First Tropical Tank; All Cloudy...

[stevie71]

hiya everyone

just got my first ever tropical fishtank last week.
its a 35litre "elite style35" i think.
so anyway i distilled the water, added aqua plus and cycle and some fish food but 3 days later the tank went all cloudy.
i have had the filter on, the heater at 27 degrees C. but not the light on.
i just did a partial (20% roughly) water change but im not sure now if this is what i needed to do.
luckily i found out about introducing fish too soon being kinda cruel so thats something positive (the fact that i didnt add any) but im pretty worried im doing something wrong.
ive read up on loads of sites but there are so many conflicting accounts and it is quite complicated.
i am in no hurry (not now) to introduce fish but im worried im doing it wrong.
basically could someone either put my mind to rest or tell me what i may be doing wrong?
am i worrying about nothing here? (tend to do that lol)
didnt realise there was so much to it!

thanks for reading
cheers for now
stevie

 

[fluttermoth]

What you're seeing is a 'bacterial bloom'. It's nothing to worry about and will go away on it's own in time.

I'd really recommend you get some household ammonia and fishless cycle that way, rather than with fish food, as it's very hard to monitor what exactly is happening the 'food way'.

 

[This Old Spouse]

And be sure to get yourself a liquid test kit such as Nutrafin or API so you can monitor the water stats. That will help you determine when it's safe to add fish. And do read up in our Beginner's Resource Center. Good luck, and

 

[the_lock_man]

Best bet, get yourself down to Homebase and get some of their "Value" range Household Ammonia, and follow the "ADD & WAIT" method in the Beginners Resource Centre.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum stevie71.
I see some problems with your arrangement. The first is this "so anyway i distilled the water". You do not want distilled water in your tank, you want tap water. Distilled water has 2 problems. First it contains no minerals so it will severely stress any fish that you eventually add and second it will contain no bacteria that you can multiply using a fishless cycle method. That means your tank will never cycle.
Adding fish food is a hard way to control the cycle in a tank but it can be done. Unfortunately, with no tap water, there is nothing present for you to work with on that cycle.
I would do at least a 50% water change with plain dechlorinated tap water, not distilled in any way. That will give you that tiny sample of bacteria, maybe only 1 or 2 of the right ones, that your tank needs to start the fishless cycle. A bacterial bloom means nothing to a cycle and will soon dissipate under most circumstances. The bacteria that are free floating in the water are not the ones you need for your cycle. The ones you need tend to be well attached in a thin layer on surfaces like the filter media has. Water changes for the bacterial bloom are not needed.

 

[stevie71]

hi guys and thanks so much for the nice welcome and info

yeah i believe that was a "bloom" at the time i didnt think it would clear but it did after 36hours / 2 days. amazing!
so these "blooms" come and go? i wouldnt like to swim about in that milky stuff lol.
i did use just tap water but someone told me that if you leave it out in the air overnight this is known as distilling? it removes the chlorine?
sorry, i should have been clearer with my words! maybe "distilling" isnt the right phrase? ah well im scottish
anyhoo ppl good news - the water cleared after about 36 hours so i tested it for 3 days after it cleared and the test kit says all was perfect. spot on.
so i got 3 golden barbs and they are great little fish. 3 days they been in their new home and they seem to be very happy.
going to post a more detailed, maybe a diary, definetly photos.

thanks again people, i should have posted a more detailed report, aplogies for not, but wimbledon s on

cheers ppl take care

 

[4seasons]

Well now you are in a fish-in cycle. You need to do daily huge water changes with dechlorinated, temperature matched tap water or you will have some dead fish on your hands. Go to the beginner's resource section and read up here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/224306-fish-in-cycling/

 

[stevie71]

hey thanks for the reply. my tank seems to have settled now and have added 2 dwarf gouramis and an albiino ruby shark.
they seem to be doing really well so thanks everyone for the advice.