Cloudy water

[themask89]

Help. I am a beginner and i have this problem. yesterday i bought a few plants for my 5 gallon tank and after that i filled the tank with water with the plants in. Then i noticed that the water is very cloudy and chalky. so i changed the water and managed to clear some of the precipitates. but after change and change, i still can't get rid of the cloudyness. i even left it still overnight but nothing improved. i read some site about this problem and they stated that you have to wait 1 or 2 weeks till the cloudyness is cleared.
But during that time of the 1-2 weeks, can fish be placed in the cloudy water?  :-[

 

[JWright]

Clever name. I'll help anyway...

I would reccomend you read up on the nitrogen cycle. You can find an excellent beginner's guide at The Krib (the Krib appears to be down right now). You can also find quite a few helpful articles on the main page of this site.

Not sure of the cause of your current cloudiness. Tanks usually cloud for a bit after the introduction of fish due to the devolopment of the bacterial colonies. They're still suspended in the water and haven't settled yet. But, without the fish, there's no source of food for bacteria, so this is an unlikly source right now.

How well did you rinse the gravel? It's posible that that's the source of the cloudiness. Water changes and filtration will eventually take care of that.

One last thing. Have you ever considered the process of fishless cycle(http://www.geocities.com/joshsfish/fishless.html)? It's an easy way to save your future fish some stress.

HTH,
Josh

 

[themask89]

After changing the water for another one more time, i managed to completely remove the cloudyness but there tends to be a layer of dust settled on the surface of the water.
I think the cause is probably the gravel like you said. Thanks for the help Josh!

 

[JWright]

It's been a few days, how's it going?

Josh

 

[Fish Monger]

Did you perhaps not clean your gravel before putting it in?  That could cause cloudiness.

It could also be oxygen bubbles in your water.  When my water comes out of the tap, it takes a while for it to clear up as there is alot of oxygen bubbles in it.

When I set up my tanks years ago, I had this problem too.  It will eventually go away, so worry not.  You SHOULD be able to add fish no problem.

 

[JWright]

Or you could make life easier for your future inhabitants and jsut add ammonia.

Josh

 

[dork187]

RINSE RINSE RINSE
rinse everything you put in your tank
would you put on a nice suit when you havent taken a shower in a week?
and the name...
its interesting
arent you afraid it will piss people off?
im not sure if its entirely appropriate
although i find nothing wrong with it

 

[luvfishies]

AntiChrist are you the same one from Fish Index who has waaaaaaay too many fish in there and a undergravel filter that you just tore down and changed gravel?  If so I repeat the advice you got there....there are too many fish for what is basically a new tank (can be considered new because you got rid of the old gravel and added new), and the cloudyness is caused by New Tank Syndrome. Time, water changes and luck are needed.

 

[Fish Monger]

Yep, that may very well be, and is most likely the problem then.