Cloudy And Lots Of Air Bubbles

[Fraoch]

ive just bought a new 300 liter tank(actually not sure if its 300 or 340?) and i set everything up the other day. My new external filter will be arriving in the next week hopefully but i got a 500 liter sponge filter going today. The tank has sand, pebbles, 2 bits of redmoor, a few plants. The water is really milky so that i cant even see the background thats on the tank, is there anyway to clear it or will i just have to wait for it to cycle?
and there are small air bubbles on everything in the tank is that normal?
thanks

 

[laura120381]

hi there,

this sound normal for a new set up. it should clear up itself within a few days. sure your new external filter will help clear it too but give it time. post again in a few days if it is not any better..

L

 

[XeroTolerance]

I agree with laura this is normal for a new set up.

 

[Fraoch]

ok thanks, i think it might be clearing up slowly its hard to tell. I think i didnt wash the sand for long enough so maybe it was dust or soemthing from that, this wont affect the plants will it?

 

[Blubble37]

shouldnt, if in doubt change the water!

 

[laura120381]

+1...give it another day or so and let the filter do its job!!! if its still cloudy, do a change. plants should not be effected.

L

 

[Mowbz]

If its all brand new kit, i wouldn't give it another day, for the sake of not changing the water. Its a simple job.

I dont blame you if you didnt wash the sand properly, its hard to tell when its properly clean until its in your tank., and thats whats causing your cloudy water. However, all that crud floating around in the water is going to block up valuable surface area in your filtration. Its not going to kill your tank, sure, but why have it in there if you can stop it?

 

[Blubble37]

either way if it was that milky and hard to see through wouldnt your instinctstell you that something was wrong and you need to do a water change anyway? unless you didnt have time.

 

[Fraoch]

The sponge filter has cleared nearly all of it up now but my vallis plants are starting to melt, i think its becuase the online store i bought it from cut off the tops of all the leaves?

 

[Fishy friend2]

Good it cleared up

 

[AshleyMac]

Yeah taking the top off a leaf (blade?) of val will kill that one leaf. If they are all snipped they will all die off, but your roots will live and regrow. I did that to my own plant thinking I was pruning once.... it's going to throw your nitrates way up as it dies so you can take that into account while you are testing if the tank is cycling.

 

[Miles_hot]

hopefully I'm teaching your to suck eggs however... remember that the tank isn't cycled and ready for fish when the cloudiness goes (that was probably sand dust + maybe a bacteria bloom).

 

[Fraoch]

Yeah taking the top off a leaf (blade?) of val will kill that one leaf. If they are all snipped they will all die off, but your roots will live and regrow. I did that to my own plant thinking I was pruning once.... it's going to throw your nitrates way up as it dies so you can take that into account while you are testing if the tank is cycling.

ok yeh they cut off the top of the blade on all of them, hopefully they will grow back after a while

hopefully I'm teaching your to suck eggs however... remember that the tank isn't cycled and ready for fish when the cloudiness goes (that was probably sand dust + maybe a bacteria bloom).

thanks,yeh im doing ammonia nitrite and nitrate tests everyday and wont add fish untill there are 0 in them all or maybe small amounts of nitrate

 

[Miles_hot]

cool, good to hear