New tank, cloudy smelly water

[Jonatheber]

I set up a 46 gallon used tank about 3 weeks ago. Before I started the ammonia cycle, I had vinegar in the bottom to kill off any mold, algae, etc in the gravel. I then did 50% water changes for a few days. Overnight (about 1 day after I started the cycle), the water went from clear to milky white.... The water has stayed ugly (and smelly) for about two weeks now. There are no fish in the tank and about 6 live plants (although it is impossible to see them).

I have a fluval 407 filter, and no air pump. After the two weeks went by (today) I bought a bunch of pot scrubbies from Amazon. My 407 came with four trays. The bottom one was all foam. The second one was the ceramic things. I left those in, and added two scrubbies on top of them. The last two trays up top were carbon bags and lots of free space. I removed the pillows, and added four scrubbies in each side (so that is another 8 scrubbies on each of the top 2 layers. )

Re the cycle - it still doesn't seem to have started up yet. The ammonia when I tested yesterday was at 4, with nitrate and nitrite at 0.

Should I just wait it out? Drop the water level so the pump's exhaust hose sits above the water and aerates it a bit? Panic and do a water change?

Thanks!

 

[tlindsey]

I set up a 46 gallon used tank about 3 weeks ago. Before I started the ammonia cycle, I had vinegar in the bottom to kill off any mold, algae, etc in the gravel. I then did 50% water changes for a few days. Overnight (about 1 day after I started the cycle), the water went from clear to milky white.... The water has stayed ugly (and smelly) for about two weeks now. There are no fish in the tank and about 6 live plants (although it is impossible to see them).

I have a fluval 407 filter, and no air pump. After the two weeks went by (today) I bought a bunch of pot scrubbies from Amazon. My 407 came with four trays. The bottom one was all foam. The second one was the ceramic things. I left those in, and added two scrubbies on top of them. The last two trays up top were carbon bags and lots of free space. I removed the pillows, and added four scrubbies in each side (so that is another 8 scrubbies on each of the top 2 layers. )

Re the cycle - it still doesn't seem to have started up yet. The ammonia when I tested yesterday was at 4, with nitrate and nitrite at 0.

Should I just wait it out? Drop the water level so the pump's exhaust hose sits above the water and aerates it a bit? Panic and do a water change?

Thanks!

Welcome aboard

The smell may be the algae and bacteria die off from the gravel.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Cycles can take different lengths of time, but 3 weeks and zero nitrite to me seems long. If I were in your shoes I would probably do a full water change, dose new water to 1ppm ammonia, and add a supplement like dr. tim's, stability, or seeded media from an established tank (sometimes LFS will sell culture pads) to jump start it.

 

[neutrino]

What's your pH (before water change)?

 

[duanes]

Was the gravel from a previously used tank?
If it was, all that biota may have died from the vinegar, and be causing the bloom, and smell.

I usually expect a tank cycle done from scratch to take at least 2 months (but as stated above can vary).
To me, 3 to 4 weeks of ammonia, then 2-3 weeks for nitrite, and then around the 6th to 8th week for nitrate.

 

[Chief Tom]

I have 4 tanks I got used. The first thing I do is chuck the old substrate. Unless you know the person and saw that they took care of it, you have no idea what is in there. One guy gave me a box of "extras" which was full of every algae chasing chemical and ick fighter on the market. I scrubbed it out with so much vinegar my living room smells like the inside of a jar of pickled eggs. Better safe than sorry and substrate isn't that expensive.