White stuff everywhere

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Newbieaquarist

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I have upgraded my tank and now im currently cycling my 15 gallon , 3 days in im starting to have white stuff covering the entire tank, i didnt use pure ammonia since i cant find any near me, so i used fish food one pinch per day. Is it normal that this happen during cycling?Ammonia 0.25ppm nitrite 0ppm nitrate 0 ppm
 

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Hello. Apparently, the residue from a chemical reaction. I've never cycled a tank with anything else than a hardy species of fish, bacteria starter and lots and lots of water changes. You don't have any fish in the tank, so that's a good thing. This is likely nothing more than the minerals in the water reacting to the nitrogen from the dissolving fish food. I'd let the cycle continue, since there's nothing alive to be worried about.

10 Tanks (Now 11)
 
I thought it was a fungal infection, thanks i was quite worried that i done something wrong
 
It could be fungus on the food you are using, it's hard to tell from the photos.
 
It could be fungus on the food you are using, it's hard to tell from the photos.
Im pretty sure its from the food but its a newly opened. Is there anything i need to do or i just leave it?I also bought some extra plants but now im not sure should i put them in or not
 
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The food will start to decompose once it's in the tank (and not eaten by fish since there aren't any in there at the moment). As part of this decomposition it will go mouldy - think what would happen to your food if you just left it on the plate on the table for days. It is usual to remove the mouldy food, and replace it with fresh. A turkey baster is useful for this or a thin siphon tube made of airline tubing - rather than suck on the tube to start the siphon, fill it with tap water then take it to the tank.

If you are intending live plants you don't need to add ammonia/fish food. If the plants are put in at the start and allowed to establish for a couple of weeks, once you see active plant growth fish can be added a group at a time. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and if there are a lot of fast growing plants, they'll take up all the ammonia made by fish. Floating plants are particuarly good for this as they can get CO2 from the air. so they grow fast. I have set up a quarantine tank using just some floating plants from my main tank and some newly purchased anacharis left to float, and never see a trace of ammonia or nitrite.
 

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