I just bought a 10 Gallon Freshwater Tank... One of those starter kits... The only time I have kept fish is in the livewell during Bass Fishing Tournaments. I purchased the tank and came home and added 8 gallons of distilled water, (the water at my house is well water, very sfafe for humans, no sulfur, but very high ammounts of calcium) and 2 gallons of the well water from home. I got everything set up and washed everything as the directions said. I put "Aquasafe" in the water and just let it run and filter for 24 hrs. The next day I checked the pH levels and they were like 8.4+, very high. I went to the pet store and explained what I had and he gave me some pH 7.0 powder stuff and said it would fix the problem, he also gave me "start zyme" I added both and the water became horribly cloundy. I could not even see my plants. I did a 60% water change last night and added more distilled water and added more aquasafe and a few more drops of start zyme. What do I need to do??? My water is still partly cloudy. I am new to this aquarium stuff. I want good advice. So please don't just talk to sound like you know what your talking about. (Not to sound like a butt, but I know how guys are on the bass fishing forums.) I have an aireator and a heater in my tank and I also had to put a betta in there last night because my fiancee was driving me crazy about it.
Cloudy water - New Tank
- Thread starter Nemo6292
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everyone is going to tell you to read the stickies about doing a FishIN cycle (since you put the betta in there), they want you to get a liquid test kit and test your water and tell us what your numbers are. what the water looks like is not as important as what the test results say. also, the start zyme (bacteria in a bottle) is not reccommended here as they say it is a waste of $$. what is the aquasafe? is that a water conditioner or more bacteria in a bottle? also - need to check on this. not sure you are supposed to use the distiled water. I know other people on here use their well water so you might want to do a post on that (put well water in your title) to get better guidance on that. hope this helps! oh and almost forgot. while you are doing all your water tests go ahead and test your tap water too. let it sit out for 24 hours or overnight and see what you are starting out with
The Aquasafe is made by Tetra. It conditions the water and makes it safe for fish. The pH is 8.4+ in our well. But last night after I did a water change it stayed around 7.2-7.4. The cloudiness in the water had to be a bacteria bloom (just read about that on another post). So I think a sorta messed up by changing the water. Although I added a few drops of the stress zyme last night to make up for the loss, even though I didn't know that was causing the cloudiness. I still feel confused with all this nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia deal... I guess it would have paid to pay attention in chemistry.
Boogety48
Aquarium Advice Freak
I used that start zyme once on my ten gal (it came with it) and it got so cloudy in my tank I couldn't see the back of the tank. After a month and a half I ended up removing all the water and cleaning everything and starting over with what I usually use. I just start out with water conditioner, ammonia balancer and ph equalizer. Its worked for me so far and I've had my tank going for a few months now.
librarygirl
Look It Up
HI and welcome. I'd be careful with distilled water; it lacks minerals that the fish need and can alter your PH. You can certainly use half distilled and half well if you're concerned about it but most people use well water without issues.
Don't worry about the PH; fish can adapt to what your PH is as long as it stays stable. Adding chemicals to change PH is a slippery slope and can cause more harm than good. What you should do is let your water sit out for 24 hours and then test PH (after the water degasses it's PH sometimes changes which will be the PH of your tank) so you know for sure what the tank PH should be. Again, don't adjust it.
Aquasafe is fine to use, its' a dechlorinator. Prime is more concentrated and will last longer but Aquasafe is fine. I would't bother with the bacteria starters.
Unfortunately the pet stores don't tell you about cycling and now that you have a fish in an uncyled tank you'll be doing a fish-in cycle. You'll need a good liquid test kit (API Master kit is best). Here's a guide that will help: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
Good luck.
Don't worry about the PH; fish can adapt to what your PH is as long as it stays stable. Adding chemicals to change PH is a slippery slope and can cause more harm than good. What you should do is let your water sit out for 24 hours and then test PH (after the water degasses it's PH sometimes changes which will be the PH of your tank) so you know for sure what the tank PH should be. Again, don't adjust it.
Aquasafe is fine to use, its' a dechlorinator. Prime is more concentrated and will last longer but Aquasafe is fine. I would't bother with the bacteria starters.
Unfortunately the pet stores don't tell you about cycling and now that you have a fish in an uncyled tank you'll be doing a fish-in cycle. You'll need a good liquid test kit (API Master kit is best). Here's a guide that will help: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
Good luck.
I am to the point, I just wanna take all the water out and start over too. But today it is a little clearer than it was yesterday. But I want to have crystal clear healthy water for my fish. I am not looking to keep this betta fish. I am going to get it a different tank but I just wanted to see if it will survive in the water. I am reading everything I can to get a better understanding but their is a million different ways people do things. The more I read the more I get confused... Some say distilled water if properly treated is good... Some says well water is too hard (ours is very hard)... I just don't know what to do...
For a start, read the stickies concerning 'fish in' cycling. That will get you up to speed.
Don't use distiller water. If you do use it you need to add minerals back in with something like RO Rite or SeaChem Replenish as distilled water has none of the minerals your fish and bacteria need.
Check you water's pH right out the tap (both tap and well) then put some in a container with aeration and check the pH again after 24hrs. I would also check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of both your tap and well water. The well water should have no ammonia or nitrites. I use my well water as my tap has ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, my well only has nitrates. You may also want to have the hardness of both your water sources, your LFS should be able to do this if you don't want to buy the kit.
Don't use the pH down stuff, it will cause you more issues later with fluctuating pH. It's more important to have a stable pH than any specific number unless you plan on keeping certain exotic fish.
Edit: librarygirl beat me to it.
Don't use distiller water. If you do use it you need to add minerals back in with something like RO Rite or SeaChem Replenish as distilled water has none of the minerals your fish and bacteria need.
Check you water's pH right out the tap (both tap and well) then put some in a container with aeration and check the pH again after 24hrs. I would also check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of both your tap and well water. The well water should have no ammonia or nitrites. I use my well water as my tap has ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, my well only has nitrates. You may also want to have the hardness of both your water sources, your LFS should be able to do this if you don't want to buy the kit.
Don't use the pH down stuff, it will cause you more issues later with fluctuating pH. It's more important to have a stable pH than any specific number unless you plan on keeping certain exotic fish.
Edit: librarygirl beat me to it.
Cichlid Kid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Most well water is hard but free of amonia and more importantly has vital minerals that fish need so check nitrite and nitrate levels and use well water instead of tapwater. Your fish will apreciate it.
Aquaman.
Aquaman.
Boogety48
Aquarium Advice Freak
I use TopFin water conditioner and TopFin ammonia remover. I use the ammonia remover but I use it only when I started out my tank to help with the chlorine.
Cichlid Kid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Maybe you should startover. So many chemical additives are hard to keep track of so starting over may be the logical thing to do.
Aquaman
Aquaman
Ok. I'm home from work. Tanks still cloudy. Bout to pull my hair out. I'm fixing to go buy the 5-n-1 test strips and test this water. It's bout 90% distilled water. It's had stress zyme for two days and some Aquasafe. I'm gonna test the water and after my results I will want someone to tell me wat I need.
Boogety48
Aquarium Advice Freak
Don't get the strips. They don't display accurately whats going on in your tank. The tubes and chemical tests always work best.
Please don't expect things to happen "overnight". Cycling a tank takes a long time. Do PWCs to get the cloudy down. If that doesn't help then let it be, it won't hurt your fish, and it should work itself out in a few days. BTW, did you rinse your gravel real well?
Don't waste your money on strips, they are garbage. Spend wisely, as this is not an inexpensive hobby, and get a liquid kit. With a 'fish in' cycle the test kit is very important. You will want to test daily (or more) and do a large PWC anytime ammonia or nitrites get to 0.25ppm or above.
Don't waste your money on strips, they are garbage. Spend wisely, as this is not an inexpensive hobby, and get a liquid kit. With a 'fish in' cycle the test kit is very important. You will want to test daily (or more) and do a large PWC anytime ammonia or nitrites get to 0.25ppm or above.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Get a nitrite test if they have it too! And nitrate if you can get it (which it'll probably be cheaper to get the API Master kit as it tests all of that plus PH) but if you can't then definitely get ammonia and nitrite.
pic looks less than .25 to me. yours is kinda yellow and .25 is kinda green. but... "very low" for ammonia is 0 not .25ppm. when your tank is established it will always read 0ppm
the what to do... if I am reading it right and you are below .25 I would say wait until tomorrow and test again. if it is higher you are going to do a PWC
