NOOB question = Cloudy Water during cycling
 

Just a simple question... I am cycling a 15 gallon nano tank. For the first
couple of months, I just let it run without anything in it, and then I added
two mollies. But the water never has lost it's whitish,cloudy look to the
water. I have crushed coral for a substrate. Now that I have added 130 watts
of proper Compact Floresent lighting to the tank, there is green algae
growing on the glass and bottom. I was told not to do a water change becaues
I will screw up the cycling process. What do you think is making the water
remain cloudy for these long months?
I don't have all the test kits yet, but I do have a ph and nitrate and
everything seems fine. One thing I have now is babies... the two mollies
have had babies... 15 are still alive. I'm also thinking that I should
remove the babies because that might be putting too much of a bioload on the
cycling tank, they are roughly 1 inch long now.
I have had tanks for years by the way, but all freshwater. I have an 80
gallon, 15 gallon and 1 gallon setup, but this is my first nano tank setup,
so untill I find out what is causing the cloudy water, I don't want to add
any coral yet.
If you have any idea as to what to check/change to remove the
cloudiness from my tank, please reply. thanks in advance.

Caper
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

NOOB question = Cloudy Water during cycling
 

Are the powerheads stirring all the substrate up by any chance? Perhaps
they need to be repositioned?

The fact that the mollies are having babies leads me to believe that your
quality is good - fish dont usually have babies in bad water.

I dont think you have to worry about bioload - you would have loads of
ammonia etc. if it was upset...

~m


"Noah Body" wrote in message
...
Just a simple question... I am cycling a 15 gallon nano tank. For the
first couple of months, I just let it run without anything in it, and then
I added two mollies. But the water never has lost it's whitish,cloudy look
to the water. I have crushed coral for a substrate. Now that I have added
130 watts of proper Compact Floresent lighting to the tank, there is green
algae growing on the glass and bottom. I was told not to do a water change
becaues I will screw up the cycling process. What do you think is making
the water remain cloudy for these long months?
I don't have all the test kits yet, but I do have a ph and nitrate and
everything seems fine. One thing I have now is babies... the two mollies
have had babies... 15 are still alive. I'm also thinking that I should
remove the babies because that might be putting too much of a bioload on
the cycling tank, they are roughly 1 inch long now.
I have had tanks for years by the way, but all freshwater. I have an
80 gallon, 15 gallon and 1 gallon setup, but this is my first nano tank
setup, so untill I find out what is causing the cloudy water, I don't want
to add any coral yet.
If you have any idea as to what to check/change to remove the
cloudiness from my tank, please reply. thanks in advance.

Caper
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

NOOB question = Cloudy Water during cycling
 

Thanks for the reply Mike. :) I have very little circulation simply
because I don't have anything in the tank to block the flow, so it's just an
AquaClear 150 with only the sponge in the media chamber, and a sponge on the
intake. I do notice that there is a fine, fine white gunk in the sponge,
which I assume was the fine's from the crushed coral. But I did rinse the
coral substrate untill it was almost clear, but the instructions said to
NOT wash untill the water ran clear. I own a diatom Filter, so I'm going to
run that for an hour and see if it clears it up. If it does then I know it's
a particulate problem and not effects of cycling.

NOOB question = Cloudy Water during cycling
 

Caper,

When you say "without anything", do you mean literally nothing beside the
water, salt, filter and fish? You haven't placed any live rock in the tank?
This normally clears up the water within a day. For a 15G, I'd normally use
about 15-20 lbs - this will handle most of your bio filtration as well.

"Noah Body" wrote in message
...
Just a simple question... I am cycling a 15 gallon nano tank. For the
first
couple of months, I just let it run without anything in it, and then I
added
two mollies. But the water never has lost it's whitish,cloudy look to the
water. I have crushed coral for a substrate. Now that I have added 130
watts
of proper Compact Floresent lighting to the tank, there is green algae
growing on the glass and bottom. I was told not to do a water change
becaues
I will screw up the cycling process. What do you think is making the water
remain cloudy for these long months?
I don't have all the test kits yet, but I do have a ph and nitrate
and
everything seems fine. One thing I have now is babies... the two mollies
have had babies... 15 are still alive. I'm also thinking that I should
remove the babies because that might be putting too much of a bioload on
the
cycling tank, they are roughly 1 inch long now.
I have had tanks for years by the way, but all freshwater. I have an
80
gallon, 15 gallon and 1 gallon setup, but this is my first nano tank
setup,
so untill I find out what is causing the cloudy water, I don't want to add
any coral yet.
If you have any idea as to what to check/change to remove the
cloudiness from my tank, please reply. thanks in advance.

Caper
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia