my aquarium's water as gone discoloured

[lionheart]

hi
can any one tell if it is normal for a new tank that as been running for 4 days and had perfect crystal clear water suddenly overnight go discoloured and murky, my local aquarium shop said this is normal in new setups and is only fine matter being sucked up from within the gravel by the internal fluval 3plus but i have neva expierienced this in the past although this is the first time ive used a fluval 3plus internal filter as in the past i have always used under gravel filtration the small gravel i used was washed before i put it into tank when i first setup tank so i dont understand my local aquarium shop saying what they did
any suggestions would be most appreciated
kind regards
lionheart

 

[jsoong]

You are in the wrong forum ....

Please post in the Freshwater getting started forum, where you will get a lot better response!

We also need a bit more information - size of tank, temp, do you have fish or are you doing fishless cycling. <If you don't know what cycling is, please read the cycling article in the articles section.> Also, what is the color of the water (white or green), your light & schedule, and any water testing parameters you have.

Off hand, I'd guess you are having a bacterial bloom due to tank cycling, but more info is needed.

And welcome to AA!

 

[meegosh]

Is the water milky colored or is it green? You can pour some tank water into a white glass and see if it is green. If it is green that means you are experiencing a bacterial bloom, which is common in new tanks. Have you cycled the tank? If you do not know what that means then you most likely did not. I would suggest reading some of the articles I included below. I would recommend getting a test kit for your water. You'll want to be able to test ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, at the very least. I would recommend the API Master Freshwater Test Kit, I would not even bother with the test strips - get a liquid test kit.

Read first:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/24/1/Nitrogen-Cycle-/Page1.html

Once you have an understanding of the nitrogen cycle - read this to speed up your cycle:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html

*Note* The last article is for a fishless cycle - meaning no fish in the tank.

 

[Zagz]

Moved to general forum.