cloudy water during cycle for freshwater

how long does it take for cloudy water to disappear? i just filled the tank today and started the cycle. ammonia is allready climbing. i just hate cloudy water

What substrate are you using and what kind of filter?

crushed coral that i rinsed out for HOURS! and a penn plax cascade 1000 canister filter, i also used seachem stability also

Give it a day or two to settle or be filtered. If you dont see ANY improvement when you wake up tomorrow then you have a problem.

ok, the water was clear when i filled it, it slowly started to get cloudy as the day went on

lol that would be a bacteria bloom most likely

good or bad?

Is your filter hooked up right? Not filtering the particles back in is it? Filter clean?

filters clean, theres hardyly any particles in the water... its just cloudy

Takes time somestime

ok ill post some pics later on tonight.

Took me 20 days to get super clear for a emperor 400 on a 55g.
Took me 3 days to get super clear for 2 sponge filters ea rated up to 80gallons so triple the filtration LOL. I also used instant cycle substrate which helped it QUICK.
And my 10 gallon took about 4 days to get clear but with an already established filter. Also! my 20 gallon never turned cloudy because of 4x the filtration.

k im thinking about getting hob filter to help out

cloudy water isnt a bad thing when youre starting out... it's bad if its an established tank. give it a day or two or heck up to a week to clear... if you don't feel like waiting.. get some purigen and polishing pads and stick it in the filter and call it a day.

thanks for the help tony, ill give it a few days, if its not cleared up by next weekend ill get some polishing pads

Like tony said its not a bad thing, Just ignore it and let it do its thing. Did you use 50% of everything from you 10g like I suggested? You need to feed the tank with fish flake to get the bacteria going if you did. One small pinch daily will do.

Hows it looking tim?

Fern wrote:

Like tony said its not a bad thing, Just ignore it and let it do its thing. Did you use 50% of everything from you 10g like I suggested? You need to feed the tank with fish flake to get the bacteria going if you did. One small pinch daily will do.

yep i did, the water is still cloudy but the fish aint dead yet lol

I think she meant fish flake...not fish lol

i know haha but i added fish too

What did you put in there....nothing expensive right!?

3 small convicts that i had in a little tank that i never took back to the lfs

Still say you should have gone with ammonia . . .

The ammonia method is not very safe, most ammonia's have surfactants in them and can kill fish and bacteria. The fish food method is the safest way to go. From what I have heard convicts are very hardy. Just keep up on the water changes Tim, especially if any numbers get into the iffy zone. If you don't have a liquid test kit you need to get one. I highly suggest the Tetra laborett kit. It has most if the tests you will need, it also has a few salt tests in it.

I have only used the ammonia method and it has worked great for us. I like to know that I can put a load of fish in and I have enough bacteria to support it. I suppose it's just all personal preference and experience. As long as you know what you are doing and use the right ammonia, it works great. I just don't like killing fish I suppose, or putting them through all the ups and downs of getting a tank cycled. Like I said, just my personal preference. :)