New freshwater tank staying cloudy

[dc10refueler]

First time here so be gentle please Its been a long time since I last had a fish tank so going off by starting from zero. I've done my research and got most of everything understood and have an uncle who really knows his stuff that used to have a fish store for the longest time. He's been sick an unable to get help sometimes so here I go.

Tank is a 5 or 5 1/2 gallon glass tank with a Aqua Clear 150 filter system with an undergravel filter kit.

My goal for the freshwater tank was for a small colony of shrimp and my step daughters betta. Yes I know, done my homework and if the betta doesn't work out I love shrimp so no problem there as the 2 tanks can stay separate.

Tank was used, cleaned tank had to use chemicals :/ because tank wasn't coming clean as it had been put away for quite a while. I setup the tank and ran it for several days and used vinegar to kill off the chemicals in the tank. Every couple days i refreshed the water and vinegar and then a few more days without vinegar to get rid of the smell and everything. Each time was rinsed out with scalding hot water. Tank had no smell, no trace by eye, nose, touch of any chemicals and filled the tank one last time in preparation for fish. I bought new media for the filter, sponge, carbon and bio and started the pump. I let it run for a couple days and bout a aquarium starter kit to set the ph to 7.0, clear all chlorine/chloramide (which I treat all water), and introduced beneficial bacteria to start the nitrogen cycle. Next day I added a little bit of betta food to water to stimulate the nitrogen cycle, then removed it next day for a few days.

First night, water clear, next day water was cloudy and I assumed the nitrogen cycle was happening. After about a week the tank cleared up and water was crystal clear. Ended up was not able to get any shrimp for almost another week and a half since they stay normally sold out in my area. Tank was about 2.5 wks old when I added my shrimp, and since then the tank has stayed cloudy and has not dissipated. Not sure if nitrogen cycle restarted or what so I have not used any chemical means to control tank except for pill to remove chlorine/chloramides which i let the new water sit for 24 hrs before using in the tank. So far I've done 2 water changes in the tank of probably 20% as to not mess up nitrogen cycle much if thats whats happening.

I'm at a loss as to what is happening. I bought a 5 in 1 test kit when i got the shrimp and going to go buy an ammonia test kit in next day or two as a just in case. After my water went clear I took it to petsmart to have it tested and it showed what I have now and has stayed the same since the first time the water went clear.

So far I started with 11 ghost shrimp, just noticed last nite I have 10, #11 is missing completely but figured I'd lose a couple since most people don't treat ghost shrimp good but just as food. They seem to be happy and they have been frolicking around, playing and having fun with my setup. My step daughter loves them, and the undergravel kit is perfect for them.

My water paramters:
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
GH(hardness): 75
KH(alkalinity): 120
PH: 7.8 stable (tap water ph is 7.8)

*The only thing i can think of is when I first had the cloudy spell, I had to do an emergency water change on the betta and i had nothing that was chemical(soap) free to put the betta in. So I had to drop the betta into the 5 gallon for a few hours until I could get his tank took care of. Not sure what happened but had a very thick film on top of betta bowl and was getting bad, never happened before, but i cleaned off top and swapped the betta over. After this the tank went clear about 1-2 days later and stayed clear. Betta is fine, not sure what happened but just remembered that fact.


I'm open to all suggestions, just trying to figure things out.

 

[KcMopar]

Your tank is not cycled until you start to show Nitrate. The cloudiness could be from a bacteria or algae bloom but its most probable due to phosphates (its a huge explanation so I will not go into it). This will go away with time. Since you have live stock in there do daily water changes to the tune of 10-30% a day to keep the ammonia to ZERO. Sometimes the cycle can take several weeks so just hang in there.
Kerry

 

[lauraf]

+1 to KcMopar. And you can actually do larger water changes - 50-70%. It won't impact the cycling process, and may be what is required to keep your nitrite and ammonia levels at minimal levels while the cycling completes.

 

[FreshyFresh]

DC10, what water parameter test kit are you using?

The only parameters you need to worry about at this point is ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Don't worry about pH, etc.

Tanks @ 10g and under can be difficult to establish and maintain a stable nitrogen cycle. I've been down that road.

I'm not sure about your adding vinegar deal, but it sounds like you've done enough water changes to get all that out.

As long as you're showing 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrate, you can add you betta with your shrimp, monitor water params and do frequent water changes.

 

[Thyra]

Did you mean 0 nitrate or nitrite??

 

[dc10refueler]

i'm using a jungle 5 in 1 test kit that does nitrate, nitrite, gh hardness, kh alkalinity, and ph.

i'm constantly showing the same results i posted above. 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites. going to get an ammonia test kit tonite as i goofed and forgot to get one. not really worried bout the ph as long as i can keep it stable with my tap water.

just wanna clear up the tank, got family friends fussing bout adding some stay clear or something to remove cloudiness but afraid to add anything to tank atm.

 

[OrangeCones]

Test strips are expensive per strip, and not known for reliable readings. I would recommend a liquid (test tube) type kit like API's Master Freshwater Test Kit.

Your strips leave out the first (and likely your problem) harmful parameter: Ammonia. You could also get Seachem's Ammonia Alert Disk to monitor toxic ammonia 24/7. They last a year or more and are well worth the piece of mind.

I would advise against putting things in the water to remove cloudiness. It is likely a bacteria bloom as it tries to reproduce fast enough to consume the available ammonia.

 

[Mawade1984]

When I first started my tank it was cloudy for about a month, I finally figured out it was a bacterial bloom... Maybe that's what this could be? It happened while the tank was establishing itself... Now cycled and crystal clear!

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

Welcome to the forums. As everyone else stated, API Master Freshwater kit will give you better readings.

Something you can do to help that hasn't been mentioned, store 1 gal of the water you remove for your water changes, add a sponge filter to that gal container ( an air stone wrapped in a natural sponge works well if you pack some rock around the air stone to weigh it down.)

Leave it running 24/7 and perform your water changes as normal, test the 1 gal it in about a week for nitrites, then another week for nitrates. when it begins to show nitrates, add it to your 10 gal to jump start your bio filter, it also gives you a seed filter if you decide to add a second tank.

 

[Thyra]

I don't think I understand how this would work. There supposedly is very little BB in the water column so if you put a gallon if it into another container why would it grow more if there isn't any food for it?

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

If the tank has not cycled there's not much bb to begin with, I did leave off the fact it would need ammonia you're correct Thyra.

Throw some flakes or buy some pure ammonia and increase to ~1.5-2ppm and let it sit, eventually the bacteria will form and they'll form in the sponge filter. Performing water changes has the goal of removing toxins, if you let 1 gal sit with those toxins in it, it will develop faster than your stocked tank.