cloudy new aquarium and low light

Zathoros wrote:
Hi,

Hi, welcome back to the hobby.

Will this eventually clear up on it's own or is there something that
I need to do to make it clear up?

The initial cloudiness of the tank will clear up on it's own
eventually. It may take some time. Charcol in the filter basket will
decrease the time you have to wait. As the filter pads get full of
biological matter eventually they will trap smaller and smaller
particles by themselves.


I tested mine and it was 7.6 in the tank The ammonia
was .9 and the nitrites were 0 after 24 hours. One fish died so far but the
others seem ok.

Yep, all of them will suffer a bit and a few more may die as they are
exposed to poisonous compounds. Change some water daily to keep that
ammonia level less than 1ppm. When ammonia goes down the nitrites will
climb for about a week so keep up the water change regime.

Are there any inexpensive
lighting options or should I just buy a few plastic plants?

That, my freind, is the million dollar question. At this point I'd
suggest you consider this: Keeping live plants can be done at about 3
basic levels.

- Some low light plants that stay alive and look nice.
- A variety of plants that live in a constant tug-o-war with a plague
of algae.
- A glorious water garden full of tropical plants that looks like an
underwater tarzanian jungle.

Level one will cost you just over a hundred dollars to upgrade/replace
your lighting to 110 watts and fill your tank with java moss, java fern
and 5 or 6 anubias.
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/CubicleFeb10c.jpg

Level two will be $100 more for another 100 watts of light. At over
two watts of light and no suitable constant source of C02, the algae
battle is on.
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/moss3a.JPG

Level three... Ah, level three. Here you've gone over the edge and
finally acheived aquatic gardner status. At over 3 watts per gallon,
your 220 watts of light along with a pressurized C02 system and
fertilizer components have only set you back about $400. The $60
dollars of plants soon take off and are growing at an astonishing rate.
The tank looks great and the fish think they're in heaven. Your wife
thinks you've gone nuts, the kids wonder why their dad's arms are
always wet and the neighbors wonder just what you're growing in that
room with the 12 hour glow.
http://aquaria.info/members/ervis/


Thanks

My pleasure.

steve