Cycling the tank

[fishfin]

What began as a fishless cycle has now changed to a fish in cycle.

After reading about Seachems product called Stability and using it in conjunction with their other product called prime, I understood that I could cycle with my fish in the tank. I only have 3 fish in the tank.

The cycle seems to be going along well I guess. I began the cycle on 17th July and added fish on 20th July.

My ammonia readings increased to a maximum of 0.5 and my nitrites have not exceeded 0.25. My highest reading of nitrate has been 5.0

The water has been so cloudy since adding the fish and I understand that this is from the bacterial bloom. I am still dosing daily with Prime and Stability as directed. I really don't want to use anymore products so I will just wait for the cycle to complete for the water to clear. How long does the cloudy water usually last? This has been a good week now. Fish are healthy and happy with no signs of stress.

I did a 80% water change last night hoping that it would help with the water clarity. I woke to find it cloudy again this morning. I performed my water tests this morning and everything is sitting at zero. Did I just stall my cycle by changing that much water?? Will the levels rise again in the next couple of days?

I also have a question regarding the GH and KH tests. They say to keep adding drops until the water colour changes to the colours they state. That can be kind of difficult to see a definite change can't it? Do you wait until the colour changes to a deep green or do you count it the moment it shows a slight green tinge? My results are as follows by counting the drops until the colour 'just' changed.

GH - 5 drops

KH - 2 drops

I have very soft water as I am on rain water.

I'm testing my water everyday. Is there anything else I need to be doing??

Leonie

[Bettarazzi]

Last time I set up a new tank and it went cloudy, I don't think it lasted more than a few days. Maybe a week? Perhaps an 80% change was a bit large but I don't think it would really have harmed your filter cycle. Maybe just do 20% next time. Could the cloudiness be a result of the gravel? Was the tank clear after you filled it?

Can't help with the hardness test. I don't generally test my water.

[fishfin]

No the cloudiness isn't the gravel. It was clear before I began trying to cycle it. I think I will just try to sit it out rather than play around trying to fix it. It seems that it doesn not matter how much water I change, the next morning it's cloudy again. I think I have stalled my cycle now as I removed the filter floss which was filthy and washed it out, under the kitchen tap. I know it's the worst thing I could do, but I've done it. Now all of my readings are back to zero, looks like I have to start my cycle all over again.

I'm too scared to use a water clarifier as I have read that it reduces the oxygen levels in the tank. As my water is so soft (tank water) the bottle states that I would need to add a water conditioning salts 1st. I have a catfish and plants so I can't add salts to the tank can I?

[zhong89]

I don't know about plant tanks but I put in a teaspoon of aquarium salt every 20 Liters of water I change (it's recommended for 1 tsp every 10 liters, I can afford to have a little bit of soft water, so I didn't put the full dose), to reduce the amount of bacteria infections and increase hardness in my tank. My bristlenoses are doing great and eating like little pigs and growing at a record rate.

[Bettarazzi]

Yes, I think sitting out is probably the best thing to do. If the cloudiness isn't from floating particles in the water then a clarifier might not do anything.