cycle....

my friend gave me his 55g tank with a couple of fishes in it. after about a week my water turned a little cloudy.when the light is on you cant see it from the front view but when you look at it from the side you can see a little white haze. is this from the cycling process?

No, it wouldn't be from cycling. What kind of fish do you have in there right now?

To cycle your tank with fish you need to do a 10-15% water change every couple of days and test it after every week and a half. It will most likely be high in ammonia and low nitrites the first test or two, but this is just the beginning of the process. Keep doing this for about 4-8 weeks or when your parameters become stable and your tank should be cycled and you won't have to do so many water changes. If you plan to add more fish afterward, just add a few at a time

*Remember, cycling is different for everyone and depends on a number of things like the amount of ammonia in water for bacteria to digest, the availability of bacteria in atmosphere to colonize filter, water changes, waste (ammonia and nitrite), amount of excess decaying matter in tank (dead fish, extra food, plant leaves, etc.), and the presence of toxins/anti-bacterial agents/sanitation chemicals in tank water.

You actually shouldnt cycle with fish at all, I think its inhumane, burns their fins off their bodys.
In replacement of fish you can feed the fish tank with food, but dont overdo it becuase you will get one heck of an algae bloom.

But the cloudy tank water will just be that your tank is dirty or your fish are filthy and have high ammonia, I have goldfish ( VERY HIGH AMMONIA), and if we dont clean the tank every 5 days the water will start to get cloudy because of their giant bioload.

i don't know what kind of fish it is. it is silver with red tips about an inch and a half. don't know much about fishes my friend gave it to me so i figure might as well put it in the living room

if its a milky white haze then its probably a bacteria bloom. It sounds worse than it is. Harmless to ur fish, just unpleasant to look at. 2 fish in a 55 would not create that much ammonia. Its sometimes called "new tank syndrome" where theres a bloom and it just takes a little time to even itself back out. Did u rinse the filters out? sometimes that would do it because it washes away all the good bacteria. I've had that happen to me before and i found the best thing is just leave it alone and do water changes like 10% every other day or so. I know it sounds bad but trust me, time is gonna be what fixes it

Oh yeah, NEVER WASH THE FILTERS OUT WITH TAP WATER. Always tank water.

no i haven't wash the filter yet. when i wash it with tank water doesn't that get rid of the good bacteria too? the filter pad has what looks like brown goo, is that the bacteria?

Welcome to the hobby; you are experiencing New Tank Syndrome or NTS. Though obviously not a scientifically classified that yet, this is a very real condition that many new fish keepers find themselves experiencing. Keep in mind that every new tank will undergo a "cycling" process. NTS is typically the result of mistakes that we have made during the cycling process. It is possible that the loss of fish in a brand new tank can be minimized or even totally avoided by understanding the concept of tank cycling and monitoring this process with a close eye.
When we start up a new tank from scratch, we can expect to see a build-up of ammonia first (typically in about the second or third week) followed by a build-up of nitrites while the level of ammonia is dropping to zero. Eventually both ammonia and nitrites will drop to zero and we will see the buildup of yet another chemical called nitrate. Nitrate is much less toxic than ammonia and nitrite, and is easily controlled with a regular water change maintenance routine. The entire process can be expected to last for approximately 4-6 weeks (This can be speeded up if done properly).. There are faster ways of cycling a tank but I truly belive it helps to experience everything the tanks gonna throw at you.
How to tell for sure if your tank is still cycling? If your ammonia and or nitrites show a positive reading, your tank is still cycling. A healthy established tank should never have a positive reading for either of these two chemicals. Your LFs should be happy to test your water for these chemicals upon your request (i recommend you learn how just to save gas money). It is in their best interest to test for you and most will require it if they do not know you as a guarantee offered on their fish.

I hope this helps a little but I agree with Lars you really shouldnt cycle a tank with fish unless your prepared to do twice the work to get the water parameters under control so you do not burn your fish..

By the time the filter has all the brown goo on it the gravel in your tank should have alot of beneficial bacteria init. But washing the filter out will remove some of the bacteria but not all of it.

I did once cycle a tank with fish in it, moved a 20 gallons contents into a 46, and it began to cycle right away. I cleaned out half the water in the tank every other day. WITH BUCKETS. Not fun. And its also good to add some ammonia away medication for the fish, It will help them with the stress of the ammonia, but it wont make the ammonia in your tank go away. If you are going to do a fish cycle I reccomend doing a 50% water change EVERY OTHER DAY, not 10-15%.

lars on wrote:By the time the filter has all the brown goo on it the gravel in your tank should have alot of beneficial bacteria init. But washing the filter out will remove some of the bacteria but not all of it.

I did once cycle a tank with fish in it, moved a 20 gallons contents into a 46, and it began to cycle right away. I cleaned out half the water in the tank every other day. WITH BUCKETS. Not fun. And its also good to add some ammonia away medication for the fish, It will help them with the stress of the ammonia, but it wont make the ammonia in your tank go away. If you are going to do a fish cycle I reccomend doing a 50% water change EVERY OTHER DAY, not 10-15%.

I wouldnt wash the filter at all until tank has finished its cycle...

thanks for all the tips everyone

Of course Let us know how everything goes!!