Hi, I just bought my first aquarium today. I plan on it holding cold & fresh water fish. I bought a 30 gallon long tank, bought an Aquaclear power filter (for 50 gallons), and I bought some gravel. I washed the gravel quite thorowly. but in my bucket it would still get a little murky. But it wasn't getting any better the more I washed it so I put it on the bottom of my tank. When I started adding tap water, the water has a slight grayish tint to it. I turned the filter on for about an hour or two but nothing changed (maybe this wasn't long enough). Then, I unplugged the filter and let it sit over night, again...nothing changed this morning. I think our tap water here in St. Catharines Ontario has quite a bit of cholrine in it because when I stand over the tank that's all I can smell. What can I do to clear the water???
Just got tank...and cloudy water
- Thread starter kosti
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
rubysoho
Aquarium Advice Addict
you can get a de-chlorinator at any LFS and Walmart. Also, activated carbon in your filter will help if you don't already have some. So what kind of coldwater fish are you thinking about? I recommend checking out the article on cycling your tank (here on AA) to help you get started properly and to minimalize the loss of fish. 
btw, welcome to AA!!!
btw, welcome to AA!!!
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
Dechlorinator should be used when changing water in a tank. It will instantly remove the chlorine and make the water safe for fish. Dose the tank with dechlorinator and run the filter for a day, it should clear up the tank if it is dust particles from the gravel. What kind of gravel did you use?
Zagz
Aquarium Advice Addict
Welcome to AA!!! 
Cloudy water is a normal thing in a new tank. Use the suggestions above and do please consider a fishless cycle for your tank. 
The link describing it is Here You can use pure ammonia instead of shrimp if you'd like for starting the cycle. What kind of fish do you plan on getting? I'd also recommend a freshwater master testing kit, the liquid type. It will make taking care of fish so much easier.
Cloudy water is a normal thing in a new tank. Use the suggestions above and do please consider a fishless cycle for your tank. The link describing it is Here You can use pure ammonia instead of shrimp if you'd like for starting the cycle. What kind of fish do you plan on getting? I'd also recommend a freshwater master testing kit, the liquid type. It will make taking care of fish so much easier.
rich311k
Aquarium Advice Addict
Welcome to AA!!!! Here is a link to the test kit Zagz is speaking of.
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19383;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=
Good luck with the tank and please consider cycling it fishlessly.
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19383;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=
Good luck with the tank and please consider cycling it fishlessly.
thank you for the warm welcome. I know this is probably a little wierd, but I wanted to try keeping native ontario fish in it...like some small perch, small bass, minnows. I will probably just start with a couple small perch and go from there. I just bought some AquaPlus so hopefully this will help clear things up...
I wanted to put some plants in it, and maybe a rock or two for cover...will this to anything bad to the water? and do you recommend any specific type? sorry for all these questions, but I've NEVER done this before.
I wanted to put some plants in it, and maybe a rock or two for cover...will this to anything bad to the water? and do you recommend any specific type? sorry for all these questions, but I've NEVER done this before.
Zagz
Aquarium Advice Addict
Never apologize for questions! The only dumb question is an unasked one! Aquarium safe rocks like lava, slate, granite, tufa and many more will not harm your tank and aquarium plants are very popular, I'd recommend checking out the planted forum for many ideas.
