New Juwel 180, No Fish Yet, Got Cloudy Water Though!

[BlackNeon]

Hi all,

Got a new tank and thought I'd set it up corrects, even read instructions etc. Filter and thermometer running, gravel in and water conditioned.

Fine for about a day, but gone cloudy. Looking closely, can actually see clouds moving. Is this simply that the gravel wasn't washed enough?

Advice please.

 

[KittyKat]

Bacterial bloom probably, it will go in a few days. It's very common in the first few days on a new tank.

(Please do fish-less cycle!)

 

[BlackNeon]

Bacterial bloom probably, it will go in a few days. It's very common in the first few days on a new tank.

(Please do fish-less cycle!)

What does "fishless cycle" mean? No fish until water clears?

 

[fluttermoth]

A fishless cycle means adding a source of ammonia and growing a colony of good bacteria in the filter (to eat the ammonia and convert it first to nitrite and then nitrate which you remove through water changes) before you add fish. It takes a few weeks, but is much safer as there is a very real risk of killing fish in a fish-in cycle.

There are some really good articles about cycling and the nitrogen cycle in the beginner's resource centre (there's a link to that in my sig )