Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Cloudy water

2.5K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  ESKEW  
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

I just set up my 10 gallon and 5 hours after putting the water in, it becomes all cloudy. I havn't got tank prameters yet, i'll get them tommorrow, too tired right now. But I did pre-treat the water with bullseye 7.0 PH adjuster, and with dechlorinator. The water used is half normal tap water, half reverse osmosis water, if that helps...

I got no clue why this is happening. It also happened with my smaller 2 gallon when I set it up...
 
#4 ·
I blasted the crap out of the gravel before I put it in the tank...
But i also let it sit for maybe 1-2 weeks before I put it in...
Did this allow the gravel to collect dust and grime while it sat there?
Is there a way to get rid of this cloudiness? I woke up this morning and it was a browner than yesterday... None of this is making sense to me :?
 
#5 ·
Hmm, that is really strange. What kind of gravel is it? I ask becuase it sounds like SOMETHING in your tank is breaking down and degrading the water. It may be some paint/die on your rocks, if not that, probably a decoration.
 
#6 ·
It is extremely hard to completely rid the gravel of all dust and particulate matter. Waiting, as you did, may have allowed the gravel to "grind" against other pieces and produce more "dust". Not to worry. As it ,you will be able to remove the fine particulates with a gravel sweep.
 
#7 ·
So I should do a gravel sweep, and the dust on the gravel bed will be cleaned up...
But as for the cloudy water, should I just wait for it to settle, or is there a quicker way to get rid of it?
Also, I was wondering if sticking my hand/arm into the water will affect the parameters or not?
 
#9 ·
Hmm, it seems to be changing colour...
I just did two 15% water changes, will do another one in half an hour, we'll see what happens.
Is this an occurance in alot of newly established aquariums?
 
#10 ·
I just thought of something...at my barn (which admittedly probably doesn't have the cleanest water source but oh well), the water will come out clear and once it sits for oh, about 2 hours we'll notice it's gotten kinda orange-brownish tinted. Never has done anything to the horses tho.

If you have a plastic container that's not completely clear(so you can see what happens better), fill it with water, let it sit for a couple hours and see what happens.
 
#11 ·
in regards to cloudy water, my tank is recently cycled but the water still isn't crystal clear which I would like it to be. is this because 1. the tank is so large it is giving the illusion of a cloudy distance or 2. the water parameters i.e. the fact that the GH is on the higher side for drift lakes.
Should I consider using a water polishing filter for a few hours in place of the bio sleve and carbon in my filter.