Habitat - Indoor :: need some help

[xsavingsaturdayx]

my water has been cloudy because of new tank syndrome,i called tetra recently and they told me that your not supposed to do a full water change.well i did one,2 days ago and my water has been cloudy.im worried about ammonia since its toxic and im going out with my mom to get something to see if my ammonia level is high.i never tested my water so i have no clue what to get or how to use it,whats a good inexpensive brand?

[marisa]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes testing kits that are more economical than some of the others. You can get a master kit, which has tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Cheaper to buy the master kit than buying each test separately.

[Muirner]

What do you have for a filter xsaving? Can you add a biological media component to it by chance?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

i have a whisper power filter rated for 60 gallons

[Muirner]

Your tank needs to cycle, the only way to do this is leaving the filter on and the same water in. I had my XP3 run an entire day before my turtles went in. It cycled the tank well over 50 times.

[grey goose]

When you go to the petstore ask for Biozyme. Follow the directions. It'll help kick start the biological process. Also the master test kits are pretty pricey. The test for ammonia costs about 6 bucks.

[SpotsMama]

The master test kit costs about $35 off the shelf retail. You can test for ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and high ph. There's enough material and supplies in there to do hundreds of tests. I've had my kit for maybe 6 months and for quite a while I tested everything daily. Now I only test occasionally but I've got enough solution to last for months more.

[Muirner]

pricematch at petsmart http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... 4441776772 no more then 13 bucks. (if that's the right one)

[SpotsMama]

That's the one!!!! I got mine off the shelf at Petco - which tends to be a bit higher but this is a huge difference.

I'd switch all my considerable buying to Petsmart but I just got some really good Petcocoupons for stuff for my new adopted kittens so I'm having positive feelings about Petco! Sometimes Petco the brick and mortar store has more variety of stuff especially for turtles than Petsmart the brick and mortor store.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sometimes the tank will look a bit cloudy, like if you stir up some of the particles on the bottom of the tank or whatever. As long as the cloudiness clears up in a day, then it's not a problem. It just shouldn't be cloudy *all the time.*

Honestly, I have never tested for ammonia in my tank. But I do buy the charcoal that has the little white rocks in it that are supposed to help remove ammonia. And I do regular water changes so the water stays clean.

[Spookster]

Your tank needs to cycle, the only way to do this is leaving the filter on and the same water in. I had my XP3 run an entire day before my turtles went in. It cycled the tank well over 50 times.

It takes weeks for a tank to cycle. I think maybe you are talking about something else? Cycling of a tank refers to the growth of beneficial bacteria. If you put fresh water in then it will take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several weeks depending on filter media and other factors.

[Spookster]

Here's a good article on it:

http://www.taursys.com/kasha/JAS/Articles/cloudy.htm

and here is an article that describes why it happens.

http://www.algone.com/new_tank_syndrome.php

[Muirner]

spook, i meant turn over, sorry. My tank should be cycled soon, with in the next 2 or so weeks. I have had my filter on for almost a month straight with the biomax rings in there, and i'm looking to add stars as well. Maybe some matrix rocks as well.

Note when i do stir up the bottom of my tank, it can look cloudy for a little bit of time, but the bigger your filter the less time it should remain cloudy.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

thanks for the help,i tested my water and it has zero ammonia.

[Spookster]

Note when i do stir up the bottom of my tank, it can look cloudy for a little bit of time, but the bigger your filter the less time it should remain cloudy.

The white cloudiness from new tank syndrome is something different than turtle waste being stirred up. The new tank syndrome actually looks white and is consistent throughout the water. I had it happen a couple of times in a smaller tank. It usually happened when I did a full water change because I was basically killing off all the bacteria colonies. This is why you have to be careful when cleaning the filter and only rinse things in tank water so as not to kill off the bacteria colonies.