This is a discussion on HELP!! within the Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
My water is turning cloudy but its still tap water. I have a ten gallon tank. Its been sitting out for about a week ...
My water is turning cloudy but its still tap water. I have a ten gallon tank. Its been sitting out for about a week because I've been tying to figure out where to put it. Is this serious? Please don't laugh if this isn't. I'm really new to aquariums.
What are your water parameters? What filtration system are you using? Are there fish in it? If so, what species are they? We need more details about your tank.
generally it's heterotrophic bacteria coming in to feed on all the new nutrients. Some tap water is high in nutrients so that will happen any time you fill up a new tank or do a large water change. The bacteria are relatively harmless other than the fact that they can produce ammonia as a byproduct so keep an eye on that. This is one of the reasons why you shouldn't do large water changes in your tank, only about 15-25% at a time. As the water loses nutrients and bacteria leaves, the cloudiness should fade. If you notice this problem happening even on smaller water changes, try using RO or distilled water since it has much less (if any) nutrients.
