Bacterial Bloom - Can you see them

[tommy d]

I have a question concerning bacterial bloom. My tank is a 36 gallon bow. I'm using a Fluval C4 outside filter. The tank has 8 juvenile Kenyi who seem to be doing very well. I wish I had read your forums earlier about "fishless cycling" but I did not. I had no idea about cycling a tank. So the tank has been in business for about 4 weeks. I continue to have cloudy water issues. My question is: in a tank with alleged BB is it possible to see the bacteria? I don't have a microscope but examining a water sample with an 8X jewelers loop I can actually see microscopic objects darting around! Thousands of them. I cant quite make out their shape or anything about them other than they are moving around. I've been doing frequent water changes of about 25% every 3 or 4 days. Water chemistry right now is PH +7.8 Am .0 Nitrite +5.0 Nitrate +5.0.

Thanks
Tom D

 

[Rbishop]

Liquid test kit?

Keep that ammonia under .1, preferably 0.

The bloom will make the tank look cloudy.