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Brentstarburst Brentstarburst
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  • Posted on: 31/8/2021 22:41
Cloud tank before fish? #1
Hi all.

I recently purchased a second hand 110 Aqua Safe tank(110 litre/25 gallon), it came with a Moray 700 filter. Turns out that the media - ceramic, charcole and sponge have never been changed and are about a year old.

My son thought this would be okay and that rinsing them in tap water would serve as okay in a new tank setup. Chlorinated tap water should kill all right?

My son is a relatively experienced aquarist, so I've been following his guide. Here's what we've done:

Cleaned the tank with vinegar solution and then filled with tap water. Put in Aqua safe and fired up the heater, plus the filter. I've washed gravel and added decor.

All functioning nicely for 24 hours and then my son added Pure Aquarium Balls. Tested all levels in the tank, no ammonia, PH, hardness all good, no nitrite or nitrate.

48 hours later and I'm seeing a whitish cloud in the tank. Before adding fish.

Has this been caused by the Pure Aquarium Balls?

I spoke to someone at the local aquarist shop and they said possibly to change out some water which I've done, possibly bacterial bloom.. However, could this be caused by the filter? The sponge and the ceramic filter seemed okay but I understand the carbon filter could be well past its date.. Previous owner never changed the media and bought it a year ago.

I probably need to change all the media. But what should I do? Which should I change first? I've started a cycle now as I've added some silver tipped barbs (5) and I have some Seachem Prime.

This situation isn't ideal and I do regret listening to my son now!

Any advice please!
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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 1/9/2021 7:50
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #2
The cloudiness is a bacterial bloom and quite normal in a new tank. It should clear over the next few days. The media should be fine apart from the carbon which should be thrown out as it won't be doing anything . Replace it with more bio balls or sponge to contain beneficial bacteria as carbon is unnecessary except for to help remove medication, tannin etc., and is expensive to replace every six weeks or so which has to be done for it to be effective.

My main concern is that you have fish in an uncycled tank. The Pure balls may help initially, but you need to test daily for ammonia and nitrite for the next few weeks and be prepared to change water to keep them both as close to 0 as possible. Double dosing Prime when you do so will give some protection from ammonia and nitrite for the following 24 hours. Read this guide to cycling fish-in for more information.https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... ammonia-nitrite-spike.htm
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Brentstarburst Brentstarburst
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  • Posted on: 2/9/2021 12:09
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #3
Quote:

Fishlady wrote:
The cloudiness is a bacterial bloom and quite normal in a new tank. It should clear over the next few days. The media should be fine apart from the carbon which should be thrown out as it won't be doing anything . Replace it with more bio balls or sponge to contain beneficial bacteria as carbon is unnecessary except for to help remove medication, tannin etc., and is expensive to replace every six weeks or so which has to be done for it to be effective.

My main concern is that you have fish in an uncycled tank. The Pure balls may help initially, but you need to test daily for ammonia and nitrite for the next few weeks and be prepared to change water to keep them both as close to 0 as possible. Double dosing Prime when you do so will give some protection from ammonia and nitrite for the following 24 hours. Read this guide to cycling fish-in for more information.https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... ammonia-nitrite-spike.htm


Thank you for the advice.

So good news. The cloudy water has now cleared and I'm seeing rises in Ammonia, no Nitrite, but some Nitrate. (Which confuses me a little, why would I see nitrate now?) Still, I've put in some Prime. When would you advise to a do a water change? And how much?
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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 2/9/2021 13:27
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #4
You need to keep ammonia (and nitrite when it arrives) below 0.25 so change as much water as needed as often as needed to achieve that. The nitrate you're seeing may be already present in your supply; much of the UK has some nitrate in tap water so test the tap water to get a baseline reading.
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Brentstarburst Brentstarburst
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  • Posted on: 3/9/2021 10:05
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #5
Quote:

Fishlady wrote:
You need to keep ammonia (and nitrite when it arrives) below 0.25 so change as much water as needed as often as needed to achieve that. The nitrate you're seeing may be already present in your supply; much of the UK has some nitrate in tap water so test the tap water to get a baseline reading.


Hiya. How long before ammonia should start to show?

Just noticed something odd. I have the API test strips. Initially I was putting them down on a pine table after putting in water and the edges of the test strips for ammonia changed colour. However, if I don't put them on that table, put them anywhere else, ammonia does not register.

I have two separate packs of these API strips and see the same thing.

PH levels show at 7-7.5 and the temp is at 26 degrees.

So it seems to me that something is in the table wood or finish that has ammonia! But my second concern is that after 72 hours, there's no ammonia showing?

I'm feeding them a tiny pinch of food a day.
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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 3/9/2021 11:00
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #6
It could be that the bacteria from the Pure balls are dealing with the ammonia. But the test strips are notoriously inaccurate so if you can I would advise getting a liquid based Master Test kit instead.
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Brentstarburst Brentstarburst
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  • Posted on: 3/9/2021 17:02
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #7
Quote:

Fishlady wrote:
It could be that the bacteria from the Pure balls are dealing with the ammonia. But the test strips are notoriously inaccurate so if you can I would advise getting a liquid based Master Test kit instead.


I got a master test kit. Ammonia is indeed showing as zero as is nitrite. PH level is about 7.5 and nitrates are showing 20-40.

I guess I'll just check ammonia everyday to see if this persists?
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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 3/9/2021 19:07
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #8
It looks like the Pure balls are doing their job. To confirm, check the nitrate level in your tap water. If the level in the tank is higher than the level from the tap then you have a cycle running. In that case, continue to test daily for a week or so in case of any spikes, but after that you can relax a bit.
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Brentstarburst Brentstarburst
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  • Posted on: 5/9/2021 23:03
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #9
Quote:

Fishlady wrote:
It looks like the Pure balls are doing their job. To confirm, check the nitrate level in your tap water. If the level in the tank is higher than the level from the tap then you have a cycle running. In that case, continue to test daily for a week or so in case of any spikes, but after that you can relax a bit.


I tested our tap water and it looks higher in nitrates than the water in the tank.

The tank water seems at about 25 - 40 and the tap water seems at 40. I guess this means changing the water isn't really an option from the tap?

I noticed ammonia seems to be at around 0.25.

We can't be the only people in this area with this issue. I will ask the local fish dealers what they're doing.

Otherwise, I guess plants to look lower nitrates?

BTW - I did click your link to buy you a coffee
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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 6/9/2021 6:57
Re: Cloud tank before fish? #10
Much of the UK has nitrate in the tap water - mine is 40ppm. If you aren't keeping sensitive fish it's OK as long as you maintain the tank at no more than 20ppm above tap reading. If you do keep more sensitive types than you need to look at nitrate removal resins or using RO water.

Thanks for the coffee!
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