hazy water

[sk8trf69]

hello everyone i am new to this forum this is actually my first post well i went out got 35 gallon octagon tank let it run for a few days and went to get some fish then i seen the oscars and remembered how cool they were when my uncle had 2 of them so i bought one...then i went out and bought a 55 gallon tank for him i have 2 HOB filters and a 200 watt heater and a 100 watt heater my friend is on vacation and im fishsitting his baby O mine is about 3 inches and his is 2 and a half for some reason my tank seems a lil hazy could it be because its a new tank?

[Nautilus291]

If its a whitish color it means that the bacteria are being produced becuase they have to compensate for the ammonia that is in your tank. Since your tank is a new tank that is probibly the reason, and you might want to watch how much your feeding your fish if you over feed your fish it can help cause it too. Its ok for your fish and may take awhile to go away.

Another thing it could be is debre from your stones, If you didnt wash your stones out before they were put in your tank then it could cause this.

[sk8trf69]

well the tank is over a week old now..about a week and a day and the water turned hazy about two days ago i feed my fish about twice a day.

[Lady Hobbs]

It takes weeks to cycle a tank. When you add fish, you get ammonia in the water. Bacteria then forms in the gravel and decorations and on the filter to eat up that ammonia. AMMONIA IS TOXIC AND WILL KILL YOUR FISH. Then you began to see less ammonia and nitrites will form. AGAIN TOXIC TO YOUR FISH. After awhile you will have 0 ammonia, but those nitrites will continue to climb until a new bacteria that eats nitrites will be born and eat those up. Yea.........A tank is cycled when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and you then will have nitrates. Those will be safe for the fish unless they get very, very high. Your tank is now cycled.

Please get a Master Test Kit. And a gravel vac. You must check your water levels daily and add fresh, de-chlorinized water to keep those fish alive when those levels sore.

You have what's called New Tank Syndrome. The water will remain cloudy until the nitrites began to grow. Could be a couple of weeks.

If you have not bought fish for the other tank yet, please do a fishless cycle. This will save your fish and you much flustration.

PS......Do not disturb the gravel at all, change the filters or clean nothing in that tank. The good bacteria is growing in the gravel and disturbing it will keep your tank set-back.

Ammonia=Nitrites=Nitrates.

[jeffs99dime]

a hazy/smoky tinge to the water can also mean you have high phosphates

[Incredulous_Ed]

what kind of substrate are you using?

[Fishguy2727]

New tank with white haze = bacterial bloom. high phosphates will favor algae which would be a green haze (greenwater algae).

[jeffs99dime]

yeah. i was just giving him another idea. yes, it would be green though. what color is the haze in your tank?

[sk8trf69]

im using a gravel substrate and the haze is white

[Nautilus291]

yep sounds like new tank syndrom dont worry its not bad for your fish. the good bacteria are just trying to catch up to the ammonia in your tank.

[Fishguy2727]

Just have to keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites and the fish. Signs of stress from it all would be clamped fins and lethargy (sitting around).

[DIGITAL]

This has happened with my goldfish tank, my 45g with 1 8" oscar in it still has hazy water at times, even after water changes... I've used Acurel-F and man does that shit work WONDERS.

But what everyone said above is right, I didn't let my 20L cycle right, probably since I was just putting some nymphs and a ryukin (sp) in there and wanted to see if they could hang lol.

I'm planning on doing a 125 or 150 so I want to let that cycle correctly this time.

My 45g has a AC300 which should be at around 300gph, but we'll see how things go with that.

[cocoa_pleco]

for new tank syndrome a while ago i used b-clear, REALLY GOOD, and for now even though the tank is running for a while i use p-clear, which clumps small particles after water changes