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Cloudy Tank - new set up. Why is this happening??


Kimberly P
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I just set up this 46 gallon bow front tank.  We got the tank from a friend that had it as a salt water tank.  After a week of scrubbing off the deposits all over the glass (lots of elbow grease & razor blades), I got it cleaned up & ready to go.  Tuesday I added 2 bags of Eco Complete and 1 bag of gravel (65 lbs).  I put a piece of driftwood (that has been in my other tank for months) and some plants & filled it up (carefully so as not to stir the substrate).  I also put some of the media from the existing tank in the filter (it's an Oase 300) to get it going.

Wednesday it was clear & looking good.

Thursday morning it looked like this - totally cloudy.  Last night after work, I removed out the used media and added a small bag of purigen.  It's still this cloudy this morning. (sorry the picture isn't that great - my light is coming in today)

The gh, kh, & ph are all in normal levels (obviously, the nitrites & nitrates aren't showing up yet).  What should I do?  Why do you think it turned so cloudy after 36 hours?

cloudy fish tank.jpg

Edited by Kimberly P
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Patience, It will clear no need for purigen imo. But that might help. I would keep the used media in. Mabeye do a thin layer of sand to cap your substrate. And just do some 25% water changes or more every day until it clears. Or just give it time and add some poly fill to your filter media cheap and gets all the fine particles out. just make sure 100% polyester no fragrance. But i think time is all that's needed really. 🙂 good luck

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IMO looks like a bacterial bloom, the Purigen isn't going to be much help for that at this point. The only things that will help would be fine filter floss or a polishing pad. The best thing to do at this point is to let it be, ride out the cloudiness and let things settle, the more you change or add the longer it will take to balance out. 

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On 9/17/2021 at 11:10 AM, Kimberly P said:

Then I will just do water changes and be PATIENT!

DO NOT DO WATER CHANGES!!  

Water changes during the initial cycle actually slows down the process.  Just let it go and do its thing and in no time you'll be ready for its first inhabitants.

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My mentality when I got my first tank this xmas 2020. Was this.. Ive waited 33 years to finally get a fish tank... I can wait 2 weeks to cycle a tank and make sure all is well. Now I have 7 planted tanks and I dont know how many fish..MTS BAD! Lol worked for me. One day you'll wake up and it'll be clear. 

On 9/17/2021 at 11:10 AM, Kimberly P said:

Thanks!  I do have some filter floss here at work that I'll take home.

Then I will just do water changes and be PATIENT!

🤣

Small water changes if any. 

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