bloomy water
- Thread starter wilson004
- Start date
It's not unusual to see some cloudy water 3 days post set-up...are you doing a fishless cycle on it?
Are you just running the tank or are you starting the bio cycle?
if you are running just the tank and water (new decorations, etc) depending on the gravel its normal and it will settle.
Also if you are running a fishless cycle for the bio-filter you might see a bacteria bloom during ammonia and nitrite spikes and this is normal as well.
Either way its normal
however if you find yourself with a cloudy tank and you are only running the water and decorations just add some water "polishing" filter floss that will filter out most of the debris
if you are running just the tank and water (new decorations, etc) depending on the gravel its normal and it will settle.
Also if you are running a fishless cycle for the bio-filter you might see a bacteria bloom during ammonia and nitrite spikes and this is normal as well.
Either way its normal
however if you find yourself with a cloudy tank and you are only running the water and decorations just add some water "polishing" filter floss that will filter out most of the debris
Yes, that is what I should have asked, Sean! 
BTW, I find your avatar and the 'Giggity-Giggity- Giga-ty' really amusing! Hehe.
BTW, I find your avatar and the 'Giggity-Giggity- Giga-ty' really amusing! Hehe.
yea everything in the tank is new including gravel and decorations, and im undecided whether to add some hardy fish or to just wait till the ammnia and nitrite has gone down. i will probably wait.and im running a 25 gal tank with a penguin 170 filter, should i still add floss?
sky.eyes.woman said:Yes, that is what I should have asked, Sean!
BTW, I find your avatar and the 'Giggity-Giggity- Giga-ty' really amusing! Hehe.
haha thats what I was going for I love the show and couldnt resist when I found this avatar.
Curious as to what the levels in the tank are now? do you have a water test kit? if so test amm. nitrites and nitrAtes...and give us the params.
Have you added ammonia? If not then you will not get the tank to cycle.
Adding fish will do this, but in all honesty, a fishless cycle is easier, safer, and in the end it will prepare your tank for a bigger bio-load quicker. Read the sticky on cycling and then ask questions if you have any. Without the addition of an ammonia source, your tank will just sit there.
Whether or not you add the floss is technically irrelevant. Crystal clear water is an aesthetic choice and generally has no bearing on true water quality for your fish. If the cloudiness bothers you and you want it to go away quickly, then add the floss. If you don't care how soon it goes away just be patient. If you are using the pengiun cartidges, you already have floss. Adding more may help, but I doubt it will make a huge difference.
Dave
only certain areas have ammonia in their water supply in the form of chloramines which have to be broken up into chlorine and ammonia.
other than that to stat the cycle you either need to ADD ammonia, OR use fish to add ammonia. if youre lucky you will have water that has ammonia in it to start the cycle (using a dechlorinater that will break the chloramines) however in general its only good for 1ppm of ammonia which isnt a lot or enough for the amount of fish most people are going to add.
if you add ammonia just make sure it is PURE ammonia and generally its about 1 tsp/10 gal if I remember right.
other than that to stat the cycle you either need to ADD ammonia, OR use fish to add ammonia. if youre lucky you will have water that has ammonia in it to start the cycle (using a dechlorinater that will break the chloramines) however in general its only good for 1ppm of ammonia which isnt a lot or enough for the amount of fish most people are going to add.
if you add ammonia just make sure it is PURE ammonia and generally its about 1 tsp/10 gal if I remember right.