Cloudy Water

[dvd_wightman]

My tank's water has recently clouded up a few days after the addition of my betta. The tank has just began cycling. I had put carbon in the filter after I saw the clouding, but it only helped a little bit. Then, i did a 20% water change, but that only helped a little bit. I tested the water, and it said there was .25 ammonia, so I know that means the cycle is starting. I feed my betta hikari betta gold and omega one bloodworms. I make sure he eats all of it. I do gravel the gravel as well. My water conditioner is Amquel plus, but only because I could not find Prime when I got the fish. The filter is a Whisper 5-15. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[lilly]

I am not an expert but I do know that when the tank is new, you want to leave the gravel alone, the filter too. Don't vacuum it. If and when you clean the filter, just swish it in water you take out of the tank so you don't kill off your good bacteria colony.

Keep an eye on your PH, Amquel can cause it to drop if you have below 4 KH. If this is the case, then you can use Prime.

You might also want to test your city water. Mine has ammonia in it. I guess that's common. So, in that case, you don't want to do large water changes.

If I were you, I would do a water change though.

I hope an expert comes to help you, it's late and I am still up so I thought I tell you the bit that I know!

Good luck

 

[Ghost_knife]

is it white or green, take some out and put it against somthing white, if it's green it's algae, if it's white, then it's bacterial. either way it's normal. keep up on the water changes and it should be ok,

 

[J double R]

well, that's happened to every tank i've started, and about a week after the cycle is over (once the nitrates and nitrites and ammonia zero/even out), the cloudiness usually subsides. dont overfeed during this time, and DONT clean your filters! sometimes it can get worse even over the course of a few hours (especially in warmer tanks), and one morning you'll walk in and the water will be crystal clear! if you keep a good biological filtration (i usually run a canister filter AND a HOT filter w/biowheel), and i dont ever use charcoal or zeolite or any other stuff like that, strictly biomedia (ehfistrat for the eheim filter) and just the floss and biowheel/biosponge in the HOT filter. once you extablish a good colony of bacteria, you won't need anything but biological filtration and light mechanical filtration.

 

[dvd_wightman]

Thanks for the help. It is white. After reading J double R's reply and a tetra tip i received, I found out that this is normal. This never happened in my 55 gallon tank, so I was a bit concerned. Thank you for all the help.

P.S.- I will most likely be doing a water change tomorrow.