Fishless tank cloudy after 36 hours.

[keri and scott]

I set up our tank Sunday morning @ 5 am (couldn't sleep, i had pre-aquarium anxiety syndrome).

My boss gave my wife and I a 20 gallon tank. We went to Petsmart and purchased 2 reef type looking rocks, penguin bio-wheel 100 water filter, gravel, dechlorination solution, and a 4 inch disk air stone with air pump.
The tank, hood, lights, and underwater water heater were all provided by my boss.

Everything was well washed with very cold water. The gravel was sifted in a pasta strainer and we waited 1 hour before turning everything on.

This morning, 36 hours later, the water has taken on a very cloudy color. My hands were in the water 2 or 3 times but they were always clean.
I was planning on just sitting on it for a few days then I came across this site and thought I should ask.

Aside from the cloudiness we also have a few questions about cycling.
What do we do?
We have been to 3 different pet stores and have been told three different things. We have been told to buy a fish we don't mind sacrificing, wait 3 to 4 weeks and your water should be fine to add fish to, and just wait 24 hours and your good to go.
At least one of these have to be the wrong way.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Scott.

 

[CaptainAhab]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-dummies-103339.html

 

[keri and scott]

Thanks Captain.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Just a note on that article that has recently came up, most people shoot for 4-5ppm for ammonia when doing a fishless cycle(maybe some one can edit that "fishless cycling for dummies" .5ppm in the article or discus with the author to get it changed?). Anyway if you have fish in your tank then yes you would want to keep ammonia as low as possible.

Your in good hands here at AA

 

[CaptainAhab]

Yea there are a couple things in there that need to be amended if it's going to be a sticky. The target ammonia level, the names of the bacteria vs what they excrete/eat.

All that's listed as you read thru the thread

 

[saffikeagan]

BTW: if you don't want to dose with ammonia, you can just toss a couple of raw shrimp in the tank and as they decay, they will provide a constant source of ammonia I found that a lot easier than finding plain ammonia, then trying to figure out what the right dose would be, then dosing on a daily basis.

The cloudiness will settle. If you really mind it, you can put your carbon filter in for a short while to remove some of the cloudiness faster.

 

[keri and scott]

shell and all?

 

[saffikeagan]

I deshelled them. It's pretty cool to watch it denature and decompose. LOL. Then you can add more shrimp or remove them to get your ammonia where you want it. My ammonia stayed somewhere between 2-4 while I was cycling fishlessly (I have a hard time reading those colors).

The 4-5ppm is a guideline ammount that will create a bacteria colony large enough to deal with you tossing all your fish in the tank at once plus some. As long as your ammonia reading is 2-5 ish your tank will cycle. Higher or lower than that; it might not. When my tank finished cycling, I added my beta, no ammonia spike, then I added my minnows a week later, and all is still good.

 

[CaptainAhab]

If you use the shrimp , you may want to put it in a filter bag, unused pantyhose,etc. Once it starts decaying they are a challenge to get out without them breaking apart and going all over your tank..

You can also use a small pinch of fish food..

The advantage of the ammonia is that you get an instant read and it's easier to keep it at the level you want. The shrimp and food are a more natural way. Using a fish is...well IMO not an option.

 

[saffikeagan]

After awhile, the shrimp did start floating and tended to wrap themselves around the filter intake.

 

[keri and scott]

The cloudiness will settle. If you really mind it, you can put your carbon filter in for a short while to remove some of the cloudiness faster.[/quote]


ok i tossed in one shrimp. its only a 20 gallon tank so i think one shrimp should be enough.
when u say put in my carbon filter what do u mean? my pump has a bio wheel and a wiry blue filter with coal or something inside of it. should this not be in my pump when i cycle?

 

[Purrbox]

The "wiry blue filter" is your filter cartridge and contains the activated carbon that Saffikeagan recommended adding to help with the cloudiness.

 

[keri and scott]

and , now i know this sounds like a dumb question, he meant to put the filter cartridge in the filter right. not in the tank.

 

[keri and scott]

is this method going to smell a lot?

 

[CaptainAhab]

it is

 

[saffikeagan]

The only time mine smelled too too bad was when I had to move the tank. I was expecting it to really start stinking. I used one medium for my 14 initially, but then added a second one. At the very end of the cycle one of the shrimp had completely melted away (that's what it looked like) an I added another.

You can do a search of the board for the benefits/drawbacks of always using activated carbon in your filter. From what I read, there are limited cases in which carbon was beneficial, and other than that it's expensive and not necessary. I don't have it in either tank right now.

 

[keri and scott]

what about the bacteria that feeds off of the ammonia? do i need to introduce them to the water or is that already there somewhere.
and do i replace the filter after the water is done cycling?

 

[CaptainAhab]

You don't need to add anything, they are all there waiting (like latent teens) waiting to be fed and multiply. Once you are done cycling rinse the filter pads in old tank water you got from a PWC or new water that you dechlor'd . The good bacteria will be on the pad and elsewhere . you just want to rinse all the gunk that has collected from the shrimp.

Going forward you should do the same thing. Rinse the pad in old tank water or treated water (decholr). Once the pads get really really bad change them. If you have a filter that has 2.. Change one, then at another PWC change the other. If you only have one cut a good size piece off and shove it in the new pad to seed the new pad.

If you use carbon , change it ona regular basis. Unless your water is cloudy or u used a medication that you want to filter out there is really no need to use all the time. I always have some in there mixed with purigen or GFO but I'm old school where you used to run it all the time.

Anyway , once you get close to that time check back in (or search the threads) for more info. Your on the right path

 

[keri and scott]

ok so its all starting to make sense.

 

[saffikeagan]

If you are a typical human, you'll get really tired of always seeing zeros knowing that you've got a welcome mat out, but those pesky bacteria just aren't coalescing. You might get desperate and start begging LFSs for gravel and filter squeezings. At that point, you might be told to buy X or Y product. If you do get tempted to buy X or Y product, make sure said product isn't going to kill the wallet as there is a good chance it's not going to work, buy the product in the refrigerator, and check the expiration date. Plenty of people here will say bacteria in a bottle doesn't work, plenty will say it does (as will your LFS), personally I was willing to spend $10 to cure my impatience and the bottle I bought happened to work.