Question About Fishless Cycle

[Vindicare066]

Hi everyone, 
 
So I started this thread because I haven't experienced this kind of situation when cycling my tanks and want to know if I have a issue on my hands or not.
 
I just started doing a fishless cycle in a 7 Gallon tank (2 days in) and I am experiencing cloudiness and some kind of slime or film build up in the tank (most visibly on the driftwood and plant leaves). I am wondering if this is normal with a fishless cycle or if this could be some kind of bloom. 
 
I thoroughly rinsed the substrate and tank walls and filter media with boiling water, and I soaked the decorations and plants that were going into the tank in warm water baths for two days. After 2 days I added them all into the tank,after dechlorinating the tank water, I added Tetra Safe Start Plus to establish the bacteria population in the tank.  After about 24 hours, I noticed the tank has now become cloudy (white colour) and I am also noticed a stringy film/ slime forming on the driftwood and the leaves on the plants. 
 
Fast forward to present... Its going on 60 hours and the cloudiness hasn't gone away and the film/ slime seems to be getting worse (longer strands and more noticeable). Is this new tank syndrome that I am dealing with or could I have potentially an algae or bacteria bloom from when I added the Tetra Safe Start Plus? I will upload a photo of the tank this evening when I get home from work. Should I do a water change and should I vacuum the substrate or let it play out and run its own course? 
 
Thanks for your help!
 
Vindi

 

[Vindicare066]

here are two pictures of the film/slime I was concerned about. Is this normal? The cloudiness has gone away thankfully. I also need to get another light these LEDs are weaker than I expected. 

 

[Ch4rlie]

From the sounds of things, this appears to be the normal bacterial bloom that occurs when a tank is going through the start of th eprocess of fishless cycle.
 
The bloom does go away, sometimes quickly in a day or two, other times up to a week or two. Its harmless and won't affect anything in your tank or filter.
 
The slime / film is the actual biofilm in which the bacteria produces to protect themselves with, this is noraml and it will clear up soon but again, perfectly notmal and its what you want to see happening at the start of a fishless cycle.
 
Now, you will need to add ammonia to feed the bacterias and test the water to montitor the progress of the fishless cycle.
 
Am assuming you have read the fishless cycling article and you have a bottle of ammonia (easily obtainable online) and a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
 
The article, just in case you have not come across it - Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank