Filled my new tank yesterday

[Natalie is new]

I filled my new 20 gallon tank early Saturday.  All that is in it so far is gravel, wood decorations, and one plant. I have the filter going and the light set for 8hrs per day. The water looks like murky tea. I thought it would clear up by now, so I figured I'd ask if anyone has recommendations to help clear it up. I added conditioner and nitrifying bacteria to the water when I set it up. I have more plants coming from Aquarium Co-op this week,  now I'm worried my tank water will kill the plants. 

[PaigeIs]

The hardest part of setting up a new tank is the wait.   The murky water is not a problem in a fresh set-up. Most likely, it's tannins from the wood decorations and dust from the gravel. Over time, the filter will clear up particle debris. Eventually, the wood will stop leaching tannins into the water. Over time and water changes, the water color will clear up too. The best thing you can do at this point is nothing. Changing the water and most other interventions will slow down the cycle.  

Go ahead and add your new plants; the tannins in the water won't hurt them. The color will not harm the plants or fish once you add them. Some people make their water "tea" colored on purpose! Check out the forum posts about blackwater tanks. You may also want to prepare yourself for a bacterial bloom. They are common in a new tank but also a bit panic-inducing. (Hint.. bacterial blooms go away on their own.)  Finally, sometimes new wood decor will form a weird "slime."  It's also normal. It will go away on its own, and fish, snails, and shrimp like to eat it.  

[lefty o]

i agree with the above. murky hazy look is normal for a day or two on a new setup, but the brownish tan color is most likely from the wood. be more concerned with getting the bacteria colony established. over time with water changes, you will get rid of the tea color from the wood.

[Natalie is new]

Thanks so much to you both. 

[Galabar]

What type of gravel did you use?

 

[Natalie is new]

It's a natural colored larger,  round edge gravel I got from petsmart. I don't have a local fish store within 100 miles so I'm really limited. 

 

[Natalie is new]

@PaigeIs Does the weird wood decor slime form a whitish clear cloud around parts of the wood?

[Kit Craft]

My driftwood was boiled 5 times and still leached tannins into the water for weeks and weeks. Slowly it went from a dark tea color to a red color to a green tea color and finally it stopped. But I put a lot of botanicals in a 12-inch cube so yours will probably clear up faster.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/24/2023 at 8:18 PM, Kit Craft said:

My driftwood was boiled 5 times and still leached tannins into the water for weeks and weeks. Slowly it went from a dark tea color to a red color to a green tea color and finally it stopped. But I put a lot of botanicals in a 12-inch cube so yours will probably clear up faster.

It basically will always leech tannins.  It's just what wood does.  Water changes will help.  If the tank gets too dark for your liking you can also run carbon in the filter.

Welcome to the forums @Kit Craft and @Natalie is new !

[Natalie is new]

I have another question about my new tank. I understand it's normal for slime to grow on my new wood decor. It certainly has. My spider wood looks like an alien jelly fish is encasing it. I also have some floating on the water surface.  Since I just set it up less than a week ago I have done nothing. But my fingers are starting to itch and doubt is creeping it. My ph is between 7.6-7.8. Would this impact when I need to start water changes? I still haven't purchased fish. I'm picking up my shipment with co op plants at my po box on my way to work.  So I still only have gravel, wood,  air filter, one lonely plant,  and my plant light on 8 hours. 

Thanks!

Edited October 26, 2023 by Natalie is new
Typo

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:13 PM, Natalie is new said:

@PaigeIs Does the weird wood decor slime form a whitish clear cloud around parts of the wood?

This is normal, and it's nutritious for snails and plecos, shrimp, fish, etc.  Given you don't have any critters in there yet, you can use a (new) toothbrush to remove it, and suck the slime out with a turkey baster.

Here is a helpful article for new tank setup.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fish-tank-cycling

Also a video about the nitrogen cycle, the most important part of setting up a new tank.

You are a step ahead since you added bacteria to your tank.  Do you have a test kit yet?  You'll need a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (there are other tests, but these are the main ones for now).  You can get liquid test kit (such as the API master test kit) or test strips.  Multi-test strips will not have ammonia test on them.  The ammonia one is separate.

This cycle should be completed before adding fish (meaning you are reading nitrates, but zero ammonia and zero nitrite).  You can feed the bacteria you added to the tank by adding a tiny pinch of fish food every now & then.  

Edited October 26, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Natalie is new]

I have the multi test strips and ammonia test stripes. Ive tested with the multi test strips. I also have a test kit for gh and kh. With my first gh test I found I have off the chart hardness. I will do that one again.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Natalie is new
Typo

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/26/2023 at 1:14 PM, Natalie is new said:

I have the multi test strips and ammonia test stripes. Ive tested with the multi test strips. I also have a test kit for gh and kh. With my first gh test I found I have off the chart hardness. I will do that one again.

Mine is like 180

[lefty o]

On 10/26/2023 at 11:28 AM, Natalie is new said:

I have another question about my new tank. I understand it's normal for slime to grow on my new wood decor. It certainly has. My spider wood looks like an alien jelly fish is encasing it. I also have some floating on the water surface.  Since I just set it up less than a week ago I have done nothing. But my fingers are starting to itch and doubt is creeping it. My ph is between 7.6-7.8. Would this impact when I need to start water changes? I still haven't purchased fish. I'm picking up my shipment with co op plants at my po box on my way to work.  So I still only have gravel, wood,  air filter, one lonely plant,  and my plant light on 8 hours. 

Thanks!

you're doing fine, dont panic.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/26/2023 at 9:28 AM, Natalie is new said:

My spider wood looks like an alien jelly fish is encasing it. I also have some floating on the water surface.  Since I just set it up less than a week ago I have done nothing. But my fingers are starting to itch and doubt is creeping it.

The slime is just bacteria usually. Spiderwood is notorious for this. You can gently brush it off and siphon it out or just pull the wood and give it a clean.

In terms of fingers itching, I assume this is figuratively spoken?   If so, no worries at all and this is entirely normal. Fish like corydoras, otocinclus or shrimp will eat on "aufwuchs" which is that film as well as the small critters that also eat off that biofilm like copepods.

[MattyM]

If you have a pot you don't care much about, you can boil as much of the driftwood as you can. I have a cheap enamel pot for this, it's like 3 or 4 gallons. Just be warned any pot you use will have a tannin ring around it. Snails, shrimp and other critters will keep the film in check once you have them. 

If you added bottled bacteria, it won't really do anything w/o an ammonia source, or "food" for the bacteria. Part of the cloudiness you see could be bacteria die off. If possible I would get a bunch more plants in there (sounds like you got that covered), and start working on supporting life: 

I might also do a water change if the conditions look really bad, hard to tell w/o a pic. But the bacteria you want lives on surfaces not in the water column. 

OR, get your plants in, wait a few days, and then introduce a light bioload of hardy fish along with your bottled bacteria. I've had good luck with Fritz and API's Quick Start.

You got this 👍

[Natalie is new]

On 10/26/2023 at 3:00 PM, MattyM said:

If you have a pot you don't care much about, you can boil as much of the driftwood as you can. I have a cheap enamel pot for this, it's like 3 or 4 gallons. Just be warned any pot you use will have a tannin ring around it. Snails, shrimp and other critters will keep the film in check once you have them. 

If you added bottled bacteria, it won't really do anything w/o an ammonia source, or "food" for the bacteria. Part of the cloudiness you see could be bacteria die off. If possible I would get a bunch more plants in there (sounds like you got that covered), and start working on supporting life: 

I might also do a water change if the conditions look really bad, hard to tell w/o a pic. But the bacteria you want lives on surfaces not in the water column. 

OR, get your plants in, wait a few days, and then introduce a light bioload of hardy fish along with your bottled bacteria. I've had good luck with Fritz and API's Quick Start.

You got this 👍

Thanks for the advice. I went a head and did a water change.  The water looks better,  but it's still pretty cloudy. I also took the wood out and cleaned off the slime as much as possible. I'm planning on getting some blue velvet shrimp in about a week. 

 

 

 

 

[Galabar]

On 10/29/2023 at 6:53 PM, Natalie is new said:

Thanks for the advice. I went a head and did a water change.  The water looks better,  but it's still pretty cloudy. I also took the wood out and cleaned off the slime as much as possible. I'm planning on getting some blue velvet shrimp in about a week. 

You mentioned you had ammonia test strips and combo test strips.  What are your ammonia and nitrite readings on those tests?

You might wait a little while for the shrimp, just to be sure you've got your tank cycled.  So, let's start with those test results.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/29/2023 at 6:53 PM, Natalie is new said:

Thanks for the advice. I went a head and did a water change.  The water looks better,  but it's still pretty cloudy. I also took the wood out and cleaned off the slime as much as possible. I'm planning on getting some blue velvet shrimp in about a week. 

I would say give the tank an extra few weeks if you're planning on shrimp.  Maybe at least 1 month is about the right "minimum" time. 

 

[Natalie is new]

So far, I have not had ammonia and nitrite show up. I've probably been a tiny bit obsessive about testing.  I'll take that advice on the shrimp.  I'd be sad if I rushed things and killed them.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Natalie is new

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:24 PM, Natalie is new said:

So far, I have not had ammonia and nitrite show up. I've probably been a tiny bit obsessive about testing.  I'll take that advice on the shrimp.  I'd be sad if I rushed things and killed them.

Hoping for the best!  It's just one of those things, fish are the same way.  I beat myself up a bit last tank I setup because I was really wanted to move fish.  I wish I had given the plants a few weeks to take hold.  Moved fish in and everything got tossed up into the water. 

Patience is just really a skill we all learn in this hobby!

[Galabar]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:24 PM, Natalie is new said:

So far, I have not had ammonia and nitrite show up. I've probably been a tiny bit obsessive about testing.  I'll take that advice on the shrimp.  I'd be sad if I rushed things and killed them.

So, in order for ammonia (and then nitrite) to show up, you'll need that initial source of ammonia.  That could be decaying plants.  However, you have plants, and that might not be enough.

It could also be the case that your tank is already cycled and you are fine.  However, I'm not sure how likely that is.

There are commercial sources of ammonia for aquariums.  However, you can get away with just buying "pure" ammonia at the grocery store.  Bring the concentration up to 2ppm and wait for both the ammonia and subsequent nitrite to go to "zero." 

[lefty o]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:53 PM, Natalie is new said:

Thanks for the advice. I went a head and did a water change.  The water looks better,  but it's still pretty cloudy. I also took the wood out and cleaned off the slime as much as possible. I'm planning on getting some blue velvet shrimp in about a week. 

 

 

 

 

id suggest waiting on the shrimp. they truly need a fairly well established tank to survive.

[PaigeIs]

On 10/24/2023 at 7:13 PM, Natalie is new said:

@PaigeIs Does the weird wood decor slime form a whitish clear cloud around parts of the wood?

Yep.   Sort of white and milky-looking. It's almost gelatinous sometimes.  The fish, snails, and shrimp LOVE it.  When I cycled my 20g, the spiderwood was covered in it.  Once I added fish, it was gone within days. I had a few otos I moved from another tank, and they gorged themselves.   Remember, those pristine tank images you see online are either fully cycled and cared for by experienced aquarists with plenty of time for maintenance, or the tanks are new builds.  You are creating a new mini-biome in a box of water, and nature is messy looking sometimes.  Be kind to yourself.  

I don't have a pic from one of my tanks, but here is an example of the new wood slime I "borrowed" from Fishlore.