Fishless cycling and Cloudy water advice...please

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Daddynev

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
Messages
59
Location
London, UK
Hi all, can I get some help please? I am a newbie and am currently Fishless cycling my first 35l tank but have come home tonight from work to find the water has turned cloudy. It was ok this morning. Should I be worried or will this pass? We are using an Elite stingray 10 filter suitable for up to 50l. My confession though is that we have used nutrafin cycle biological supplement rather than the recommended pure ammonia as it came with the tank and it would have been another week before I could have got any ammonia. We are on day 3 of the cycle but have only put in 2 doses so far as the next is dud later tonight. We also added one dose of nutrafin Aqua plus water conditioner at the start of the cycle as the de-chlorinator. We have the light on as I have been testing the timer works.

Thanks a million
 
The nutrafin wont 'cycle' your tank. You need to add an ammonia source in order to grow & feed your bacteria. Pure ammonia, raw shrimp, or even fish food will provide an ammonia source although shrimp/food is messy & not as accurate. Do you have a test kit to monitor your water? Please read up on 'fishless cycling' (theres a sticky in fw 'getting started' section) & ask questions if you dont understand anything or are unsure. We are here to help! :)
 
Hi no not yet, I've asked 3lfs about testing kits and they all seem to look at me strangely and just say bring in a sample after a week. The nutrafin says powerful ammonia and nitrite elimination so was hoping this would help. Any thoughts on the cloudiness ?
 
I have found a late opening pet store I think I will go and get the API master test kit
 
I have found a late opening pet store I think I will go and get the API master test kit

Good idea!!! This will be an absolute necessity! Yes, the nutrafin is an ammonia reducer but, in order to cycle your tank, you will need to add a source of ammonia to your tank to grow & feed your bacteria! Nutrafin does not provide any source of ammonia. Without food (ammonia), your bacteria will not grow & colonize & your tank will not cycle.
 
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Thanks I feel such a ...! Just come back from the store and didn't have it in even though it was showing as available online. Do I need to start again and get rid of the cloudy water and shall i leave it and see if it settles until i get some ammonia? Here's a picture of the water
 

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I'd do a full water change (won't take long in a small tank) and start with fresh water. Try amazon for the test kit. (what country are you in?)
So feel too bad. :) We all started out somewhere and we have all made mistakes! You could have come home with a new tank and 5 goldfish but you did your research first :)
 
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You will need to get a source of ammonia first. If you are looking for the bottled type, seek out something with no additives, perfumes, dyes- just ammonium hydroxide & water. If you shake the bottle & it foams/bubbles, keep looking! If you can not find anything, you will have to go shrimp/fish food route. I personally would do a big water change with appropriate water conditioner & start from scratch.
 
Sorry if this is a stupid question but is this a bacterial bloom? I've just read some of the info that came with the tank and says cloudy water can be caused by new tank syndrome bacterial bloom. What is that? Also is it best to wait to do a complete water change until I have the ammonia ? Or do the change now and leave it in without any of the bacterial agent even though it might be a few days before I can get to a hardware store?
 
Daddynev said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question but is this a bacterial bloom? I've just read some of the info that came with the tank and says cloudy water can be caused by new tank syndrome bacterial bloom. What is that? Also is it best to wait to do a complete water change until I have the ammonia ? Or do the change now and leave it in without any of the bacterial agent even though it might be a few days before I can get to a hardware store?

A water change now or later will be fine. It won't matter when.
Bacterial blooms are bacteria in the water. They are a different type of bacteria to the ones you want in the filter. They don't harm anything. It was most likely caused by the cycle product.
 
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