Fish Tank Is Cloudy Help!

[Michaela521]

Hi all,

I just bought a 36 gallon acrylic fish tank with a bow front. I used to have a smaller 20 gallon glass tank but decided to get a larger acrylic one. Question is I set it up and everything but for some reason about a week or 2 after setup the water is cloudy. What is happening. I have 2 filters running in there capable of handling 20 gallons each. That should be sufficient for filtering it. I don't know why it is so cloudy. Can anybody help. Thanks

 

[onemisterchristian]

Did you cycle the tank? Did you recently add sand or any other substrate?

 

[docbanzai]

Hi all,

I just bought a 36 gallon acrylic fish tank with a bow front. I used to have a smaller 20 gallon glass tank but decided to get a larger acrylic one. Question is I set it up and everything but for some reason about a week or 2 after setup the water is cloudy. What is happening. I have 2 filters running in there capable of handling 20 gallons each. That should be sufficient for filtering it. I don't know why it is so cloudy. Can anybody help. Thanks

Hi,
Was it A; cloudy to start with or B; just become cloudy?

If A then it's just dirt that hasn't settled yet. Can be caused by too strong a current in the tank which will keep disturbing the substrate (if you have a fine substrate like sand...)

If B the possibly a bacterial bloom which is quite normal and will settle down in time.

In both cases it's probably just a case of wait and see, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

As onemisterchristian has already asked; Has the tank been cycled, or has there been any additions to the setup recently? Also... What colour is the cloudiness? White/Milky or Green (or God forbid something else )

Take care,

DB.

 

[Michaela521]

Thank you very much for the replies. It became cloudy after about 1 week and the cloudiness is white in color. It is most likely a bacteria bloom starting up in there and so I should give it some time to settle. I never knew that new tanks go through a bacteria bloom. Will this happen every single time I replace old water with new. I don't recall this ever happening with my old tank. Not to sure what you mean by cycling though and there hasn't been any additions to the setup resently. The whole setup is knew. I only got the tank 3 weeks ago and set it up the day after. Thanks for all the help again.

 

[onemisterchristian]

Cycling is necessary to make an aquarium stable, and safe for fish to live in. There are a few different ways to go about cycling a tank. The first, and most humane is called a fishless cycle. This is what most of the forum users will recommend. The second option is a cycle with fish. This involves fish providng the source of ammonia in order to feed the benneficial bacteria. This does however affect a fish's health. Do you have fish in the setup already? If so, then the cloudiness is probably a build up of ammonia in the water which is poisonous to fish. You'll have to do regular daily water changes in order to keep the levels low enough for your fish to remain essentially ok. This is basically what a cycle with fish is. Have a look at the pinned articles in the beginner FAQ topics. Good Luck.

 

[Michaela521]

Got it. That was a very informative article on the topic. I got a test kit and my ammonia levels are actually low. Probably because I have been changing some of the water out to try and get rid of the whitish haze in the tank. Perhaps the test kit was wrong though. I did it twice. Anything you want to add. Thanks

 

[Michaela521]

Is there anyway that I can make this bacteria bloom thing go faster. The tank is still white. We put a larger filter system with pump with the hopes it might help. It has gotten alittle bit clearer but not much. Perhaps I could introduce some rocks from an already established tank or do something. It looks so bad I just turn the light off so I don't have to look at it. Thanks for helping as always

 

[debiasir]

plenty of small water change can help i think

 

[mark.w.jones]

Is there anyway that I can make this bacteria bloom thing go faster. The tank is still white. We put a larger filter system with pump with the hopes it might help. It has gotten alittle bit clearer but not much. Perhaps I could introduce some rocks from an already established tank or do something. It looks so bad I just turn the light off so I don't have to look at it. Thanks for helping as always

Why are you so desperate to get rid of it? At the moment your tank is cycling and will generally look like crap for most of this time until you do your big 80% water change when it's finished. If youve got no fish in there at the moment then I wouldnt worry about it. Just soldier on with your fishless cycle. If it returns after youve finished cycling and added your fish then it will be worth sorting out.

 

[Michaela521]

Well I didn't do my research when I set up this second tank. I thought that when setting up a new tank all you do is fill with water, place fish in, and just keep a filter going. Unfortunately there are fish in there and I really don't want to loose them. I test regularily for ammonia levels and I do empty about a bucket full of water every day and fill with new but It doesn't seem to be helping much. The ammonia levels are ok but for some reason the ph has gone down alot. Don't know why the ph would go down. Thank as always

 

[onemisterchristian]

The ammonia levels are ok but for some reason the ph has gone down alot. Don't know why the ph would go down. Thank as always

What do you mean by ok? Also, another way to help is to add any ornaments, gravel or ilter media from an already matured tank. That will help to culture the necessary bacteria much more quickly. And yes frequent water changes are your best friend.

 

[Michaela521]

I purchase an ammonia test kit at the store and it tells me all is good. Hopefully I am doing the test right though sense I have messed up on almost everything else. Oh well, we live we learn right. I have a friend at the pet store so mayby she will be a pale and give me some rocks from one of her tanks. Thanks as always

 

[bobbicus]

maybe the amount of water that u are changing is a bit on the small side .....maybe increase the amount to 25% or more of ur tank water volume.......as fishes REALLy dont like ammonia (they dnt lke other things but doing more % of water change may help them more)?

 

[Michaela521]

Just redid the ammonia test today. The reading was high. I think I have dun my fish in. Plan is to start doing as you suggested and increase the water changes by 25 percent everyday. I was able to get those rocks though. I got about a cup full of rocks. Anyother suggestions. Thanks for the help so far.