Cloudy Tank - Hard Water, No Fish

[fish4kids]

A couple of weeks ago, we bought a 10g kit. We rinsed everything very well, but a few days after setup (no fish added yet) the water turned cloudy. The ph is 8.4, and the test said no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. That's all my kit tests for, but we do know already that we have fairly hard water. Could the hard water itself cause the cloudiness? I don't want to mess with a lot of chemicals, so I'd like the leave the ph and hardness as is if possible. I plan on doing some water changes starting this weekend, but I'm afraid that if the water itself is the problem (especially since we did rinse everything well) that water changes won't help, unless I use distilled water, but I really don't want to have to buy distilled water for every stinking water change. We gave it almost two weeks, and it's still cloudy. We haven't even started cycling the tank yet. I'm thinking that if there happened to be any random bacteria present, they would have starved by now and the tank should be clear again, right? Any advice on what my next step should be?

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Is the water milky cloudy or greenish cloudy? If it's greenish, it could be green water caused by diatoms (free-floating algae) in the water. It is quite common in new setups as the diatoms feed on the silica leeched from the silicone sealant that seals the corners of glass tanks and also from the silica in the gravel and sand substrates. If the tank is ever exposed to direct sunlight, it will also cause green water (much harder to get rid of without moving the tank).

If it is milky color, then it is most likely a bacterial blood (see Bacterial Blooms Explained under Advanced Advice here). It is nothing to worry about.

I don't think it is related to your water. You don't list your location but it sounds like you have some of that good, hard water in the UK. People with that water keep all varieties of fish including the most delecate of rays so you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[fish4kids]

Thanks for the welcome and the reply! It's not green. I read that post earlier because I also suspected a bacterial bloom, but I figured it would have settled after almost two weeks. If it's a bloom, that makes me feel much better. We're down in South Louisiana, and for some reason our city water has always been particularly hard. I'm not too concerned though, because I figure all the dealers use the same water too.

So if I've already got a bloom working in there, I guess I'll go ahead and start working on a fishless cycle. Or should I wait for the bacteria to settle instead? Having trouble finding pure ammonia locally, which is what delayed us in the first place, but I have a couple of other places to try before I look into ordering (which would be more of a wait). In the meantime, I'm going to research some plants to add later, because I have a feeling I'll have more trouble with the plants in my water than I will with any fish the kids are interested in.

 

[rdd1952]

You can go ahead with the fishess cycle. I am a little suprised that the water is still cloudy after 2 weeks though. Usually a baterial bloom is over before that length of time. It's not just dust from he substrate is it? Of course, the filter should have taken care of that sort of thing in a couple weeks too.

As far as finding ammonia is concerned, I have recently read more and more about using ammonium chloride powder rather than ammonium hydroxide (bottled ammonia). I seems that it should be available at your ocal drug store. You might try that but will have to experiment in a bucket as to how much to use to get the 4 or 5 ppm you are looking for.

Edit: I did just see an article that said 1 gram yielded 1 ppm in 100 gallons. That would mean 1 gram is 5 ppm in a 20 gallon meaning that 1/4 gram should yield 5 ppm in 5 gallons (unless my math is incorrect). You might still want to experiment though.

 

[fish4kids]

We washed the gravel and everything else really well, but I thought about that too. Did a couple of smallish water changes and haven't seen much improvement. Will push onward and start cycling and do more water changes later. Hopefully during the process it will clear up on it's own and I won't have to stress about it anymore.

Thanks for the ammonium powder suggestion. I think I'll give that a shot.

 

[waterdrop]

After watching hundreds of beginners come though here the last year starting up new tanks I've come to feel that you get periods of cloudy water in brand new tanks nearly all the time and 95% of the time it just goes away sometime during the fishless cycling process and never comes back. Its really quite rare that it turns out to be an algae problem or some strange addition to the tank that is leaching something that causes a cloudiness.

Sounds like you're having trouble locating the right ammonia? At least that's definately the main thing to be working on.. I wouldn't be nearly as worried about the cloudiness as about finding the right ammonia and getting the fishless cycling going.

Good luck! We'll all be interested to hear updates!

~~waterdrop~~