Help me get clear

justfishing

AC Members
Nov 6, 2005
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I have been cycling my 72gal. fresh water tank for 3 weeks. I have the 20 gal. tank in there already(no room for both tanks), but I used the cycled water and the gravel in the wet/dry sump.Well the fish are fine, but the tank is not clear. Someone told me the overflow and wet/dry sump isn't enough and I need an undergravel system on a reef ready tank. My gravel is the fine type. Am I just still cycling :
 
Probably...a test kit would verify that, however.
 
What about ammonia and nitrites?
 
If ammonia and nitrite were 0 then I would think it's one of three things:

1. bacteria bloom
2. cloudy glass (I forgot what grows on it, but you can find a thread here at AC)
3. substrate floating around. Do you distrub the gravel at all (or do your fish)? Possible it's just crap floating around.

You can always try a carbon pad too to clear up water if it's not algae or bacteria.
 
adding the old water doesn't help the cycle, the bacteria are located on the filter and filter media, gravel, and decorations. you probably imported some bacteria from the gravel, but the filter is where most of them live.

i have a 50g with overflow and sump. same problem with cloudy water when i started, adding a powerhead to the tank increased the current and helped to to clear up a lot. the powerhead sits on top of a sponge filter so as it takes in water that is filtered as well. makes a big difference.
 
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