 50% water change still cloudy but not as bad as b4

 

[Curiosity101]

0.25ppm isn't good, but it also isn't deadly. The only reading of ammonia that is 'good' is 0ppm.

What test kit are you using?

Keep up the water changes and daily (possibly twice daily) testing. You need to know exactly how long it takes for your water to return to 0.25ppm after that 50% water change. The ammonia needs to be kept below 0.25ppm otherwise it will cause serious health problems for the fish.

You have a choice right now...you can either continue with a Fish in Cycle or you can return the fish to the shop and start a Fishless Cycle.
Neither is technically the RIGHT way to do it. But in my opinion fishless is both more ethical and less work.
With fish in cycling you will be constantly having to do water changes to keep the ammonia (and later nitrites) at acceptable levels (bearing in mind that any readings your test kit can pick up will be causing at least minor damage).
With fishless cycling the ammonia level doesn't matter as there are no fish to be poisoned. Following the guide I linked to you will see that you test every couple of days for the first few weeks, top up the ammonia, then basically (and I am making this very very basic as the guide is what you need to read), you wait. And around 6-8weeks later your tank is cycled.

Anyhoo, aswell as the specific links on cycling, here is the link to our Beginners resource section. It had loads of useful links to thread which will give you near enough all the information you could possibly need. You particularly want to read topics in the cycling section (after you've read about the two specific cycling methods).

Final note...those sharks need 55gal each. Whilst immature (which yours are), they wont be aggressive. But please accept we've seen MANY people with MANY sharks. And basically if you don't give each shark around 55gal worth of tank space for it to establish a territory then they become very agressive.
You should have a couple of months before the agression start, but it WILL come. Plus not only that but there are so many better, more appropriately sized, bottom dweller you could have.

 

[daniel_koch]

tested it today and its 0ppm but everything is still cloudy

 

[Curiosity101]

What test kit are you using?