New tank - no fish. But cloudy water.

[Al Bundy]

I have recently purchased a 27.5 Gallon tank as part of a kit which included the hood, heater and Fluval 3 plus filter. I also purchased gravel which was thouroughly cleaned before being put into the tank. I also added the plastic "plants" which came with the tank, also cleaned.

I filled the tank and set the heater and filter going to mature the water (as I was told in the instructions) and added the Water conditioner "Nutrafin Aqua Plus" and the Biological Aquarium Supplement "Nutrafin Cycle". For the first day the water was crystal clear but over the past 2 days it has gone a white cloudy colour.

The fluval filter also came with two pads - one white and one black. The white one is in the filter presently and I believe the black one is to use if you have treated any fish for disease? Not sure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will be looking to purchase fish next week hopefully.

Thanks

Al.

 

[Al Bundy]

Oh BTW, I also added a pinch of fish food like it said in the setup guide that came with the tank.

 

[kev_kb]

Hi Al,

Sounds like you have a kit the same as mine, but mine is slightly smaller and has a Fluval 2 filter. The black pad is a carbon filter, which I was advised should be put in the filter along with the white one when the tank is first setup, after a week it should be removed as they stop working after that long. I followed this advice and never had cloudly water as you describe. It wasn't always crystal clear, but I wouldn't describe it as a cloudy white.

Also make sure you read everything on this site about cycling before you add any fish. I found this site after I added my fish to the tank and have since found that one week is not long enough to cycle a tank as the instruction booklet seems to suggest! I wonder if you purchased your kit from Pets At Home??

Basically you can add fish after a week, but you will need to frequently test the water and do partial water changes to keep the levels of Ammonia, Nitrate & Nitrite at safe levels for the fish. Also some species cope with cycling better than others, so don't just rush down the shop and purchase the fish you see like I did.

Hope this helps. If I were you I would fishless cycle if possible to avoid stressing/killing any fish, but saying that I haven't lost any yet, fingers crossed....

 

[BuntbarschXXL]

Hello.

Sounds absolutely normal, most people have this during the cycling.

I also added the plastic "plants" which came with the tank, also cleaned.

Have you also got real plants in your tank?

 

[Arfie]

Hi,

The black pad is a carbon filter, which I was advised should be put in the filter along with the white one when the tank is first setup, after a week it should be removed as they stop working after that long.

I am informed that the activated carbon in my filter (Juwel) will last about a month and it is to remove chemicals see here and should be in your tank most of the time, especially when doing water changes. It should however be removed when treating fish with medication as it can remove the medication from the water.

Good luck with the new tank.

Arfie

 

[Al Bundy]

I am informed that the activated carbon in my filter (Juwel) will last about a month and it is to remove chemicals see here and should be in your tank most of the time, especially when doing water changes. It should however be removed when treating fish with medication as it can remove the medication from the water.

Thanks for the advice, although it seems I have conflicting issues here.

I contacted Fluval who told me that the black carbon pad should ONLY be used when treating fish with medication, and should be removed after 1 week.

The whote pad should ONLY be used after doing a water change or tank clean as it removes small pieces of debris. Again it should not be in the filter more than a week.

In answer to an earlier question, I HAVE now planted real plants in the tank, but they have started to turn brown and die. Any reason for this?

Thanks for the great help.

 

[kev_kb]

I have the white pad in my Fluval still after having the tank one month and everything seems fine, I clean it when I do a water change. I think buying a new one each week is a little over the top!

 

[Al Bundy]

No, not buy a new one, just take it out and clean it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[swampcat]

Actual activated carbon will last a month. The foam pad, I believe is foam impregnated with carbon. Have no idea how long it would last (black foam) and not familair with your filters but, if at all possible, I would use carbon in a bag rather than black foam (after black foam needs replacement ). The white cloud is bacteria bloom( Normal).

 

[clutterydrawer]

Just to clear up confusion...activated carbon really isn't essential most of the time It removes things like medications, heavy metals, dyes etc but these shouldn't be in your tnak anyway.

 

[Al Bundy]

Just to clear up confusion...activated carbon really isn't essential most of the time It removes things like medications, heavy metals, dyes etc but these shouldn't be in your tnak anyway.

Yeah, that's the advice I have already.

Thanks for the clear up