Cloudy Water

[Fishy333]

I have a ten gallon tank with NO fish in it yet. I am thinking about getting guppies but I am not sure, but that's not why I put this up. I filled up the water with the water dechlorinator that came with it, then I filled it up a little more with a different one. It started to get a little cloudy so I went to the petstore. They gave me Clarity and I put it in. It was a dark brown and turned my water brown. On the bottle it said that it should clear off within two hours. It has been a day and still hasn't cleared off. My little thing that sucks up the water for the filter has this brown stuff stuck on it. The cartrige is brown and I washed it off with tap water but it is still all brown. I pulled the shades down so there is no natural light and I am not usually in my room, so not a lot of regular light. HELP! I have been struggling with my tank, trying to get fish for almost a week! Please help me, thank you!
Also, what should I do about the water? I heard to just drain the water... This fish dude (online) said that the original cloudiness coulodve been from my two dechlorinators reacting to eachother. Is this possible? If it is, what do I do for it?!

 

[Katty]

What do you need help with? The brown gunk or the clarity of the water? Have you been fishless cycling?

 

[Fishy333]

Uh.... I need help with how to clear up my tank and what is the brown gunk? What is fishless cycling? Sorry! I'm a newbie.

 

[Katty]

If the water clouded soon after you added the water, it's probably just from residue and dust on the gravel.

Fishless cycling is dosing your tank with a source of ammonia (pure ammonia, fish food, etc.), so that beneficial bacteria grows to eat the ammonia, and so when you finally add your new fish to the tank they will not have to be exposed to ammonia at all. I was asking because it's common to get cloudy water from a bacterial bloom while cycling.

Since you're new to this, and don't know what cycling is, I HIGHLY recommend you check the links here, particularly under Cycling. Fishless cycling your tank will save you a lot of future headaches.

Anyways, I would try to gravel vacuum out as much of the brown gunk as possible, add new water with one type of water conditioner, and not worry about any cloudiness that shows up. Don't bother adding any more of that water clarifying stuff, seems like it was just a nuisance.

I really don't know what the brown gunk is. The water clarifiers work by "clumping" together all of the microscopic cloudy particles, so that they're big enough for the filter to catch. My guess is it reacted with something in your tank and started turning stuff brown. Try scrubbing the stained filter bits with hot water and a new toothbrush and see if the brown gunk comes off.

 

[Fishy333]

Thank you SO much! I have a feeling this forum is going to save my butt and my fish's! So I can dump out al the brown stuff and brush the filter with a new toothbrush and add new water? Do just put a little food in the water without the fish...? Wouldn't that make it dirty though? Do I take the food out or leave it in. I'll check out the links. Thank-you SO much (again)!

 

[Katty]

Yes, just clean out and scrub out the gunk with water, no cleaners. And remember to add the water conditioner.

Please, check the links, they will really answer all of your questions about cycling better than I can. I just have to let you know though, it will take about a month or more (if you use pure, bottled ammonia), but you won't kill or harm any fish from ammonia/nitrite poisoning. Make sure you look at every link under Cycling, that should give you a good idea and get you ready to go. It's a lot of reading, but it's better to read now than panic later.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Im almost certain this is an algae bloom. apply chemicals and do a 10% water change per day. Its nothing seriouse at all its acctually common. good luck.