Tropical Fish Forums

[ScooterSES]

I just got a new tank and have problems with the water being cloudy. About two weeks ago I rinsed the gravel and set my aquarium and over the next few days I noticed that the water got very cloudy and it got worse if the ravel was disturbed. I though the problem was probably that the gravel wasn

[flyjawn]

in setting up my new tank, I asked my husband to rinse the gravel for me since I'm pregnant and my belly makes it hard to bend low (gravel was to be rinsed in the tub). well when I got home from shopping, the gravel was in a bucket, wet and sitting next to my tank.

fast forward a few days, 2 new fish in the tank (bolivian rams) and the water is cloudy. the rams seem happy by the way. after posting online and trying to figure out if this is normal, my husband "mentioned" that he never got around to rinsing the gravel!!!

how bad is it that the gravel wasn't rinsed? any I doomed to have a cloudy tank forever? I'm so annoyed because I spent hours doing research to make sure that I did everything correctly.

HELP!

[Shai]

Flyjawn and ScooterSES, the cloudiness will probably clear by itself in a few days to a week. You can rinse gravel forever and probably still never get everything out, because as the gravel rubs up against other pieces of gravel, little tiny bits will break off, creating more "dust". New tanks will also experience bacterial blooms which cloud the water and will also clear out by itself.

Flyjawn, I would recommend you return those rams to the store. Your tank hasn't cycled yet and will need a few weeks to a month to do so before it's ready to accept any fish. You should read this article and this article to understand why cycling is necessary and why it's important to not have fish in the tank while you're doing it.

ScooterSES, while there's nothing wrong with plastic plants, I'd recommend you think about using real ones, as in the long run they will contribute to keeping the water quality high, and, IMHO, they look much better than fake ones!

Good luck!
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[flyjawn]

[Shai]

Dusko's silent cycling article recommends to not add fish until two weeks after planting, and only if the plants are showing good growth rates. In addition, the algae eaters should go in first. He's had a lot of success with tanks so his advice is pretty sound.

I would only add fish sooner than two weeks if filter media from an already-cycled tank was also being used. Did you do that?
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What color is your straitjacket?

[flyjawn]

[Diamondfire]

I first set up my tank 5 days ago with regular tap water. Putting in a few plastic plants [[washed]] rainbow rocks [[washed]] and one small ornament. When I started the tank filtration the water was clear but after the second day the water took on a cloudy appearance and has not cleared up yet.
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The shark maniac returns

[tigersfan]

From my experiences, cloudy water is very normal when ever you start up a new aquarium. All of my tanks that I have ever had, were cloudy for the first few days or so.

[flyjawn]

well my tank was cloudy for about 5 days (since my husband didn't rinse the substrate) but it's clear now...

[bssldy28]

I have a freshwater tank, my husband had a bright idea to add live plants. The water turned Green in less than 24hrs. I have removed the plants and found the leafs to be mostly clear. I have done several water changes this week, water is clearer but still green. Will doing a blackout work or do I need to do 100% water change? With the risk of losing all my fish.