LisaK

I set up an 8 gallon tropical fish tank two weeks ago. I put our three goldfish in it to "season" it - together with some of the water from their tank. Bottom line - we've moved the goldfish out and serially transitioned in 8 tropical fish (e.g. zebras, hatchets, mollies) with one algae eater and one redclaw crab.

The water started getting cloudy about 10 days ago. Last weekend, I was advised that the cloud was a bacteria bloom common to new tanks and that it should subside within a week. It's still here, and appears to be getting soupier. I have added fresh water (the rate of evaporation is about a 1/2 gallon every 4-5 days) and just changed the filter. The fish all appear healthy...so far.

How to clear my water?

Tommy Gun

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about this problem

I think that you should change the water in your tank as soon as you can. In general, you want to take out and replace about one quarter to one third of the water in any tank on a weekly basis...to be safe.

Otherwise, and you may already know and do this, you should keep a close eye on the water quality by testing for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. There are a lot of tests that are easy to use for this. Depending on how fast the nitrates build up in a tank would determine how often and how much to change the water. Water changes will help clear the water up. It will not go away on its own very quickly.

dlee9707

Bacteria blooms are common during a tanks cycling process, what you called seasoning it. This process will usually take somewhere from 4 to 6 weeks to cycle fully.

I'd recommend you do a 50% water change today and then take a sample to your LFS to test it (or test it yourself if you have the kit) for ammonia nitrite and nitrate.

__________________
55 Gallon Tank:
4X yellow lab
Breeding pair of Red Empress
Female OB peacock
S. Fryeri
Syno. Catfish
Blue Batia
Generic Pleco
One Tinfoil Barb (i couldnt get the thing out with a net or anything else, so i guess its there to stay...)

handimn1

If it is white cloudy than you might be feeding too much! If it is green than it is a algae bloom.

handimn1

http://www.algone.com/cloudy_water.php#solution

handimn1

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/