Hello fellow forum members, i'm new to this whole business of looking after fish and am treading very carefully at first to prevent potentially causing harm to any of our little fishy friends
Right, the bottom line is the water in my tank is really rather cloudy, yet i have not added any fish as yet. I've trawled through the posts but all references to cloudy water seem to be when fish have already been added. I'll mention below the details of how i got to this cloudy situation so hopefully somebody more knowledgable in this area can help???
I purchased a an Elite Style 60 set-up from pets at home in the UK. I bought the associated stand and assembled and placed the tank on said stand. The tank came with an Elite stingray submersible filter and also a subersible heater. I bought Roman gravel and washed very thoroughly in cold tap water before lining the bottom of my tank to a depth of around 1.5 - 2.0 inches. I also bought a few plastic plants and ornaments and again washed very thoroughly in cold tap water prior to placing in the tank. The heater and filter unit were positioned as per instructions that came with the tank. I then proceeded to fill my tank to the specified level with cold tap water and left for the themostat on the heater to equillibrate. After aound an hour i turned on my filter unit and heater and let them run for a short period. The set-up came with some Nutrafin Aqua Plus so i added the specified dose as per instructions to dechlorinate my water. At this point the tank was fine, no cloudiness and i left it for aound 24 hours for the temperature to settle to aound 26 - 27oC. Next i added a dose of Nutrafin Cycle as the instructions that came with my tank seemed to indicate this was the next step to build up good bacteria. Shortly after this the water went mildly cloudy but wasn't at the point where i was overly concerned. Again i left this for a couple of days and thought i should test my water to make sure everything was OK. The nitrate, nitrite and ammonia were all zero ppm and the pH was 8.2, i had read in a book and also on the web that this was a little high for a community tank (which is was hoping to set-up) and that i should aim for a pH of 7 for a community tank. (It's at this point i think i got a bit carried away) The test kit i had bought (API master test kit) said that i could buy a buffer to set the pH to 7 and maintain it at that level so i trotted back down to pets at home and bought API proper pH 7 and returned home and added the recommended dose to my tank. Very shortly thereafter my tank went really cloudy until, after 12 hours, it wasn't far off looking like milk!!! I left it for a couple of days in the hope that by some miracle it would clear...........it didn't. I next tried adding some water clarrifer but after a few days the water hasn't really cleared. It's not quite as bad as the first 12 hours but it still seems wrong to me. I can see through the water and see my backdrop but the surfaces of the tank feel coated and there's a very thin film of white scum on the top of the water, it looks like something has precipitated out of the water??
My worry is that i've got a bit carried away with adding all these chemicals to my tank, although please note that at all times i've stuck to the manufacturers recommended doses for my size aquarium.
My questions following on from this are
1. Does anyone have any suggestions what might be going on and how i can resolve it, if at all?
2. Given that i've not added any fish yet, do you think i should empty the tank and start again?
3. Do you think this is kinda normal and will clear given time?
For info i have already read the posts on setting up a new tank and also fishless cycling.
Any help at all would be very greatly apreciated
Right, the bottom line is the water in my tank is really rather cloudy, yet i have not added any fish as yet. I've trawled through the posts but all references to cloudy water seem to be when fish have already been added. I'll mention below the details of how i got to this cloudy situation so hopefully somebody more knowledgable in this area can help???
I purchased a an Elite Style 60 set-up from pets at home in the UK. I bought the associated stand and assembled and placed the tank on said stand. The tank came with an Elite stingray submersible filter and also a subersible heater. I bought Roman gravel and washed very thoroughly in cold tap water before lining the bottom of my tank to a depth of around 1.5 - 2.0 inches. I also bought a few plastic plants and ornaments and again washed very thoroughly in cold tap water prior to placing in the tank. The heater and filter unit were positioned as per instructions that came with the tank. I then proceeded to fill my tank to the specified level with cold tap water and left for the themostat on the heater to equillibrate. After aound an hour i turned on my filter unit and heater and let them run for a short period. The set-up came with some Nutrafin Aqua Plus so i added the specified dose as per instructions to dechlorinate my water. At this point the tank was fine, no cloudiness and i left it for aound 24 hours for the temperature to settle to aound 26 - 27oC. Next i added a dose of Nutrafin Cycle as the instructions that came with my tank seemed to indicate this was the next step to build up good bacteria. Shortly after this the water went mildly cloudy but wasn't at the point where i was overly concerned. Again i left this for a couple of days and thought i should test my water to make sure everything was OK. The nitrate, nitrite and ammonia were all zero ppm and the pH was 8.2, i had read in a book and also on the web that this was a little high for a community tank (which is was hoping to set-up) and that i should aim for a pH of 7 for a community tank. (It's at this point i think i got a bit carried away) The test kit i had bought (API master test kit) said that i could buy a buffer to set the pH to 7 and maintain it at that level so i trotted back down to pets at home and bought API proper pH 7 and returned home and added the recommended dose to my tank. Very shortly thereafter my tank went really cloudy until, after 12 hours, it wasn't far off looking like milk!!! I left it for a couple of days in the hope that by some miracle it would clear...........it didn't. I next tried adding some water clarrifer but after a few days the water hasn't really cleared. It's not quite as bad as the first 12 hours but it still seems wrong to me. I can see through the water and see my backdrop but the surfaces of the tank feel coated and there's a very thin film of white scum on the top of the water, it looks like something has precipitated out of the water??
My worry is that i've got a bit carried away with adding all these chemicals to my tank, although please note that at all times i've stuck to the manufacturers recommended doses for my size aquarium.
My questions following on from this are
1. Does anyone have any suggestions what might be going on and how i can resolve it, if at all?
2. Given that i've not added any fish yet, do you think i should empty the tank and start again?
3. Do you think this is kinda normal and will clear given time?
For info i have already read the posts on setting up a new tank and also fishless cycling.
Any help at all would be very greatly apreciated