Fish Cycle - Water Cloudy

[Elena]

I'm new to all this, I set up a tank a few weeks ago now without knowing anything about the cycle until now! I haven't set it up the best way but I'm hoping I can fix or at least improve the environment for my fish while its going through the cycle. My tanks around 40l, I bought a male betta 2 weeks ago and a few plants and a moss ball the same day I started the tank. A week later I bought 2 peppered cory catfish and yesterday I bought another catfish and a snail. Since day 1 I've been adding Quick Start which is meant to speed up the process of cycling, help when introducing new fish and is meant to be used when changing water, also I've been using TapSafe. I know that Qucik Start is probably a waste of money but we'll see.
 
I've been doing 40-50% water changes daily, I've been careful about cleaning the gravel fully I know I need to let the good bacteria develop and I'm not cleaning the filter. My fish seem to be doing ok they all look pretty healthy I just want to make sure I keep it that way. Yesterday my water went a bit cloudy/milky and I've read up that this is a bacteria bloom, I was wondering how long on average after a bacteria bloom has the cycle got left and when will the water be safe for my fish?
 
Is there anything else I should/shouldn't be doing?
 
Any advice would be great, thank you.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'd return the pepper cories since they aren't suitable for your tank long-term. They'd be better off in a 75l+ as they get chunky.
Unless you have salt & pepper rather than pepper? HERE is salt & pepper and HERE is pepper. Is the other catfish you got the same kind or a different one?
 
Do you have a liquid test kit? What are your water parameters? (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) And what is the temperature of the tank?

 

[Elena]

Thanks for the reply, I have one salt and pepper and two pepper, they are already fully grown the pepper, but I figured as they would be the only fish apart from my betta they would be ok in my smaller tank. If its not suitable I'll probably upgrade to a larger fish tank rather then take them back. I don't have a liquid test kit yet no that's why I'm doing the water changes until I can get hold of one. The temps around 25.C.

 

[Ninjouzata]

They each should have groups of 6+ of their own type as well, that's another reason for the larger tank size. Sorry I forgot to mention it!
 
If you can do two tanks I'd have at least the pepper cories in a different one as the temp the betta requires (minimum 25.5C) is the max for them. Keeping them at this temp could lead to a shorter lifespan.
 
I'd pick up a liquid test kit ASAP so you can keep an eye on the water parameters. Do you know anyone with a cycled tank that you could take some mature media from?

 

[KieranBoyne]

Basically just do what ninj said. The temperature information is spot on. And i would get another tank and do some transportation. Lol.

And for the record, please do not make 2 topics virtually identical to each other.

 

[Elena]

Thanks for the info ninj 

 

[KieranBoyne]

oh yeah, and i forgot to say, i reccomend ebay if you want an api master liquid test kit. They normally have discount. So why spend more when you don't have to eh?

 

[Ninjouzata]

Keep an eye on some secondhand sites if you aren't already, you can usually find good deals on tanks Be sure to keep us updated!