New to aquariums! Cloudy water.

[tashalee2812]

Hey guys,

I'm only new to this and therefore am looking for a little advice.

My tank is 80L and is filled with tank water. I've attached photos of my PH indicator and ammonia indicator.

The water is quite cloudy and I'm unsure on how to make it clearer. I have carbon in my filter and have used the blue planet water ager to try and counteract any chlorine we may have in the tanks at the moment due to having to order a delivered load of water last week.

I would like to stock neon tetras, male guppies and maybe something to dwell on the bottom of the tank.

Just wondering if anyone has any other levels I should be monitoring to alleviate the cloudiness or other levels in general so it's safer for my fish.

The tank is currently empty and I would also like some advice on stocking as I would really really like a male Betta in there too.

Thank you!!

 

[NickNaylor]

Any recent work involving the substrate? If so, that would be my leading guess.

Other possibilities could be a bacterial bloom (especially if you're still in the process of cycling the tank) or an algae bloom (especially if you're adding nutrients/fertilizers/CO2 to the tank).

How long has it been cloudy for? If less than a couple of days, I would try and give it more time - it may resolve on its own.

Edit: Also, are you monitoring nitrite/nitrate levels? Or do you only use the SeaChem alerts to monitor your water parameters?

 

[tashalee2812]

Currently the tank has only been going for just over 24 hours so I was hoping that it was the substrate however I haven't tested the nitrite and nitrate or any other levels yet as I was intending to do some reading on those levels today to try and further understand them and grab one of the advanced test kits so that I could make sure everything was perfect before I start adding my fish I was planning on doing fish less cycle however from what I've read on hear it's seems that a lot of people have had problems doing so. I would like to stick to that though.

 

[NickNaylor]

Currently the tank has only been going for just over 24 hours so I was hoping that it was the substrate however I haven't tested the nitrite and nitrate or any other levels yet as I was intending to do some reading on those levels today to try and further understand them and grab one of the advanced test kits so that I could make sure everything was perfect before I start adding my fish I was planning on doing fish less cycle however from what I've read on hear it's seems that a lot of people have had problems doing so. I would like to stick to that though.

It is almost certainly due to the substrate and will resolve with time.

I'm not sure how you could have trouble doing a fishless cycle. It's a pretty simple process. I have successfully cycled my tank without any fish by simply adding ammonia. Really the only potential point of failure is using an ammonia source that isn't appropriate for an aquarium. If anything a fish-in cycle would be more "trouble" due to the constant water changes required if you're trying to keep your fish alive.

 

[tashalee2812]

It is almost certainly due to the substrate and will resolve with time.

I'm not sure how you could have trouble doing a fishless cycle. It's a pretty simple process. I have successfully cycled my tank without any fish by simply adding ammonia. Really the only potential point of failure is using an ammonia source that isn't appropriate for an aquarium. If anything a fish-in cycle would be more "trouble" due to the constant water changes required if you're trying to keep your fish alive.

That was what I thought which was why I intended to do the fish less cycle regardless. From what I could read it was mostly due to a major overload of ammonia. I was assuming it was the substrate but wanted to make sure I wasn't making some rookie error in doing so. Thank you!