Water change & conditioner

[lyinxz]

Hi,
I setup my tank 2 nights ago , its a 60L tank.
No fish as of yet, i am just running the filter.

My water has become a bit cloudy, and i am thinking about doing a 50% water change.
What i would like to know is, do i have to add Water Conditioner Again to the tank?
And if so , Do i add only 5ml because its only 50%?

The instructions say 10ml per 60L tank.

[jman]

did you buy a water test kit.

if not go get one from the LFS trust me it will solve lots of problems.

[jeffs99dime]

Hi,
I setup my tank 2 nights ago , its a 60L tank.
No fish as of yet, i am just running the filter.

My water has become a bit cloudy, and i am thinking about doing a 50% water change.
What i would like to know is, do i have to add Water Conditioner Again to the tank?
And if so , Do i add only 5ml because its only 50%?

The instructions say 10ml per 60L tank.

how exactly do you conduct your water changes? do you use the python to fill the tabk and then dose the tank after? or do you use buckets and mix the conditioner before filling the tank. yes--you do have to recondition the tank everytime you conduct a water change. yes. you should have a liquid water test kit like the master test kit that A.P.I carries. you need to know what your ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are to be successful in fishkeeping. also, it is very normal to have cloudy water for a little while when first setting up a tank. did you rinse your gravel thoroughly? dust particles from gravel (substrate) can cause your water to become cloudy. --myself or one of the other members will be able to answer your questions more in detail if you provide answers to the questions i asked. thanks, jeff

[lyinxz]

Hi thank you for your quick replies,

Ok im planning on just siphoning 50% of the water out of the tank and into a bucket.
Then i will be adding new water back into the tank using the bucket, then i guess i will add the extra conditioner liquid.

Master test kit is expensive.... around $60 AUD.
(I'm from Australia).

Something i will have to save up for in time..
However i do have a liquid Ammonia test kit.

When i first setup the tank, the water was crystal clear.
I cleaned my gravel in a period of 1 week , so it is throughly cleaned.

I suspect:
The other day i was moving a few ornaments around ( repositioning ).
And i did mess the gravel around a bit, which i think could of caused the cloudy water...

Do you think the water will subside and become clear in a few days? or should i got ahead with the water change?

[jman]

i really think that there is a problem with 50% maybe 25% that way the water will be more stable.

[lyinxz]

Yea, good idea %25 sounds ideal.

Thankyou :thumb:

[Sasquatch]

Hi,
I setup my tank 2 nights ago , its a 60L tank.
No fish as of yet, i am just running the filter.

My water has become a bit cloudy, and i am thinking about doing a 50% water change.
What i would like to know is, do i have to add Water Conditioner Again to the tank?
And if so , Do i add only 5ml because its only 50%?

The instructions say 10ml per 60L tank.

If it's a new tank it could just be cycling. Water sometime gets cloudy during the cycling process. If that's the case, just wait it out. There are no fish in there anyway, so no harm done.

[kimmers318]

If there aren't any fish, and you aren't feeding the tank with any type of "ammonia" than you are not yet experiencing a cycle. Clean fresh water will not cycle no matter how many weeks you let it run with the filter. You have to have a source of waste for the ammonia eating bacteria to form, and once you have the ammonia eating bacteria taking care of the ammonia (waste from fish or food) you will get the nitrite eating bacteria. If there is nothing feeding the tank you won't cycle, you will just keep fresh water filtered.
There has to be a reason for cloudy water in a newly filled tank. What type of water conditioner did you use? What type of gravel/substrate? You said you did move things around and possibly stir up the substrate, but that should settle normally. Did you start to feed the tank with something to start the cycling process? It is possible that you put too much in (whether it be pure ammonia or a food product) and it is just a bacterial bloom that will clear up in time.
Let us know and we will do our best to help ya out.

[jman]

i love the first half of the info. you provided it helps a lot if the problem matchs.

[lyinxz]

No, no im not cycling at all.
I am just filtering the tap water for a few days before i put some fish in there.
I am going to use normal cycling.

Its just a tad cloudy, nothing over the top..
But i am a perfectionist, lol.
I want the water to be crystal clear.
I think that the gravel might of caused it when i was moving things.

My action will be to do a %25 water change , and add 2ml water conditioner.
Then leave the tank for 2days.
Then i will add 5 neon tetra's and begin the cycling process.

[Ascendant]

I just bought a Master test kit from [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] for $36.95
I honestly don't recommend local aquarium shops for tank equipment, you can often get 50% off the retail price of things with estores.
Which for me, is the way to go, I cant afford to spend $70 for a powerhead or a MTK when i can get it half price.

However, i don't recommend using estores to buy fish, gravel and driftwood.

Goodluck ! ;)

[kimmers318]

Have you done any reading on cycling? What is the reason you are cycling with tetras? IF you choose to cycle with fish, which in my opinion with the other methods out there is the least preferred method (why subject fish to those conditions if you know better), your cycle will take longer, you will have to keep on top of your water parameters to do frequent water changes and if you don't you may just end up losing fish. Although I never recommend cycling with fish, there are several hardier species who can tolerate the cycling process much better than tetras are likely to.

[jeffs99dime]

Have you done any reading on cycling? What is the reason you are cycling with tetras? IF you choose to cycle with fish, which in my opinion with the other methods out there is the least preferred method (why subject fish to those conditions if you know better), your cycle will take longer, you will have to keep on top of your water parameters to do frequent water changes and if you don't you may just end up losing fish. Although I never recommend cycling with fish, there are several hardier species who can tolerate the cycling process much better than tetras are likely to.

a common/hardy cycling fish are danios. i would however, fishless cycle your tank. it's the humane thing to do