Cloudy water

H

HIM

New Member
Hi
I had African Cichlids. I just switched to saltwater. I'm using a Fluval 405. My salt level is fine & my amonia is showing 0. My white sand is growing brown, yellow, & purple algae(?). My water is cloudy. Is the cloudiness just part of the cycling process? I have a 75 gallon tank. I used an instant cycle to start the tank up. I have 4 clowns, 2 cleaner wrasses, & a goby.
 
H

HIM

New Member
I set it up & had it running about a week before adding fish. THe fish went in about 2 weeks ago. I have about 10lbs of live rock (life rock).
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Welcome to saltwaterfish.com

At one week your tank has not cycled yet to put fish in. At three weeks your tank still has not cycled enough to put fish in.

At three weeks there is nothing in your tank for the cleaner wrasses to clean. Which means they could starve if your not careful. Same with the goby. They're sand sifters. You did use sand and not crushed coral, correct?

All your fish will be in jeopardy when you tank spikes. Sorry to be the barer of sad news.

Are you only testing for ammonia or do you have a marine test kit.

Instant cycle does almost nothing to start up a marine tank. The name of the product is terribly misleading.

What exactly is the salinity level?

And lastly (I'm almost afraid to ask this) did you add all you fish at the same time and did you quarantine them separately?

There is a saying: "Only good things happen slowly in a marine tank. Bad things happen fast."
 
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H

HIM

New Member
I used sand. My salinity is 1.022. I only test ammonia. I did put them in separately. Wont the wrasses & goby eat the algae growing on the sand?
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
There is good news, and bad news. The good news is that adding the 4 clowns together you are probably avoiding aggression between the clowns. The bad news is that they might gang-up on later additions to the system. The good news is that your ammonia is zero, the bad news is that it may rise as the tank cycles. Since you already have fish in the tank I would have on hand a supply of Amquel Plus. If ammonia begins to rise add Amquel according to the instructions on the bottle. Amquel converts ammonia to a non-toxic form that bacteria can still metabolize, so that cycling continues and the fish can survive. Good stuff. The very bad news is that you can probably say goodbye to the cleaner wrasse. Most will starve to death since they are obligate parasite consumers, and you don't have any yet (we hope). with any luck you won't ever have a parasite load heavy enought o sustain one of these best-left-in-the-ocean fish.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
HIM said:
Hi
I had African Cichlids. I just switched to saltwater. I'm using a Fluval 405. My salt level is fine & my amonia is showing 0. My white sand is growing brown, yellow, & purple algae(?). My water is cloudy. Is the cloudiness just part of the cycling process? I have a 75 gallon tank. I used an instant cycle to start the tank up. I have 4 clowns, 2 cleaner wrasses, & a goby.
Click to expand...
Hi,

Your tank is suffering what I call...Too much, too soon. Your tank was, and is still not ready for fish. The "instant" cycle is not instant, it takes time to build a colony of good bacteria, there are no short cuts. The instant cycle is to take the place of a chunk of raw shrimp, ghost feeding or pour ammonia, some folks sadly use a live fish. It is not an INSTANT cycle by any standard.

The "purple" algae is most likely cyanobacteria, the brown stuff is diatoms, and the yellow is just slime algae before it turns green. . Usually white cloudy water means ammonia or lack of oxygen, green cloudy means an algae bloom...only tests will tell.

You need to run a full panel of tests, not just ammonia.

PH
Alkalinity
Phosphates
Calcium
Nitrates
Nitrites

10 pounds of live rock in a 75g is not enough surface area to even build a good bacteria colony, not to mention not enough time. You also need power heads to move the water, and the surface. There is less oxygen in saltwater then freshwater...the wave is the life of the ocean, and your saltwater tank. The Fluval is fine, and if you have a spray-bar it would be great for moving the surface water, but you still need at least 1 power head to move the rest of the water.
 
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