y is water milky?

[jovis67]

i feel really stupid asking this but iv never had this problem before

 

i have a 10 gallon tank with 10lbs sand and 3 lbs rock (dead)

im still waiting to put anything live in there but i put in some bacteria culture about 2 1/2 weeks ago and iv noticed that the water seems milky. its not really bad i just want very clear water

should i be running a protien skimmer?

whats the problem?

my Ph and temp is low is that the problem?

help this problem is new to me

[Physh1]

1> What kinda of filters are you running now?

2> What is your temp and why do you not have some type of heater in there?

3> What is your pH level at?

4> Elaborate on "dead" rock. Is that dead live rock or dead rock as in stuff you got in the garden?

 

New tanks tend to be cloudy during the cycling period and this is not a bad thing but you need something in there to start the cycle. A bunch of dead or baren stuff isn't going to do anything. If you plan on making a reef out of this tank you should seed it with some live rock at least and preferably add some live sand too.

 

It is a good idea to elaborate more in your questions and offer the information needed to help give you a quality answer.

 

Cameron

[jovis67]

1. wisper "e" (water was really clear up intill about 3 days ago)

2. temp is 65 i seen no need for a heater when their is nothing alive in the tank

3. ph is 8.4

4. dead live rock (come on i was smarter than to get garden rock as a newbie)

 

i just replaced the filter carterage today

do you think that a water clearer could fix it?

[Physh1]

Ok...since you are using dead live rock the chances are very good it is just a bacterial bloom. Very normal and it's nothing to worry about. If you test your water for ammonia or nitrite you will be likely to see some elevated levels and like I said that is normal here.

 

The other issure here is your heater. Did the heater breaking and the tank clouding occur at the same time? Since you mentioned a low pH issue with the heater breaking and in this thread also I to understand it is the same tank and would assume that the "green" liquid that was in the tank could very easily be the cloudiness too. I'd do a %25-%50 water change if you haven't done it yet.

 

I wasn't insulting your knowledge when I ask about garden rock. I just meant to relay that it is hard to totally get clean and can cause a light clouding. That is normal also.

 

Cameron

[HuBu]

might want to jack up your temp a bit. things are going to come to life within the tank, nothing would come to life if the temp constantly 65.

[keli]

I agree.

 

Even if there's nothing alive in the tank, the proper bacteria will not establish correctly in the tank without a heater.

 

Because when you are going to get something alive and put a heater in, chances are that you're going to kill al the bacteria that was in the tank before because of the heat change.

[jovis67]

im starting to notice a white build up on heater, filter intake, and tank any idea?

thanks for all the help