My Tank Water Issues

[sarahsmiffy]

Hi all,


I do not have any fish yet.....but i would like to do a fish in cycle.

I set my tank up on Sunday 6 days ago, and the water was crystal clear until Monday. It's been really cloudy ever since. I have treated the water with tapsafe. On Wednesday i got some nutrafin cycle - prevents fish loss. No change

I spoke to an aquatics centre on thursday and they said to do a 25% water change and add the next dose nutrafin cycle. I did this. Later that day in the evening,after it was suggested by the aquatics centre, i got a plant from a friends tank, I put it in and put it near the side of the tank...it started to clear the tank where the plant was. No where else was clearning so i moved the plant to the centre.....nothing happened. I also added so Osmos, as advised by my friend who is a qualified chemistry teacher. Apparently its for PH levels

I have changed the filter attatchment for more flow.

Today, i took my water to be tested to Pets at home even though i knew it wasnt ready, they said the ammonia and PH levels were perfect but the nitrate and nitrites where terrible. Should have been pale blue and pale yellow and they were dark purple and dark orange!
They said to do a 50% percent water change and they gave me a bag of water from one of their matured tanks and some gravel from one also.

I did the water change, added the above.

I woke this morning to an almost crystal clear tank, not quite perfect but not cloudy really either anymore


I know i am probably being very impatient but i am so looking forward to getting fish.


My question is:

is there anything i should do that i havent ?

Or is there anything i shouldnt do ?

Should I remove the plants and get new ones from pets at home ?


Can i get fish now or do i still need it tested before hand ?

Please can someone help me out - i am a complete newbie to this. Also i have already decided to do a fish in cycle.


Thanks all.

 

[DrRob]

I'm not a big fan of the fish in cycle, and you won't find too many of them on here, but if you're going to do it then I'm glad you've come in for advice.

Sounds like you've got plants in and I suspect that they, as is normal, haven't taken too well to being replanted. As a result a few bits will rot and you've started to get a bacterial bloom. This has made your water cloudy, and is a good thing.

I'm not sure what Osmos is, which worries me slightly as it makes it difficult for me to advise you as well as I'd like.

Best advice I can give you is, get your own test kits. A liquid one is better than the strips but they're better than nothing. Otherwise something always seems to go wrong at about 6 o'clock on a Sunday evening when you can't get anything tested.

I'd leave the plants alone now they're there. Just make sure that you remove dead stuff regularly.

To be honest, if you're having issues with the water quality, then don't put any fish in until it's sorted.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Sarahsmiffy.
Do not add any fish yet Sarah. You are on the right path to a fishless cycle and adding fish will just complicate things. Either way we are here to help, but a fishless cycle is far easier than one that includes live fish. My own experience with Nutrafin Cycle is that it was a useless additive to my tank. In my case, a new tank was cycled in about 2 weeks using a clone from an existing filter. Without the cycle, I have done clones of existing filters in a week or two. In my mind that means I had zero benefit from the Cycle product. Please have a read through of our fishless cycling thread. I have a link to it in my signature area.