mini aquarium help....
 

Bobby has just had a mini aquarium bought for his birthday but having a little trouble.

set the tank up last weekend, pump, heater. Added some gravel (which we cleaned before putting water in thanks to Lin).

Now however the tank has been up and running for 5 days but the water is cloudy!!! is there anything you guys can suggest to clear this up or is it a case of throwing the water away and starting again?? Dont really want to do the later as Bobby wants to see the fish!!! lol

cheers

What fish paul ? in a small tank you only need feed twice a week or the tank will pollute. Mine get fed once or twice and run an undergravel system and external jobbie. If you running a pump and air block its hard to keep the water clean as it aerated not filtrated. In this case you need to change the water once or twice a week 1/3 of capacity adding destress anti chlorine to the prescribed ratio.:) I have got a few bits I can give you to help if you let me know the size:)

it's only a small 35l tank. going to for some cold tropical fish as Bobby likes the brighter coloured fish!!

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Aquaworld_Comp..._MT40__7325889

i am thinking maybe we were supposed to clean the tank before putting water in?!?!

Ok, sounds like an internal sponge filter system which is fine but debris will be suspended rather than drawn down. Yes the tank would need rinsing before usage, well I would ! :) If bobby likes shiney fish don't be put off to only going cold water as most tropicals can cope in a centrally heated home without thermostat and very often people boil their tropicals anyway. I run mine at a min of 19degrees and they are fine. Get a plec or stone loaches, Wickford Aquatics had some nice stone loaches when I was in there last week. They also had weather loaches which I haven't seen for ages which because of their internals get agitated like a swiming barometer :) also consider some danios/neons are also good starters and cheap. I used to keep bitterlings as a kid as these are shiney and have some colour. Cold water (carp based) are pretty messy and I wouldn't keep more than 3 or 4 in that tank, so smaller tropicals, nothing expensive would be a better option. :) Wickfords is a great place to check out, and cheap !

I used to keep loads of these at home, loved them !:)

http://sakutansui.fc2web.com/taibara0706160231.jpg

i had this problem when i first set up my tank 3 years ago, i was told by the shop that the cloudiness is perfectly normal for a new tank, it will settle down by itself but if you liked you could do a 50% water change, cant remember what its called new tank bloom or something anyway hoped this helped

Paul,

I wouldn't worry too much about the cloudiness, it will settle in time.

When I started up one of my tanks, it was cloudy for a few days and then settled.

I personally would use RO (reverse osmosis) water to fill a tank as it has had all the rubbish taken out of it (at a current cost of 15p a litre).

As Stu has said above, for tropicals, you shouldn't need a heater in a centrally heated room, and the biggest issue sometimes is keeping the tank cool during the summer months, mine recently were hitting 28-29 degrees C and I had to setup some fans to cool them down.

If it doesn't clear, there is a product called filter aid that will clear it within 24hrs. Basically the cloud is caused by really fine particules that are so fine they pass through a standard filter. The filter aid works by combining with the fine particles to make them bigger and they them get caught in the filter media.

cheers for the help guys, cloudiness went a day after i asked the question!!! lol

Many thanks to Lin for popping over as well, now have 8 assorted barbs in the tank. Am sure 1 may even be about to have babies, either that or it's 1 fat mother!!! lol

Bit ungrateful, Lin is indeed pregnant :nono:;) ! :D

:lol: