Cloudy Water Help Plz

[jumblepod]

Ive just brought a 90L tank i set it up and the water was cystal clear. On the second day the water was a little cloudy then by night time the water was thick with white/grey cloudyness. All i have done is wash the gravel put it in, put the filter in, put the heater in and add the water conditioner which is nutrafin water contioner. I dont see why the water is cloudy should i do a water change.

When i cycled my 35l tank earlier this year i never saw the water go cloudy. I cant belive its cloudy and theres nothing in it apart from the filter and heater and gravel. I did wash the gravel.

further details:
The temperature is at 26
The filter is a fluval 2

 

[Miss Wiggle]

don't panic, you often get this in new tanks, it's either a bit of dust/dirt from the substrate that will settle in a few days, or it's a bacterial bloom. both will go of their own accord and neither is harmful

how are you cycling the tank and have you started yet?

 

[Pleccy]

I agree with Miss Wiggle, even if you wash the substrate really well the water will turn a little cloudy. However it will settle.

 

[jumblepod]

I agree with Miss Wiggle, even if you wash the substrate really well the water will turn a little cloudy. However it will settle.

Does it matter that its very cloudy to the point where you cant see the bottom if you lok in the top i think it must be the gravel however i dont see why it took a day to come on. I havnt started cycling the tank but im gonna use filter media out my other tank to help it i wanna sort this cloudyness out it looks like a greyish whiteish tint.

 

[Pleccy]

I agree with Miss Wiggle, even if you wash the substrate really well the water will turn a little cloudy. However it will settle.

Does it matter that its very cloudy to the point where you cant see the bottom if you lok in the top i think it must be the gravel however i dont see why it took a day to come on. I havnt started cycling the tank but im gonna use filter media out my other tank to help it i wanna sort this cloudyness out it looks like a greyish whiteish tint.

If it is very cloudy and doesn't settle you could add some filter floss to the filter and carry out a series of small water changes.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

agree, just give it a day or so to see if it settles

 

[jumblepod]

Does it matter that im using a fluval 2 that says it does up 2 90 litres on the box do you think i should buy the fluval 3 that does more becuase my tank is 90 litres so its pushing the filter to the max i think. Ill try adding some cotton stuff in the filter. Thank you for your replies btw.

 

[Pleccy]

A lot of people recommend using a filter that is rated for a larger volume than that of the tank, mainly because of the increased volume of biological filtration media, but extra water movement will help suspended water particles to settle.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah manufacturers recommendations for filter sizes are always optomistic to say the least, what you want is 5x tank turnover, so if the tank is 90litres then you want a filter that does 450lph (litres per hour). Not sure of the exact spec on the model of filter you have but look it up, if it's below that then you will want to upgrade it, and it's better to do it now than try to change it with fish in later.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree with that. Its sometimes a bit hard to find the L/H figures on some manufacturers web sites but that is the number you want to track down, not the figures where they claim max tank size.

~~waterdrop~~