New 55G. Cloudy!

[Kombat]

I set up a new 55G tank. It's been running for 3 weeks now. The water is very cloudy and I'm not sure what to do. I've tried the stuff that's supposed to clear up cloudy water but it didn't help.

I can actually see white particles in the water and I wonder if it's from the rocks. I rinsed and scrubbed them down before putting them in, so I don't know. I attached a photo so you can see the rocks. I'm no geologist. I'm sure the red is lava rock. I don't know what the white/grey rock is. It was all bought at my LFS.

Thanks for any help.

Karl

 

[TheHolding]

Are the white particles like flakes?

Reason I ask I had this when doing my fishless cycle, they eventually just dissappeared!

The cloudiness could be a bacterial bloom in your tank, when the tank is nearing it's cycle completion it can get cloudy - don't worry it's friendly bacteria

If you have already cycled you are likely facing a 'mini cycle' this is when there is too much ammonia and nitrite in the tank that the bacteria can't handle it causing a higher growth in new bacteria - this can happen when you have added too much fish at once or your tank is overstocked - add only 2 fish a week when stocking.

What are your water parameters?

 

[Kombat]

Are the white particles like flakes?

Reason I ask I had this when doing my fishless cycle, they eventually just dissappeared!

The cloudiness could be a bacterial bloom in your tank, when the tank is nearing it's cycle completion it can get cloudy - don't worry it's friendly bacteria

If you have already cycled you are likely facing a 'mini cycle' this is when there is too much ammonia and nitrite in the tank that the bacteria can't handle it causing a higher growth in new bacteria - this can happen when you have added too much fish at once or your tank is overstocked - add only 2 fish a week when stocking.

What are your water parameters?

Thanks. My tank is cycling, which is a whole other discussion, but if it might be related I'll explain.

I took filter media (some Fluval BIOMAX) from one of my other tanks so I figured it would be safe to put fish in right away. I put in 6 about 1" Aceis. I was going to go buy a few more fish every weekend until I was fully stocked. I started with mature media. No problem I figured. But before spending money on more fish I thought I better test just to be sure. Imagine my surprise my ammonia reading was 1.0 ppm. Who knew 6 tiny fish could create that much ammonia in a 55G tank in one week. So it appears my mature media did absolutely nothing. After two weeks with the fish I still have no nitrite reading, just ammonia. So I am unintentionally doing a with-fish-cycle.

And to answer your first question, I don't know if I'd call them flakes, but there are definitely very visible small particles in the water. From several feet away the tank just looks cloudy. But up close you can clearly see that there are white/grey particles/flakes in the water.

 

[TheHolding]

Are the white particles like flakes?

Reason I ask I had this when doing my fishless cycle, they eventually just dissappeared!

The cloudiness could be a bacterial bloom in your tank, when the tank is nearing it's cycle completion it can get cloudy - don't worry it's friendly bacteria

If you have already cycled you are likely facing a 'mini cycle' this is when there is too much ammonia and nitrite in the tank that the bacteria can't handle it causing a higher growth in new bacteria - this can happen when you have added too much fish at once or your tank is overstocked - add only 2 fish a week when stocking.

What are your water parameters?

Thanks. My tank is cycling, which is a whole other discussion, but if it might be related I'll explain.

I took filter media (some Fluval BIOMAX) from one of my other tanks so I figured it would be safe to put fish in right away. I put in 6 about 1" Aceis. I was going to go buy a few more fish every weekend until I was fully stocked. I started with mature media. No problem I figured. But before spending money on more fish I thought I better test just to be sure. Imagine my surprise my ammonia reading was 1.0 ppm. Who knew 6 tiny fish could create that much ammonia in a 55G tank in one week. So it appears my mature media did absolutely nothing. After two weeks with the fish I still have no nitrite reading, just ammonia. So I am unintentionally doing a with-fish-cycle.

And to answer your first question, I don't know if I'd call them flakes, but there are definitely very visible small particles in the water. From several feet away the tank just looks cloudy. But up close you can clearly see that there are white/grey particles/flakes in the water.

The white flakes will dissappear eventually, do you have hard water?

What filter are you using? Did you leave the media in the tank without fish for a period? Bacteria needs a constant source of ammonia to survive.

As you have no nitrite you are either at the start of the cycle or your ammonia bacteria is not suffiient enough yet.

Do a nitrate test, if you have nitrate then your tank should cycle within a week I would say, what fish do you have in there?

I would recommend a 50% water change to bring that ammonia down.

 

[Kombat]

The white flakes will dissappear eventually, do you have hard water?

My water out of the tap is medium, but I am adding "Cichlid Salt" from another website. It's just baking soda, epsom salts, and non-iodized salt to increase the pH and hardness of the water for cichlids. After adding that my pH is at 8.4. GH is about 18 dgh.

What filter are you using? Did you leave the media in the tank without fish for a period? Bacteria needs a constant source of ammonia to survive.

No. I actually waited a day before adding the old filter media to let the fish add some ammonia to the water. I'm using dual Aguaclear 50's.

As you have no nitrite you are either at the start of the cycle or your ammonia bacteria is not suffiient enough yet.

Do a nitrate test, if you have nitrate then your tank should cycle within a week I would say, what fish do you have in there?

I would recommend a 50% water change to bring that ammonia down.

I just did a water change yesterday.

 

[spectrum]

I know its off topic but I think a piece or two of the rock you have there is ocean rock or limestone, which depending upon your planned stocked could be a very bad thing.

EDIT* Right sorry, just spotted the cichlid thing. oops