tropical fish tank cycle help?

Question

iv had my tank for about 2 weeks now and its still going through its cycle, all of a sudden the water has gone all cloudy and i was told this is a good thing because it means my cycle is nearly over, anyway, just as i saw my cloudy water i cleaned my filter and %20 of the water, i cleaned the filter in the %20 water i took out, i just wanted to find out if this was a bad thing to do and how much longer do u think it will take for my tank to mature?

Answer 1

The cloudy water is a bacteria bloom. It is normal and clears up on its own. Perhaps a 10% water change every other day will reduce ammonia levels as the tank cycles. Products like API StressZyme will speed up the process of cycling slightly. Products like API StressCoat and Seachem Prime will make the cycle easier on the fish. Because you cleaned the filter, I'd guess you are looking at 4 weeks or so.

Answer 2

Because you cleaned out the filter is most likely why you see the cloudiness again. That is where the majority of the benefical bacteria resides. Cleaning your filter media, the best thing to do is clean that in a bucket of the tank water being changed. It does help reduce the amount lost due to cleaning. The best way to get a feel for where you are in your cycle is by your testing. Checking your ammonia and once reading 0 and constantly like that indicated you have sufficient bacteria to deal with that, and that is the first stage. Once your nitrite reads 0 constantly then you are cycled out. The second part generally takes longer to clear so just be patient.
You can help your ammonia levels staying lower by reducing the amount of food you give to just enough for them to entirely eat in 2-3 minutes, and the only effective way to really speed up your cycle process is using gravel and/or media from an established tank.

JV

Answer 3

Read throught the following articles
http://fishlesscycling.com/articles.html


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB