Dust Or Bacterial Bloom?
- Thread starter Shelby
- Start date
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Hi Shelby,
I suspect its hard enough for a person looking directly at the tank live to be able to necessarily know for sure whether a milky white cloudiness is due to a bacterial bloom, some dust from new sand substrate still settling down or a small chance of something else... much less from over the internet!
The easiest way to get a handle on it is usually to start by trying to eliminate various things. Is there a chance it was substrate? eg. Is the substrate new? Was it rinsed a long time in a bucket with the hose going using your hands to keep it disturbed during part of this process? Is it sand (sand is more often the culprit than gravel, though not always.)
By contrast, we're suspicious of a bacterial bloom if the tank is new and is pre-fishless cycling or first phase fishless cycling. The materials the tank is manufactured with will feed a bacterial bloom and organics like fish food or dead bacteria from things like "filter starters" or other bacteria in a bottle products will add to the chance of a bloom.
Bacterial blooms are characterized by a very distinctive white/gray look that is truely like a small amount of milk in water. Bacterial blooms are harmless clouds of heterotrophic bacteria (not the ones we are trying to grow in the filter, as those are autotrophs) and they go away on their own after a while. True bacterial blooms usually come back after water changes but of course water changes don't hurt.
If the cloudiness is caused by sand/gravel dust then water changes are a bigger help. Whan water changing during fishless cycling, always remember to recharge ammonia after re-adding conditioned, warmed water and also re-charge baking soda if you are using that to raise your KH/pH towards the 8.0 to 8.4 sweetspot.
~~waterdrop~~
I suspect its hard enough for a person looking directly at the tank live to be able to necessarily know for sure whether a milky white cloudiness is due to a bacterial bloom, some dust from new sand substrate still settling down or a small chance of something else... much less from over the internet!
The easiest way to get a handle on it is usually to start by trying to eliminate various things. Is there a chance it was substrate? eg. Is the substrate new? Was it rinsed a long time in a bucket with the hose going using your hands to keep it disturbed during part of this process? Is it sand (sand is more often the culprit than gravel, though not always.)
By contrast, we're suspicious of a bacterial bloom if the tank is new and is pre-fishless cycling or first phase fishless cycling. The materials the tank is manufactured with will feed a bacterial bloom and organics like fish food or dead bacteria from things like "filter starters" or other bacteria in a bottle products will add to the chance of a bloom.
Bacterial blooms are characterized by a very distinctive white/gray look that is truely like a small amount of milk in water. Bacterial blooms are harmless clouds of heterotrophic bacteria (not the ones we are trying to grow in the filter, as those are autotrophs) and they go away on their own after a while. True bacterial blooms usually come back after water changes but of course water changes don't hurt.
If the cloudiness is caused by sand/gravel dust then water changes are a bigger help. Whan water changing during fishless cycling, always remember to recharge ammonia after re-adding conditioned, warmed water and also re-charge baking soda if you are using that to raise your KH/pH towards the 8.0 to 8.4 sweetspot.
~~waterdrop~~
I kinda figured that WD but I figured I'd give it a shot...lol
I have gravel as a substrate. Some old some new. Both rinsed really well before put in the tank. There is a film at the top of the water. I added a second filter. I run 2 aquaclear 200 filters is a 29 gallon tank. I'm just going to let it go for awhile. I do massive water changes every day because I don't have a test kit (due to arrive on the 20th via UPS) and my fish were acting funny after my kids added too many at one time which threw everything off! Hopefully my second filter matures quickly and begins to take out the ickies floating
Shelby
I have gravel as a substrate. Some old some new. Both rinsed really well before put in the tank. There is a film at the top of the water. I added a second filter. I run 2 aquaclear 200 filters is a 29 gallon tank. I'm just going to let it go for awhile. I do massive water changes every day because I don't have a test kit (due to arrive on the 20th via UPS) and my fish were acting funny after my kids added too many at one time which threw everything off! Hopefully my second filter matures quickly and begins to take out the ickies floating
Shelby
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
no problem, there are lots of blooms and films and bubbles and what-not in new tanks that all go away or settle down later - for people who watch those things closely.. it can drive the crazy
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