(08-04-2014, 12:08 AM)evelynmcgregor Wrote: There were a lot of good suggestions in the previous post. But, whenever I set up a new tank, I put the water in after adding the gravel, decorations and any plants be they plastic or real,, then I let the tank run with no fish in for a week to let the water "settle down." That way, if there are going to be any cloudy issues, ect there are no fish in the tank to suffer plus it lets the chlorine filter/evaporate out. I know there are chlorine removers on the market that are very effective, but just letting the tank filter and sit with no fish in it is something I was told todo many years ago when I first started keeping fish.
I am sorry, your statement is wrong on several levels.
I have to correct it. Sorry.
First, while the
chlorine in the tap water can be released into the atmosphere after a day or two by just letting the water sit there, the
chloramine is much more stable and it isn't going anywhere. Commercial available aquarium water conditioners will remove chlorine and chloramine just fine almost instantly, and it is what almost all fish keepers use.
Second, letting an empty tank with no fish (no source of ammonia) to run by itself will do
absolutely nothing to benefit the fish. Nope, it will
not prevent cloudy water later on after you have added fish.
If you actually know why some aquarium get cloudy, and what Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle is, you would know it.
After adding the fish, the cloudy water is most likely caused by either bacteria boom (beneficial bacteria trying to multiply to feed on the ammonia produced by the fish) because the tank wasn't cycled, or there is too much organic waste in the water as a result of overstocking...or both. No amount of "sitting" with an empty tank will do any good to prevent this.
The only way to prevent cloudy water is to properly prepare the aquarium to receive the fish by using fishless cycling.
Fishless cycling is to use a source of ammonia to simulate the ammonia produced by fish to get the filter media to develop enough beneficial bacteria before adding the actual fish. The whole process may take more than a month to finish. The key is to have a constant source of ammonia. And the true goal of fishless cycling is to prevent ammonia and nitrite buildup after adding the fish. The true danger to the fish is the ammonia and nitrite which are both toxic while have no color and no smell. Only a properly cycled aquarium can prevent these two chemicals from building up.
Everything about fishless cycling is in the article of
Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and Fishless Cycling.
