New tanks gone cloudy

[Scousemick]

Last weekend I purchased my first fish tank and I’m looking to keep tropical fish.

I’ve set the tank up added the filter and 142 litres of water. I’ve also added the stuff the shop gave me to make the water save for the fish.

The issue I have is since last Sunday (2 days after instillation) the mater went cloudy (milky).

I was hoping to add my first fish this weekend but I’m not sure I should.

How long will the water remain cloudy? Should I do something? Can I add fish?

Thanks guys.

 

[fluttermoth]

Welcome to the forum

The cloudiness is caused by bacteria taking advantage of the new environment. It will disappear on its own eventually, but you can try doing water changes to reduce it if you want.

We recommend doing a fishless cycle before adding fish. This means adding an artificial source of ammonia for a few weeks, along with some testing of the water, which builds a colony of good bacteria in the filter. Without those bacteria, ammonia and nitrite, which are very toxic to fish, will build up in the water.

The stuff you got from the fish shop is very unlikely to make cycling unnecessary, even if it's anything more than a dechlorinator. Most 'instant cycling' products just don't work, I'm afraid.

Plenty of people here will help you through it