Sand=cloudy Water/cycling With Fish

[Ricky Savage]

hello, i just started up my 45 gal which is 36x18x16. It has about 2-3cm of silica sand on the bottom with a bunch of caves and some starter live plants...i started it up about 3 days ago and the water is still somewhat cloudy, its running with a AC 50...how long do u think untill its perfectly clear? and how is sand to be cleaned, or do burrowing fish do that?

and...could people tell me some options on some hardy catfish that i could use to help cycling, or any other fish perferably cats tho...i was hoping to have Banjo Cats, Corys, Dojo Loaches (dont worry temp wont be too high), a breeding par of blue rams, and a school of Up Side Down Cats.

any opinions on these subjects are greatly appreciated

Rick

 

[ox5477]

You shoudln't need fish to cycle. If your doing a fishless cycle then you should be adding ammonia to help your bacteria grow. If you haven't seen the post then here is a link: Fishless cycling

The water will clear up within a week. Mine took about a week with doing water changes everyday and making sure I rinsed my filter out in the body of the tank before I did a water change every other day or so to make sure the sand doesn't clog up the works of the filter.

Cories and Loaches will help with the sand somewhat. You still shouldn't put in that deep of a sand bed, maybe 1/2" at most as this will make plenty of space for them to wallow in but won't be too deep to promote anarobic bacteria. Even at 1/2", I would still stir around my sand when I do a cleaning. Toc lean the sand just use a Python or similar brand of vac and take off the large plastic piece on the end. The suction in the small end of the hose will allow you to hover over the sand and pick up the poop and waste without sucking up too much sand.

 

[Ricky Savage]

makes sense, would setting up one of my filters from another tank speed up the process of getting the bacteria. Yes i have read the fishless cycling, but im leaning towards the other article of cycling with fish. just a couple at first then every week or so adding a few more until its fully stocked.

 

[ox5477]

Yes, using mature media from another filter will help speed up the cycling process exponentially. I would still go a week or so doing the fishless cycling and then if the numbers are stable...

NH3 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 < 50 ppm

Then start slowley adding your fish

You may think it's hard to wait to add your fish, but it will pay off in the end with a much healthier and well balanced tank

 

[Nerwign]

Definately use media from your exsisting tanks and please try not to use fish to cycle it. It will make your fish weak and they won't live as long. It won't take all that long to cycle and it will feel like forever (at least it did for me) but in the end you know you will be putting your fish into a complete habitat, not into some icky toxic home in the hopes they will survive

-Nerwign