AboutChris Robbins Expertise I have 25 years of personal experience as a pet store employee and manager in the family pet store business. The main part of our business was Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases, parasites and fish identification, feeding your fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and "what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, not a Plant expert and not a Brackish setup expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.
Experience I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
Education/Credentials I have over 26 years of hands-on education and training in fish and aquariums.
Question Hi,
I bought a 10 gallon tank about a month ago. I have 2 oranda goldfish in it. It has a filter with 3 inserts in it(foam, charcoal and an ammonia remover). I did a 20% water change a few days ago and replaced the charcoal filter. I cleaned the gravel with a gravel cleaner and rinsed the other filters in used tank water. I put aqua plus, waste control and cycle in the new water that I added. I feed my fish twice a day(just a small amount each time) and I seem to be doing everything the pet store told me to, but my tank is cloudy. I was told to do a 20% water change every two weeks. Should I do one every week? Will the cloudiness ever go away? Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Patricia
Answer Hi Patricia;
Cloudy water is quite normal in a tank that has been set up less than 8 weeks. It is still trying to finish it's initial cycling period. A 20% water change every week to 2 weeks is fine for a fully cycled tank, but yours will need one at least once a week right now. Don't vacuum the gravel yet though. Do that once it is fully established after 8 weeks. It disturbs the developing bacteria too much and can make the cycling period last too long. If you have had crud in the gravel, it means you are overfeeding. Cut back on food until the fish can finish all the food you give them within 5 minutes. If any is left on the gravel, decorations, etc., cut back the next time. We all overfeed from time to time. Especially when we are first starting out in the hobby. We just have to remember to clean up after ourselves when we do. It might just be that the fish aren't as hungry as they would be with toxins present in the water during the cycling period. Just monitor how long it takes them to eat, cut back as needed, and they will be fine.
Avoid actually changing anything in the filter during this period. It removes the devloping bacteria and will make cloudiness worse too. The new filtering material can take a couple of weeks to grow the new bacteria back on it. Rinsing the old ones in tank water is the perfect way to handle it. Keep doing that for awhile.
Here is my article on new tanks that explains more about the whole process in detail and how to handle it to keep the fish safe;
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New Tank Syndrome or Break-in Period
So you have a new tank and you filled it up, put the filter together, mounted the heater into place and turned on the lights. You have all the plants and decorations where you want them....
You are ready for fish.
But, your filter is not ready for a full tank of fish yet.
The filter is running and moving the water and cleaning out crud, right? Of course!
But a very important part of your filter is the part you can't see. An aquarium filter removes the larger visible stuff, but it also must remove the dissolved fish waste that turns into ammonia in the water. To do this, special bacteria must grow in the filter system and on the particles of gravel in the bottom of your tank. This process occurs even on a limited scale in little fish bowls that have no filter in them.
This is "New-Tank Syndrome" or the "Break-in Period". The entire process takes 6 to 8 weeks to complete because these "nitrifying" bacteria grow quite slowly.
Start off with only two hardy fish for every ten gallons of water and don't add more until the 6 to 8 weeks has gone by. Hard to be patient, but it is worth it to keep your fish alive and healthy. As a matter of fact, the bacteria cannot develop without fish in the tank. You can let that tank sit forever without fish in it, but as soon as the first fish goes in the process begins. Avoid changing the filter pads during break-in. This removes the bacterial colonies that are essential to a balanced aquarium. You can rinse the filter pad out in a container of aquarium water. This will preserve most of the bacteria colonies while still allowing your filter to flow freely. Even using bacteria additives and water conditioners when you first set up the tank will not make a tank cycle by itself. If there are no fish to provide food (fish waste) for the bacteria, the beneficial bacteria cultures will die and you will have to start the colonies all over again once fish are added to the tank.
Feed your new fish VERY lightly. Any excess food will cause additional waste your system cannot afford to have right now. If you see food floating around or lying on the plants and gravel after five minutes, too much food is going into the tank. Cut back a little each time you feed until it is ALL gone 5 minutes after you feed them.
During this "break-in period" your tank will become cloudy and milky looking. You may have to tolerate this for the entire break-in period but it is only temporary. Changing 25% of the water three times a week until the break-in period is over helps a great deal. Changing water reduces the ammonia and nitrites that rise while the bacteria continues to multiply. If ammonia and/or nitrites become too high, your fish will become stressed and possibly die. Use a good water conditioner when you replace the water and make sure it is the right temperature to avoid shocking your fish.
When the break-in is over after 6 to 8 weeks and there are no nitrites or ammonia present in the water you can slowly add more fish. Add one or two every week until you reach the desired population. This allows the bacteria to adjust to the new population every time before adding more. Monitor the nitrites and ammonia to be sure they don't come up. If they do, make a 25% water change and check them again. Don't add the next fish until the levels are down again.
The safe maximum population for any size tank is one inch of adult fish for every gallon of water in the tank. Do some research to be sure of the fish you are interested in. Even though they are small when you buy them, you have to base your population calculations on full-sized adult fish. Many hobbyists have up to two inches per gallon but this can be risky. If a water quality issue arises or a disease occurs it will spread fast and furious in an over-populated tank. In any case, 25% water changes every week to two weeks are absolutely essential for the health of your fish.
Following these guidelines will help you get your new tank on the right track.
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Followups welcome
