# new aquarium, stays cloudy need some help



## hendry21 (Jan 19, 2012)

I have a 55 gallon I got on Saturday, I filled it up and a few hours later it got milky/cloudy. I drained half the water and refilled it and added water clarifier and it was clear. By the next morning, cloudy. Now its even more cloudy. I have a white sand bottom, few fake plants, fake rocks and 13 fish, not tropicals the aggressive guys, clown loach, spotted puffer, green terror, ect. I have a top fin 60 pump. I did clean the sand, did I not clean enough and should I drain it again


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

What are you using for filtration and do you have any powerheads installed?


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## bgkkilla (Jan 8, 2012)

the sand has to settle idk if u did tht first or not i heard u have to put water in first then sand and heard sand takes days to settle


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## hendry21 (Jan 19, 2012)

Fishpunk said:


> What are you using for filtration and do you have any powerheads installed?


I'm not exactly sure. We have the Top Fin 60 dual flow pump. Brand new filters with new carbon. We also just added 2 new bubble makers in the tank.


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## hendry21 (Jan 19, 2012)

bgkkilla said:


> the sand has to settle idk if u did tht first or not i heard u have to put water in first then sand and heard sand takes days to settle


We have heard that also. We just drained it again and refilled it. It still has a lot of murky water. I just also changed the filters again just now (2nd time in 3 days) b/c they were full of food.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

It's probably just cycling. Whenever you set up a new tank, you have to wait a few weeks for bacteria to colonize the tank. They break down nitrogenous waste into less toxic materials. (Ammonia into Nitrite into Nitrate) Normally, you;d want to wait for the tank to cycle before adding anything living. Seeing as you already have quite a few fish in there, I can assure you that you probably have some high ammonia or nitrites going on right now. Keep up your water changes, but don't disturb the gravel or the filter; that's where the bacteria colonize. 

Welcome to Fish Forums by the way!


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