Cycling help

[dca]

Hi there!  First time aquarium owner here, I could use some advice. I have a 15 gallon tank, put in some small rocks/gravel as substrate and then just added water and dechlorinator.  Was a little cloudy from the rocks (despite having rinsed them off first) but on day two it turned crystal clear. I was planning on adding some plants in on day three, but I woke up to it being cloudy again but this time with a noticeable sulphur smell.  I thought this was strange because I have not added anything to my tank except rocks and the filter. Can you get a bacteria bloom with all brand new equipment and without adding fish, food, bacteria, really anything but rocks?  Is there anything I need to do or just ride it out?  Thank you for reading and for any advice you can share. 

Edited August 31 by dca

[Root]

Were you by chance using Seachem Prime as

On 8/30/2023 at 8:55 PM, dca said:

 

On 8/30/2023 at 8:55 PM, dca said:

added water and dechlorinator.

Curious question, did you use Seachem Prime? 

[dca]

No I used API tap water conditioner 

[NOLANANO]

Its likely a bacteria bloom which is completely normal for a new tank. The only thing you can do it wait for it to pass. Should pass in a week or so. If you change any water, you will make the bloom last longer.

The basic idea is that you want the bacteria to "eat" all the food in the water column and die off. If you do a water change, you are feeding the bacteria more food.

Also this is not the same bacteria as the nitrifying bacteria so it does not affect cycling your tank.

[JChristophersAdventures]

Just out of curiosity, where did you get the rocks? If they are local,or collected, you might want to inspect them again, just to make sure you don't have anything that is already starting to break down in there. Sometimes we think we know the rocks, but there could be a variant in there that wasn't apparent at rinsing, but is clouding the water now it has been completely submerged for a little bit. Thanks... btw, welcome to the forum.

Edited August 31 by JChristophersAdventures

[dca]

Thanks everyone for your help.  I got the rocks from my local pet shop, they were sold in bags (I threw the bags away and can’t remember the brand name).  
 

 

 

 

On 8/31/2023 at 9:27 AM, NOLANANO said:

Its likely a bacteria bloom which is completely normal for a new tank. The only thing you can do it wait for it to pass. Should pass in a week or so. If you change any water, you will make the bloom last longer.

The basic idea is that you want the bacteria to "eat" all the food in the water column and die off. If you do a water change, you are feeding the bacteria more food.

Also this is not the same bacteria as the nitrifying bacteria so it does not affect cycling your tank.

Thanks so much for your help!  I was thinking of adding a couple live plants to help with the cycling, do you think that’s a good or bad idea given what’s going on?  I am going to test the ammonia levels when I get done with work. 

[JChristophersAdventures]

Adding plants is a great idea (just make sure the fish you will be adding don't like to eat or shred them). The easiest way to do that is to use plants that feed from the water column (so you don't have to add other types of substrate or use root tabs to feed them), you can float them and simply dose some liquid fertilizer into the water, like ACO Easy Green. Some suggestions would be Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, Brazilian Pennywort, Java Moss and Guppy Grass. There are many others. Hope that helps.

[dca]

very much, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out!

[NOLANANO]

On 8/31/2023 at 11:04 AM, dca said:

Thanks everyone for your help.  I got the rocks from my local pet shop, they were sold in bags (I threw the bags away and can’t remember the brand name).  
 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your help!  I was thinking of adding a couple live plants to help with the cycling, do you think that’s a good or bad idea given what’s going on?  I am going to test the ammonia levels when I get done with work. 

Someone can correct me if they disagree but I don’t think adding plants is an issue. The bacteria bloom should affect anything. Just don’t do a water change until the water looks clear.