Cloudy water in a new aquarium

Before talking about the problem, let’s find out what kind of water should be?

Contrary to popular belief, “healthy” aquarium water is not crystal clear, but slightly cloudy. Aquarists call this water “living”. It has a lot of beneficial bacteria, the biological environment is already fully formed, which means that the fish feel great.

If the water acquires a rich yellow or green hue, loses transparency, makes it difficult to see, if dust and other contaminants float in it, then this is really a problem. And so that nothing threatens the health of the fish, the situation needs to be urgently corrected.

Why does the water become cloudy already at the first start? There may be several reasons. Let’s take a look at the main ones.

• Formation of the environment in an aquarium without fish

You have been choosing an aquarium and all the necessary equipment for a long time – and now, the preparation is over! The aquarium is running, the scenery is set, the equipment is connected and working properly, the water is crystal clear and pleasing to the eye. But after a couple of days, it may become cloudy, even if there are no fish in the aquarium yet. Don’t worry, it’s completely normal: the water changes due to the growing bacteria. It will take a few days, and it will become more transparent again. Very soon you will be able to launch the first inhabitants into it!

• Formation of the environment in an aquarium with fish

In new aquariums with fish, temporary turbidity of the water may occur. The environment is not yet formed, there are few beneficial microorganisms, and organic matter does not decompose well. This contributes to the growth of bacteria and cloudiness of the water. After a few days the water becomes clearer. But a strong turbidity must be eliminated.

The solution

Turbid water should first be checked for nitrite and ammonia. Make sure all indicators are normal.

With severe clouding, you need to reduce the number of bacteria. To do this, do a partial water change using a conditioner like Tetra AquaSafe.

The second way: a special cloud remover (TetraAqua CrystalWater). It sticks together bacteria and small impurities, and the water becomes clear again.

• Untreated soil

If the water becomes cloudy as soon as you fill the aquarium, the problem is most likely due to uncleaned or poor quality soil. In this case, it may change color, become brownish. Even if after some time the pollution subsides and the water becomes more transparent, it is impossible to launch fish into such an aquarium. Their movements will stir up the water and again raise the ground dust. What to do?

The solution

One of the main rules for starting an aquarium is to choose already prepared, cleaned soil in special packages. Then there will be no problems with it. Any other soil, except for special nutrient for plants, must be thoroughly washed.

If the soil was not sufficiently cleaned, and you have already filled it with water, use a special soil cleaner (for example, Tetratec GC). A conventional filter will not cope with such contaminants and, most likely, will become clogged. If there are two types of soil in the aquarium, clean only the top layer, without touching the bottom nutrient one.

These are the main causes of cloudy water when starting a new aquarium. In the next article, we will analyze why the water becomes cloudy in a long-running aquarium with a mature environment.