I just started cycling my tank on Sunday (fishless cycle)...so, not even a week. A few days ago, my water started turning cloudy. What is causing this, and what should I do to fix it?

Also, what do you do to make the pH go up or down?

So I guess I've stumped everyone?

First, the cloudiness: It's normal for cloudiness to occur in a cycling tank; it's the bacterial bloom. It will clean itself up over time as the biological filter becomes fully established. Just continue to monitor the water, and all should be well over time.

Second, do you need your PH to go up, or down? While there are chemical fixes, they are far from reliable. The most important factor is to ensure the PH is stable, rather than at a certain point. To help this, ensure KH and GH are high enough; boosting this and helping keep a stable PH can be done with crushed coral.

My goldfish tank is on the alkaline side.

Hi

I am cycling my dads tank for the past 8/9 weeks n it is going slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllyyyyy.

The problem was that i did not seed the tank with gravel from another tank. All i did was add ammonia & test the water.

iloverustl - Let me know your tank & filter specs . Maybe i can tell u what not to do.

it might help if put bio media from an already established filter and put it in your new filter, and put the new bio media and put them in tank thats already been established. this way the bacterial will help with the cycle of the new tank while the new bio media will get a healthy dose of bacteria from the old tank

My old tank had a lot of sickness in it, so that was all thrown away, and I have no old media to put in the new tanks. It has been two weeks, and there are ZERO nitrites. I have been adding Stress Zyme (live bacteria for aquariums) to the water, and that is not helping either. I still have the same amount of ammonia in the tank as when I started. What else am I supposed to do or what am I doing wrong? I have good aeration and I keep the light on during the day. I do not have a heater in it, but my smaller one does, and it is in the same situation as the larger one. Any suggestions?

Oh, and the water is still cloudy...

Cloudy water is good, that means your bacteria colony is growing. It takes a while for the bacteria in the water to attach to the media. Fishless cycling is not a quick process - try to be patient, I know it's hard!!

its normal that you dont see nitrite. it takes a while for then to develop enough to be picked up by those tests

The cloudy water is good right now. As has been mentioned, it's a bloom of the good bacteria that you want to have. Given a bit of time, they'll settle in the filter and get your tank cycled.

The only live bacteria product I've ever heard of working is Biospira. So chances are that any other product you try won't do anything for you. I once tried using "Cycle," but I got the same results that you're seeing.

Putting a heater in the tank might help. Warmer temperatures are good for bacteria.

I have a heater in my 5 gal tank, and the water in there is completely clear. So, I have a bad feeling that one isn't cycling like it's supposed to. The 29 gal is still cloudy and no nitrite results. I want fishies baaaad. My husband is keeping my strong to continue cycling for the health of our new fishies, though. lol

Keep in mind that the 5 gallon is only a fraction of the size of the tank you're trying to get cycled. Bacterial blooms are not something that you always see with cycling tanks--and in fact, I don't think any of my tanks have every had a bloom during their initial cycle.

Blooms, in my experience, are an indication that there's not enough bacteria established in the filter and substrate to handle the wastes in the tank (hence why they can appear after filter maintenance.) So the bacteria multiply through all that nutrient-rich water and go to town, making the water cloudy. The waste levels in your tank should still be on the rise, so long as you're providing them in some form to the tank (fish food, dirty fish water, ammonia, etc.), even if they haven't spiked yet. The bloom may actually slow things down, since there are bacteria there to process things.

Keep patient, and just continue reminding yourself that it's necessary and is very worth the wait.

I used Cycle on a 30G and a 10G. In 2 weeks time they both had finished the amonia cycle and the nitrite bacteria are developing.

For my 30G Hex, I did not use Cycle and it took about a month and a half to do a fishless cycle.

The water, out of no where, has now turned crystal clear. Ammonia is still the same and still no notice-able nitrites. Does the clearing of the water mean that I should start seeing some soon?

What it probably means is that your bacteria has attached to your media, which is great because it will colonize faster there than floating around in the water. Stuff is happening, just be patient

Ok, so it has been about a month and a half. The tank has been running so long, that I had to add like 4 gallons of water to it. A day or two after I added the water, and all of the sudden there are nitrites in my tank. Another couple of days later, and I see a buttload of nitrites and like 20ppm of nitrates. I still have 3-4ppm (or somewhere in that area) of ammonia. Does this sound right? Should I do a massive water change to rid the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, and then get fish. Or should I let this keep running until I have no ammonia or nitrites naturally?

I WANT SOME FISH!

If you have any ammonia or nitrites, you are not cycled yet. It sounds like you are getting very close though - you'll see the numbers of ammonia and nitrite drop pretty quickly when you're nearing the very end. When you have 0 and 0, then you can do a big water change and get your fish.

I don't mean to post my own question in someone else's topic but it seems a bit silly to make a totally new thread to ask a mere side note to this issue.

I just got two, barely inch-long feeder goldfish on Thrusday June the 14th. These are my first fish, let alone goldfish, since I was 10 (I'm 17 by the way) and the fish I had then, well let's just say I didn't know I needed to treat the water or get a filter etc, and my mum never bothered to tell me.

Okay, back to the point. I set up the tank only a day before hand, maybe it should have been longer but I couldn't see why a day wouldn't be good enough... well yesterday afternoon my water began to look a little cloudy... whiteish you know? I'm wondering if it's the same thing as the bacteria bloom everyone's been mentioning.

And if it is, could it really have happened in just two to three days?

Sorry to be a bother,
I'm new by the way.
And I'm only asking because I wouldn't want some of my traumatic experiences with goldfish to be replayed.

yes it is most likely a bacteria bloom and should clear up with in the week

Kilope, its normal to see the water in your tank getting cloudy. esp in a new tank with new filter. it takes a few weeks for the water to get crystal clear as the bacteria need to colonize and start doing its thing with the water.

i used to think the reason my water is cloudy was that my filter media isnt fine enough to filter the particles inside my tank, but after a while, the water cleared up. same thing happened to my tank i just set up.

give it a few weeks, let the bacteria grow, and enjoy crystal clear water.

Ok, it has now been another month since I started seeing both nitrites and nitrates....and the levels seem to be exactly the same!!! I have around 200 nitrates and waaaaay off the charts (greater than 10) nitrites. The nitrites are like 3 times darker the color of 10 on the strips. Did my bacteria die??

The water is very hard (around 300), low to moderate alkalinity (40-80), and the pH seems to be alkaline (8.4ish). My water has always been hard, but more around the 150 mark, and the pH seems to be higher than it was. What is going on?! How do I fix this and get my dang tank cycled!!? Should I do a huge water change and wait some more or get fish to cycle it? Help help help!

Surely someone is a pro at this.