new tank problems

[Bobtastic6]

i have recentlly begun the cycling process for my 120 gal planted tank (no plants yet, just substrate). when adding substrate i did an initial layer of laterite followed by flortie by SEACHEM. i have only added a tap water conditioner and a benefitial bacteria additive (both made by API) as recomended on the bottle for tanks that are cycling. the tank has been cycling for 18 days now and is being filtered by a Fluval FX-5. around day 10 the water cleared up and was looking crystal clear but some time between day 11 and 13, became cloudy again. my pH is at about 7.5, general hardness 30 ppm, nitrites .5 ppm, and nitrates about 10 ppm.

what happened and how can i fix this?

 

[Sab_Fan]

add the plants

if it is going to be a planted tank, I would have added the plants from the start ...

you don't need to cycle a tank before adding plants, and since plants are generally consumers of ammonia and nitrates, they can be helpful in cycling a tank faster

 

[Johnnybravo60025]

From what I understand, the cloudiness could just be a bacterial bloom or algae bloom. It's hard to cycle a tank only with the BB in a bottle because no matter what, they're going to need some sort of ammonia to feed on.