MISTY WATER, (BACTERIA BLOOM)

[pandapops001]

is it true? I had misty water when i first put water etc in the tank but this went away, i'm currently trying to do a fishless cycle, but havent yet got the ammonia, so i'm using fish flakes daily (approx the same amount). Until i can get some, however i'm 5 days into this and its started to go misty again, i've been told this is a bacteria bloom, or something, and when this clears it will be safe to add zebra danio's as these are quite hardy.

Now i really want to persist with the fishless cycle, and i'm waiting on my test kits to be delivered on Wednesday, and i will not add fish until my levels are 100% safe, but was curious if this was remotely true, and if not then why does my tank look milky again.

Thanks for reading

 

[tstenback]

using fish flakes it could be a bloom but without your ammonia and nitrite readings i could only guess. But if you have only been at this 5 days with fish flakes i am going to guess that it is the rotten fish flakes that may be causing the cloudiness. How much did you put in when you started and have you been adding some daily or did you just put some in one time?

 

[pandapops001]

daily, not very much 2 pinches approx, for the last 5 days, i will post my readings as soon as the test kits arrive, do you think this cloudiness will go away eventually?

 

[tstenback]

If you have been adding food daily for 5 days then i suspect the excess food is causing the cloudiness and that it is not a bacteria bloom. I may be wrong but it would be odd to be at the bacteria bloom stage after just 5 days using food as it will take longer than that for it to break down into ammonia and the other elements. I wouldnt add any more food for a while and you may have to clean soome of it out of the tank if your readings show no ammonia or nitrite. HTH

 

[pandapops001]

Okay, thank you Tstenback, i will keep an eye on it and let you know, and i will stop adding the food, until we can ascertain the reasons behind this,

 

[Fordaz]

Like tstenback said, it could just the the flakes making the water go cloudy. Make sure you get non-cloudy types.

If it's not that, it's a bacteria bloom, but again, like tstenback said, without the readings you can't tell.

 

[pandapops001]

Didnt even know you could get non-cloudy fish flakes, how bizarre.

Do you know the name of one, I have discontinued using the fish flakes, and i'm waiting on ammonia, purely because i feel this is a better, safer and more renowned (tried and tested) way.

But while i'm on the subject, could the cloudiness have anything to do with having the lights on for 12 hours straight, someone recently told me, that you should break it down and have a break every three hours, i havent got any live plants

Could this be the reason, i havent added any fish flakes today and its starting to look clearer already so i guess it may be that,

How long should i keep the lights on for when i eventually get my fish, as i would rather start getting into the right habits now, and perhaps a timer switch would suffice??

Thanks again guys

 

[tstenback]

If the aquarium will be fish only and it is in a fairly well lit room (windows natural light, no direct sun on tank) then you only need to turn on the light when it is dark and you want to see the fish, morning and evening. If the tank is in a dark room, no natural light then you must simulate a tropical day which is 10-12 hours of light. If it is fish and plants then you need to leave the lights on about 10 hours a day. timer is the answer HTH