merky water but...nothings in it yet!

[zeig]

i started my first tank its brakish, with a sponge filter, and the salinity is normal, and after i added the salt it looked good for 3 days, but i left the house for 2 days and came back and the water is soooo merky! why is this? there isnt even any critters in my tank yet!

its not green so it cant be agglea can it? but the tank did get 5 min of sunlight..but thats IT.

so what is this?!?! how do i fix it?!?! =(

 

[mfdrookie516]

ok, need a little info, as im sure somebody else would have asked first as well...
1- what size tank
2- what substrate
3-what are the water params
4- how long has it been set up
5- do you have any pictures

 

[mgamer20o0]

in fw its common for a bacteria bloom. not sure its the same in bw. also its common for the dust of the new substrate to be kicked up.

 

[zeig]

1 its about 5 gal full
2 whats a substrate? cuz songe filter?
3 what are params
4 about 5 days?
5 ya i can get some if u needdem

 

[krap101]

I guess murky is a little vague, and could be more descriptive. I think the three major "murkies" are murky white, murky brown, murky green, and murky (whatever colored sand you have). white means bacterial, green is algal, brown is driftwood and maybe sand related.

 

[mfdrookie516]

the substrate is the rock, gravel, sand, etc that you have in the bottom... params are the parameters of the water ie. ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia... id say mgamer hit it with the substrate thought... if the gravel, sand, whatever wasnt rinsed thoroughly that could cause it... every time i set up a new tank, it gets a white "cloud" that you can see moving around, thats typical for a tank thats not cycled... ive never seen brown except when i set up my first tank and didnt rinse the pea gravel, all the dirt in it caused the water to turn brown... that could be what it is

 

[zeig]

i have pebble bottom
uh idk ab nitrate nitrite or amonia.. how do i know that?
the color is white
i dont think i can see moving white tho, its a sponge filter so its not a very strong current lol..

 

[mfdrookie516]

well, you would need a test kit to test for the parameters, something you will need to make sure the water is suitable for the fish... at 5 days, id place my bet that youre tank is cycling... here is an article on fishless cycling... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html... that should give you an idea of what we are talking about if it sounds like a foreign language to you

 

[match55]

may I tag alone.. my 10 gal snails tank become 100% green OoO
10gal
no substrate,
don't have test kit for fw, they r just my food for puffers.
its been set up for half year, but this month, it start turning to green even I did a 80% water change OoO

I just want to know wts going on.
its really green!!!

 

[mfdrookie516]

may I tag alone.. my 10 gal snails tank become 100% green OoO
10gal
no substrate,
don't have test kit for fw, they r just my food for puffers.
its been set up for half year, but this month, it start turning to green even I did a 80% water change OoO

I just want to know wts going on.
its really green!!!

you have algea... leave the lights off, do some massive water changes... heres a link to a thread that is exactly like your problem http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/55-gallon-update-119421.html

 

[mgamer20o0]

going to take more then lights off and wc to get rid of that lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

did you see beglely's post? his looked about like that.. it took him quite a while but it eventually cleared up... i was honestly surprised his cleared up like it did... they make ageacides, but are they any good?

 

[zeig]

soo thats my tank.. i understand cycling, kinda, there hasnt been a guide that completely told me what it was. when do i know its done? and if this is bacterica...what do i do?

im not gettin fish im gettin 2 fiddler crabs, or 3. but ya. how much is a test kit? dang do i really need one? im so broke after all the stuff for this haha...

 

[mfdrookie516]

yeah, well you at minimum need an ammonia test kit. I found an API master test kit that tests ph, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite for $20 but usually theyre around $30... that looks exactly like mine after i set mine up... you can either give it time, usually a cycle can take between a week to a month... thats usually. there is no set time on how long it takes. Something you can do is put a single uncooked shrimp in the tank. it will decompose and help the cycle along. basically the tank needs ammonia to complete the cycle, but at the end of the cycle you want no ammonia as it is toxic to fish. the main part of cycling is to build up bacteria to fight the ammonia that fish poop makes... thats kind of a simple way to explain it. you can buy stuff at most pet shops that will clear the tank up, but its really just a bandaid to clear it up until the tank is fully cycled and will clear itself up. mgamer, maybe you have a better explination of it

 

[krap101]

One solution for green water is finding some daphnia outside somewhere, and putting them in a breeder net. The next is a diatom filter with that powder stuff. Third is a uv lamp.

Usually people try to control the factors contributing to the green water rather than just treating the symptoms.

I find this site helpful

Freshwater Algae Types: An Illustrated Guide - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

 

[match55]

well probably gonna clean the whole tank when I have time.
just wash everything and breed all the snails again OoO

feed all the one in tank to my puffer LOL, then start all over again

 

[krap101]

Well, since it is just a snail tank.. you could just leave it .

Daphnia would also be an easy solution, since you don't have any fish to eat them. They're those little bug like things you find in rivers.

 

[zeig]

ugh can someone help me..? =(

 

[mfdrookie516]

ugh can someone help me..? =(

If you just give it a couple days, maybe a week, it will all clear up

 

[kaiofcanada]

ugh can someone help me..? =(

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.