Water Cloudiness

[nzafi]

All,

I am in process of cycling my tank and it is relatively cloudy. When I look through the tank straight on it looks clear, but when I look through long wise you can see how cloudy the water is. The tank has been running for about 1 month now. I am still in process of cycling the tank. On my last water test the nitrites are through the roof, so I am waiting for the tank to have nitrites drop and nitrates shoot through the roof. It is a 75 gallon tank with a FX5 running. I have fish in the tank currently to help it cycle (I know this will get me shot) and have been using flake food. The FX5 sponges have some flake food stuck on them and on the filter.

I am wondering, is it the excess flake good causing the cloudiness or is it just the cycling itself? Not sure if it is best to let the tank finish cycling or to start doing water changes. I have tried to avoid water changes because I do not want to screw around with the cycle.

Thanks!

[Drstrangelove]

Cloudiness in tanks that have not been cycled is typically from an explosion of heterotrophic bacteria.

1) remove all the uneaten food from the substrate and filters (vacuum the substrate and rinse the sponges in TANK water). Do this sooner than later.
2) do a large WC and get the nitrites down. Again, now is good.
3) stop feeding the fish

4) when the nitrites are down, start adding a small amount of food for the fish, and gradually increase that each day, while watching the parameters. There should be no uneaten food.
5) when the tank parameters seem stable, keep food at a moderate level until nitrites drop on their own and you start seeing nitrate readings

[mr.bigglesworth]

Water changes will not interfere with a cycle because their is no bacteria in the water itself. The cycling bacteria is on solid surfaces like gravel, decor, sponges, ceramic media, etc.

[mr.bigglesworth]

Yes i would completely stop feeding the fish. Fish can go many weeks without food.

[mr.bigglesworth]

Make sure you are not testing the water using test strips. You must use a liquid testing kit.

[Icthisapian]

what if you have a well established tank, about 6 months, that suddenly becomes cloudy? I recently started feeding NLS floating pellets for my aro and my tank water is really cloudy. the water and filters are cycled, and the only new change is the nls. i've stopped feeding nls, any ideas?

[Fishstronomy]

Buy a sponge filter. My tank was super cloudy, and then I brought one at my LFS. It made the water super clean and it was cheap too. Highly recommend it