# Cloudy water but no fish???



## Colette

Hi folks, I'm new to this so please be gentle.... 

I'm in the process of setting up my first tropical aquarium. I have a 110 litre tank, set up with gravel, some plastic plants, rocks, heater, thermometer, internal filter (Interpet PF3). 

I filled the tank on tuesday with tap water treated with Interpet "tapsafe". On wednesday I started running the filter and heater and put in the first dose of Interpet "Filter start".

On thursday I added 2 litres of "dirty" aquarium water from a friends aquarium, having been told this would help with maturing the filter etc. (I don't mean filthy water obviously, just lived in).

Today I've noticed the water looks really cloudy - which seems odd to me, seeing as there are no fish in there and only 2 out of around 110 litres of water was "dirty".

Is this just because the bacteria on the filter can't yet cope with the load, or is there likely to be some other problem? Any ideas?


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## Guest

It could be that the filter pads werent rinsed properly before you set it up,i've had this before myself and it was just the pads that needed rinsing thoroughly


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## magpie

Possibly the start of a bacterial bloom, which is perfectly normal in a new tank 

However it's unlikely that you'll get much beneficial bacteria from your friends tank water, if possible it would be more useful if they are able to give you a bit of sponge from their filter to put into yours. 

And just incase you don't already know, you'll need to fully cycle the tank with a source of ammonia before adding any fish


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## Colette

Thanks to both of you for replying - I'm thinking it was the "normal" cloudiness, as it already seems to be improving; its almost back to being completely clear today.

As for cycling... this has got me really confused....

I understand the principle of cycling, and why fishless is better than fish-in cycling, and I also get that putting bacteria in the tank without a food source is pretty pointless...

But the people at the aquatics store implied that the Filterstart stuff is fine on its own, and that after a couple of weeks the tank should be ready - they specifically asked me to bring water in for them to test though before they sell me any fish, just to be on the safe side.

I actually rang them yesterday to check - told them what I was using and asked if I need an ammonia source, and they said no - the filterstart alone was fine.

But looking on the packaging I can't find any mention of ammonia or anything else, which to me suggests I need to get some.... 

But then, if using filterstart alone is not enough, why would doing it over a couple of weeks make any difference? (Surely you could just bung it all in at once if that were the case) And what would be the point in testing the water if no ammonia etc had ever been in the tank?

Argh.... feels like I'm running round in circles! Should I trust the aquatics people (in every other respect they do seem like specialists who know what they're doing... ) or go for ammonia anyway?


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## magpie

In my humble opinion, these filterstart things are just junk for you to waste your money on, and I don't believe they do anything useful whatsoever. I don't know what they actually do contain, but they certainly won't have the kind of bacteria you need (as it needs oxygen to survive, which it won't have had in the bottle) and as you say, they don't contain ammonia either.

Which means that no, I wouldn't trust what the aquatics people have told you.

The cynic in me reckons they only sell the stuff because it's more money in their till. And the point of testing the water is simply to make you believe that they know what they're doing, and so they can show you the test results which of course 'prove' that your water is fine for fish . Most people don't realise that their water only tests as fine because it is essentially just dechlorinated tap water.

To answer your question a bit more straightforwardly though, yes, I would do a proper, fishless cycle with a source of ammonia. If by some miracle the filterstart stuff does work, then your filter should be able to handle the ammonia that you add and the cycle should be fairly quick. If (as I predict) it doesn't work and your test kit reads ammonia in the tank, you'll know to take anything the aquatics shop people say with a pinch of salt


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## Colette

That makes sense... which leaves me with one question...

What ammonia do I buy, and where do I get it?


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## magpie

Plain old household ammonia, you can get it from Boots: Boots Household ammonia - 500ml - Boots


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## Colette

Thank you! :thumbup:


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