Just started a fish tank. The water is foggy from the bacteria growth from the intitial start up. How long does it take for the bacteria to finish their process and the water to clear back up? Also, should I do my normal water changes during this process or will it disrupt the flow?
Anonymous
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6 weeks, not a day, not a week, not a few weeks, no special additive is going to get the tank established and healthy in anything less than about 6 weeks. Just search for the questions having to do with fishless cycles and what happens in the first few weeks after the first fish go in, after people think they've completed the cycle. Cloudiness and fish death and disease. Yes there are ways to speed up the process, but they often go wrong, so letting it go for that amount of time is always best.
Yes, in commercial systems, and display tanks that we want to have all filled with fish right away, we add bacteria and artificial waste or fish immediately. The tank may actually complete the cycle relatively quickly, but we expect some fish death, or extra maintenance and testing to be sure we can keep the fish alive during that first couple weeks and continue to monitor it for the whole 6 weeks. .
Once the first hardy fishes or waste goes into the tank this period begins. For most of the time the tank is mildly to dangerously toxic depending on things like overfeeding. No additional fish should be added to the tank until the process is over. The tank may clear up and then get cloudy again. Small to medium 20-30%, water changes can be done to lower dangerous levels, but otherwise, underfeed and wait.
Brett
If this is a fw tank then it should only take a couple days at most,but if it is a sw tank then it will need to cycle and clear up. For sw it could take up to a month or so; during this period you will go through an ammonia spike.Yes it would be i good idea to do water changes during the cycling process but for fw it not as important
Anonymous
A satisfactory plant tank is far more intricate to preserve. I continuously desired one. Cichlid tanks aren't probably the most complicated level of freshwater aquariums. Cichlids are for learners. You might have got to be beautiful dumb to kill one off. All you have got to do is feed them and hold the water blank. There are a lot more intricate fish to hold alive, freshwater puffers, discus, black ghosts and elephant noses, the record is going on and on. Try preserving an African Tigerfish that's as dumb as a bag of hammers and runs into the tank at complete velocity whilst scared. He additionally appreciated to leap so prime out of the tank, he virtually hit the ceiling. Thank Jesus for carpet, friend. He price $a hundred and sixty and died in two months, anyhow. That's o.ok., I might have finally needed to get a swimming pool for that damned factor.
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i am going to assume you have a fw tank for me it took one week then i added two hardy fish for two weeks to build up the bacteria and stuff and then started to add my fish. but remember dont add them to fast it will cycle again but will take less time.
Joseph Lorentzen
FW tanks can vary widely and with no reason. Here is a full set of instructions on cycling a tank. Please read and follow the directions.
http://www.firsttankguide.net/