Cloudy Tank

[Lori Wilson]

I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle because I
am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
Thanks for your help.


Lori
www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com

[Brian]

"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
> color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
> water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle because
I
> am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
> removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
> Thanks for your help.
>
>
> Lori
> www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com

The cloudiness is the bacteria in your tank, whats usually refered to as
being a 'bacterial bloom' its a natural process in cycling your tank. Goes
like this: bacteria 'bloom' beneficial bacteria grow to eat this bacteria,
cloudiness dissapears. This of coarse is the most simple outline of the
process that could be put forth but Im sure the experts will fill in the
details, and more insightfull opinions. Anyway if you conitinually tinker
with the bacteria levels via water changes and adding more bacteria than I
dont see how your tank will ever become accustomed to the amount of waste in
there to properly be cycled to your bio-load (whatever fish you have in
there now, if any?). By the way prime(or any other amonia controling agent)
does not eliminate amonia (sp?) but rather puts it into a form that is not
detrimental to your fish, amonia (again my spellings all gone to hell today)
is essential to cycling your tank so it has to be present in either a
harmfull/neutral state in regards to your fish. All arrows point to this:
your tank never gets cycled *because* you are always starting over and not
letting the natural process take place. I'd just sit back, read up on
fishless cycling (considering you dont have any fish in there now, which
most likely be the case unless your doing water changes daily) and read up
on the process, and all other general and in depth aquarium stuff that
interests you that way you can be more involved in the process that you are
having trouble getting through now. Just my ameteur two cents.
Cheers, Brian
>
>




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[Dennis Fox]

Lori Wilson wrote:
> I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
> color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
> water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle because I
> am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
> removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
> Thanks for your help.
>

Hi Lori,

The milky white color is most likely a bacterial bloom, a foreseeable
part of many new tank cyclings. It is "normal" and not a cause for
starting over. You do not say whether you have fish in your tank.
There are some differences between doing a fishless cycle and do a cycle
with fish in the tank.

There are several good sites that discuss what you need to know about
cycling. A couple of them are:

the FAQ of this newsgroup
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html

and the information on the nitrogen cycle at http://www.thekrib.com

Read up on these sites for good beginner information ... it also helps
you to know how to ask questions on other specific problems (it is how I
learned).

Hope this helps,
Dennis

[~Vicki ~]

I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle
because I am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the
gravel when removing water, should I add more Bacteria? Thanks for your
help.


The milky water is bacteria bloom and is normal for a new tank. Try and
stay away from all chemicals except a de-chlor for the removal of
chlorine and/or chloramine (sp?). You can cycle your tank by A) doing
a fishless cycle, B) adding a few hardy fish every two weeks until you
get to your stocking level or you can C) add substrate/filter media
from an established tank to instant cycle. Pick up a test kit to
measure Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites and when all are at 0 you can
start doing your weekly water changes. I sure hope this helps you out
some and please let us know how it turns out for you.

Vicki

Visit me on line at http://shamrock4u.250free.com

[Lori Wilson]

Thanks for everyones replies. I do have fish in the tank. The ammonia in
the tank has gone up so I have done about a 10% water change to dilute
level as to not kill the fish. I will try not to have a crystal clear tank
and let it cycle. Tnanks again for the suggested reading and advise.

Lori

--
www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
"Brian" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
> > color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
> > water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle
because
> I
> > am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
> > removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
> > Thanks for your help.
> >
> >
> > Lori
> > www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
>
> The cloudiness is the bacteria in your tank, whats usually refered to as
> being a 'bacterial bloom' its a natural process in cycling your tank. Goes
> like this: bacteria 'bloom' beneficial bacteria grow to eat this bacteria,
> cloudiness dissapears. This of coarse is the most simple outline of the
> process that could be put forth but Im sure the experts will fill in the
> details, and more insightfull opinions. Anyway if you conitinually tinker
> with the bacteria levels via water changes and adding more bacteria than I
> dont see how your tank will ever become accustomed to the amount of waste
in
> there to properly be cycled to your bio-load (whatever fish you have in
> there now, if any?). By the way prime(or any other amonia controling
agent)
> does not eliminate amonia (sp?) but rather puts it into a form that is not
> detrimental to your fish, amonia (again my spellings all gone to hell
today)
> is essential to cycling your tank so it has to be present in either a
> harmfull/neutral state in regards to your fish. All arrows point to this:
> your tank never gets cycled *because* you are always starting over and not
> letting the natural process take place. I'd just sit back, read up on
> fishless cycling (considering you dont have any fish in there now, which
> most likely be the case unless your doing water changes daily) and read up
> on the process, and all other general and in depth aquarium stuff that
> interests you that way you can be more involved in the process that you
are
> having trouble getting through now. Just my ameteur two cents.
> Cheers, Brian
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
> -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Lori Wilson wrote:
>
> Thanks for everyones replies. I do have fish in the tank. The ammonia in
> the tank has gone up so I have done about a 10% water change to dilute
> level as to not kill the fish. I will try not to have a crystal clear tank
> and let it cycle. Tnanks again for the suggested reading and advise.
>
> Lori

10% is probably not enough if there is high levels of ammonia

[Lori Wilson]

I just rearranged the placement of media in my filter as to allow better
flow and the tank seems to be clearing now. I found if I placed the
cartridge outside of the slots built for it and place the purigen and
phosphate bags on either side of the cartridge, the tank is clearing.
Ammonia level may not be as high as I thought, there seems to be a
percipitate(sp?) that falls to the bottom of the test tube upon sitting for
a few minutes. Leaving a lighter level of yellow color as an ammonia
reading. Nitrite test is still neg. Thanks for all your help.

--
www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
> color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
> water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle because
I
> am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
> removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
> Thanks for your help.
>
>
> Lori
> www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
>
>

[Robert Flory]

You may be seeing a reaction between your test and the de-chlorinator you
use. Prime does that to my ammonia test.

Bob


"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> I just rearranged the placement of media in my filter as to allow better
> flow and the tank seems to be clearing now. I found if I placed the
> cartridge outside of the slots built for it and place the purigen and
> phosphate bags on either side of the cartridge, the tank is clearing.
> Ammonia level may not be as high as I thought, there seems to be a
> percipitate(sp?) that falls to the bottom of the test tube upon sitting
for
> a few minutes. Leaving a lighter level of yellow color as an ammonia
> reading. Nitrite test is still neg. Thanks for all your help.
>
> --
> www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
> "Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I am new at this fish tending thing. My tank always turns a milky white
> > color. I have added bacteria, use prime to control amonia, change the
> > water, not changed the water. I seems my tank never gets to cycle
because
> I
> > am always starting over. Any suggestions? If I vacuum the gravel when
> > removing water, should I add more Bacteria?
> > Thanks for your help.
> >
> >
> > Lori
> > www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
> >
> >
>
>