Hello all, I hate to run headlong into a new forum asking questions but Google's giving me mixed answers and I could really use some advice on this one.
I'm currently preparing a new 45l tank as an upgrade from my old 12l one. The new tank has been set up (empty, no ammonia source) for 8 days, but it's done something I wasn't expecting; it's now full of some strange white stuff in the water. I turned the light on after stirring up the water to find lots of white stuff floating in the tank. It almost looks like fluffy clumps of dust. If left alone it settles on everything in the tank, gravel plants glass and all, and it doesn't smell too pleasant either.
Image 3
What is this stuff, and what should I do about it? I'm in a hard water area, and I haven't been using the tank's light.
Also, is this stuff harmful to fish? The original upgrade plan was to fill the tank, wait a few days then move everything, gravel filter media and all, from my established tank into the new one, negating the need to cycle the new one beforehand. But before then while empty it's developed microbubbles, then went cloudy, and now I'm reluctant to move the fish while there's still weird stuff in the new tank. Or is this something that the established bacteria would take care of if I do the move anyway? (or take a handful of gravel over). I really don't want to lose a fish though my own stupidity.
I rescued the small tank from the office next door at work, so this is the first time I've tried to set one up from scratch myself. That was 2 months ago, despite doing plenty of reading in that time I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going the wrong way about this...
Many thanks for any advice you can offer!
[Edit: because I realised some of the images were actually of something completely different (brought some green algae in with one of the plants and just couldn't see the colour under the bright light, whoops). I still haven't sussed out what the white stuff is, I've dumped a handful of gravel from the old tank in to see if it makes a difference... ]
I'm currently preparing a new 45l tank as an upgrade from my old 12l one. The new tank has been set up (empty, no ammonia source) for 8 days, but it's done something I wasn't expecting; it's now full of some strange white stuff in the water. I turned the light on after stirring up the water to find lots of white stuff floating in the tank. It almost looks like fluffy clumps of dust. If left alone it settles on everything in the tank, gravel plants glass and all, and it doesn't smell too pleasant either.
Image 3
What is this stuff, and what should I do about it? I'm in a hard water area, and I haven't been using the tank's light.
Also, is this stuff harmful to fish? The original upgrade plan was to fill the tank, wait a few days then move everything, gravel filter media and all, from my established tank into the new one, negating the need to cycle the new one beforehand. But before then while empty it's developed microbubbles, then went cloudy, and now I'm reluctant to move the fish while there's still weird stuff in the new tank. Or is this something that the established bacteria would take care of if I do the move anyway? (or take a handful of gravel over). I really don't want to lose a fish though my own stupidity.
I rescued the small tank from the office next door at work, so this is the first time I've tried to set one up from scratch myself. That was 2 months ago, despite doing plenty of reading in that time I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going the wrong way about this...
Many thanks for any advice you can offer!
[Edit: because I realised some of the images were actually of something completely different (brought some green algae in with one of the plants and just couldn't see the colour under the bright light, whoops). I still haven't sussed out what the white stuff is, I've dumped a handful of gravel from the old tank in to see if it makes a difference... ]
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