Cloudy water in my aquarium during fishless cycling?

Question

I am a first-timer and i have a 28L (around 6-7 gallon) tank. I dont understand all the amonia and nitrite stuff i find on the internet... i only know how to test the PH. my local aquarium guy has taught me so much but never told me anything about the sciency stuff. he just told me to turn on the filter and air pump for at least 4 days (its a pretty smalll tank). but now the water is all cloudy and murky(excuse spelling!!) and the PH shot right up to alkaline is there something i am doing wrong? how can i make it better?

i am a first-timer and i have a 28L (around 6-7 gallon) tank. I dont understand all the amonia and nitrite stuff i find on the internet... i only know how to test the PH. my local aquarium guy has taught me so much but never told me anything about the sciency stuff. he just told me to turn on the filter and air pump for at least 4 days (its a pretty smalll tank). but now the water is all cloudy and murky(excuse spelling!!) and the PH shot right up to alkaline is there something i am doing wrong? how can i make it better? It also smells a bit strange...

why might it stink? sorry, the thing repeated for some reason... please help!

Answer 1

Ok, let me try to clear things up a bit here. PH isn't something normally to stress about but know what it is. PH can come into play with ammonia and tends to get lowered as an aquarium ages. Other then that, don't stress PH. People will often try to raise and lower the PH to try to reach a reading of 7.0 which is so not necessary for fish to thrive. You'll see many PH listings on the net, and these are just ranges. For example, I keep South American Arowana in my cichlid tank. Arowana prefer a more acidic water, and lower hardness whereas the Africans like a higher PH and hardness, yet they both do well in the tank, as African conditions. It's just a guideline is all, nothing to stress unless it's VERY far out of range. Like if you want to keep fish that is said to prefer a PH of 7.5 and your PH is 5.9 then you've got something to concern with. A few tenths of a point off the number, do not worry.

Now in terms of the cycle, the guts of it is this. Fish in the water, are an ammonia source. Fish emit ammonia from respiration, waste, excess food is a source, and waste breaking down. Plant leaves decaying in the water as well. All these contribute to ammonia in a tank. Bacteria grows in your filter and substrate, that oxidizes that compound into a compound called nitrite. Nitrite is pretty toxic to fish as well. While the bacteria to deal with ammonia grows, the amount of ammonia in the water lowers, and your nitrite goes up. Then a secondary bacteria begins to grow, and that oxidizes the nitrite into nitrate, which is much less harmful to fish then the other two.

Once your tank is reading 0 in ammonia and 0 in nitrite, then it is a mature tank. The bacteria will grow to a level that will immediately oxidize any ammonia or nitrite present in the water into nitrate. The cloudiness you see is a bacterial bloom, and it does carry a smell with it. The smell in the tank is also quite normal. It takes about 6-8 weeks for a tank to fully mature. Just be patient, and do water changes if you read the levels going too high. When I did my first tank, I couldn't wait either, but I cannot stress enough to let things be the best you can. Cut down the food you give to a bare minimum. It will not hurt your fish. Fish do not use food in the same manner you and I do.

It is rather unusual for a tank PH to go up I feel. Usually if anything you see it go down. Monitor that PH for the time being, but please do not fight a battle with the tank.

Answer 2

Unless you are adding some source of ammonia (either pure ammonia from the grocery store, fish food, fish poop, plant material, or any other organic material), nothing is going to happen because there is nothing for the bacteria to "eat"...

When fish poop or any other substances decompose, ammonia is released. After there is plenty of ammonia in the tank, bacteria that "eat" ammonia will colonize the filter (the filter provides a large surface area for them to "chill"). As these bacteria "eat" ammonia, they produce nitrite. When the nitrite builds up, different bacteria colonize the filter and "eat" the nitrite, producing nitrate. When the nitrate builds up, different bacteria colonize the filter to VERY SLOWLY "eat" the nitrate, producing compounds that are rarely recognized and seldom tested for. These bacterial blooms cause the cloudy water you are seeing; this is a vital step in cycling the tank.

This should not affect your pH, but it would account for the smell. Your tank has essentially become a waste management center (which, as you might guess, would not smell too pleasant). Keep the airflow in the room fairly good and you won't even notice it. The pH should not affect the bacteria, so just let it go and it will settle down later (if the pH changed, you might have misread the test or performed the test incorrectly). Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

Answer 3

Fishless Aquarium Cycling

Answer 4

I have read that it is new healthy bacteria that is growing that causes the water to do this. About a month ago i bought a 20 gallon tank and started the fishless cycle. The water in my tank was murky for about the first week or so and then cleared up. I suggest you just give it sometime and it will clear up. Hope this helped.

Answer 5

Are you adding anything to make it cycle? Just having water in the tank won't do it. You need to add a bit of fish food, a small piece of shrimp or some media or gravel from an established tank to get it going. It's normal for it to be cloudy as it cycles and it will take about 6 weeks for it to be complete.

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