5 week old tank - cloudy water

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Smokkter

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
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I've read several posts about cloudy water on this forum and others, however I still feel uncertain.

I have only a couple of plastic plants and some ornaments along with gravel. At first, the tank was fine but after a few days the water went cloudy. My research suggested that this would likely be due to a bacterial bloom and it would disappear in a few days, or up to a week. 5 weeks later and the water is still cloudy.

The advice I received from my father-in-law was to start performing water changed as he thought that the substrate was likely causing the cloudiness, despite the fact it had been thoroughly washed. I performed a 20% water change and the water cleared up ever so slightly. A few days later I performed another water change, but the level of cloudiness remains.

I have tested the following levels: nitrate, nitrie, pH, KH & GH. All levels come back suitable for a fresh aquarium according to the included color chart.

I'm not sure if this would be relevant, however I do not have any artificial lighting in the aquarium and have been relying on natural sunlight.

At this point I have not added any fish to the aquarium until I can be 100% sure they will be safe.

Any advice would be very much appreciated :thanks:
 
If you haven't added any fish, you haven't cycled the tank, so all your levels will look prefect until you add fish. I'd look into fish-less cycling and go from there. If the water has a green tint you most likely have an algae problem too.

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Relying on sunlight is gonna be tough. It can be done with planted tanks but even then you need to be really good lol.
 
If you haven't added any fish, you haven't cycled the tank, so all your levels will look prefect until you add fish. I'd look into fish-less cycling and go from there. If the water has a green tint you most likely have an algae problem too.

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Thanks Toad. I'll start my research.

Relying on sunlight is gonna be tough. It can be done with planted tanks but even then you need to be really good lol.

I've bought an LED light from Amazon which will be delivered tomorrow!
 
I'm having similar issues. I do wonder if the sunlight has something to do with it. Doesn't real sunlight make bacteria and algae more likely to bloom? So frustrating!
 
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