merky water but...nothings in it yet!

[zeig]

First, you need to do a thorough gravel vacuuming. Then, I would do 50% water changes daily for the next week to reduce the nutrient levels and the amount of free floating algae in the tank. Leave the lights off to be sure, but most important is removing the excess waste and material that is fueling the algae growth.

After you vaccum the gravel and do a water change, do a black out for a couple days, then daily water changes until your water is clear again. In the future, even though it is a snail tank, you still need to vacuum the gravel. Snails poop too. Keep the gravel clean and keep a regular water changing schedule once everything is back to normal.

what are you talking about?
i have no snails lol
and nothing is living in my tank yet so idk what would eb fueling anything, i thought my problem was with bacteria not algea?!
ahhh!

 

[gzeiger]

He got your post confused with the other guy's, that's all. I agree your problem is not algae.

A bacteria bloom is nothing to worry about. There are many kinds of bacteria and they can live on all sorts of foods. Some even eat ammonia! Typically a new tank has an excess of some nutrient that fuels an explosion of some species, and it will die off and go away on its own once that nutrient is depleted. I really would expect that murk to go away on its own if you just ignore it for a week.

Speaking of water parameters, it may also be relevant to know what "normal" salinity means. How did you decide how much salt to add?

 

[mfdrookie516]

zeig, i think she was talking about the other tank that somebody posted pics of on here... they have algae, bad... all you need to do is give your tank some time... if you really want to get rid of the white stuff, go to an lfs and get a bottle of something to clear it up... there are lots of brands, but most of them say they combat "new tank syndrome" which is basically what you have... it will go away in a few days, all mine did the same thing

 

[zeig]

ya i talked to my friends mom who is an aquarium nut so i she explained the bloom and it will go await, thats gzeiger (whos name is really close to mine) and mfdrookie516.

ya ill wait for it to clear up then!

my salinity is brakish so trying to pull it off the top of my head its like 1.009 or something? i just did some baisic algebra for about 1/4 of what a marine tank needs that was written on the salts directions. i do knwo it was at liek 1.012 or something a while ago but a small water change fixed that.

***by the way, the lady at the store said the salt and time will take everything bad out of the water (mostly chlorine) and that chlorine would evaporate naturally in a few days anyways. is this true or do i need to buy dechloronator?

 

[mfdrookie516]

well you need dechlorinator... the carbon in the filters will do it, but its best to use something to take it out... i use prime, along with most people here... its really good.. The chloring will stall your cycle as it will kill bacteria, the reason it is in tap water...

 

[zeig]

hmm.. idk if my filter is carbon...its a sponge filter...so ya..?

but k i will pick some up. ugh dumb lady at the store..

 

[mfdrookie516]

yeah lol, they usually are... but its usually the other way around, wanting you to buy unnecessary stuff lol... if you have a sponge, which i should have thought of since i saw the picture, it wont have carbon in it... the chlorine would eventually be gone after some time, but if you dont want to start the cycle over, i would definately get some prime, or at least something to remove the chlorine

 

[zeig]

ya ill get some decholoronator, id rather not kill anything other than bacteria in my aquarium..

 

[gzeiger]

You'll want the dechlorinator if nothing else because when you change water you don't want to have a whole bunch of water sitting in buckets for days until the chlorine evaporates out. More to the point though, many water companies are now adding germicides other than chlorine which are not volatile and really won't evaporate away. Prime takes care of all of it.