# Cloudy, Musty Water



## skason (Jan 8, 2009)

Hey All,

I set up my new 12 gallon recently (2 days ago) and the water is cloudy (white) and smells musty (like a damp towel that has been left out). I thoroughly rinsed the substrate, so I know it isn't dust from that. I've been fishless cycling it by introducing a mesh bag of gravel from my established tank and when I filled the 12 gal I used mostly water from my other tank. 

Here are the water quality measurements from the past 3 days. Although I do have a bit of a hard time with these qualitative tests as I am the worst judge of color. 

11 Sep 2011: Amm 0-.25 mg/L Nitrite 0 mg/L Nitrate 0 mg/L
12 Sep 2011: Amm 0 mg/L Nitrite .25 mg/L Nitrate 5 mg/L
13 Sep 2011: Amm 0-.25 mg/L Nitrite 1 mg/L Nitrate 5 mg/L

So is this simply a bacterial bloom? Do I just let it go without doing any water changes? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Jason


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

musty smell is usually mold. Is the water moving? Do you have a filter? Does the ammonia look cloudy? I would do close to 100% water changes to try to clear it up well before you are ready for fish.


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## skason (Jan 8, 2009)

Water moves and I have a filter (an eclipse 12). The ammonia test tube is not cloudy if that is what you are getting at.


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

hrm... you got it near a window? also even if you clean your sand it may take a day or two to clear up. Give it a week or two if it don't go away something is wrong. talk to us in 2-3days time with stats.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

My 20 gallon is slightly cloudy, but that happens when a new tank is cycling.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

It is possible that this is a bacterial bloom but I am not convinced given the stats. One thing that you do want to make sure you do is feed the tank. If you are not feeding the tank then you will have cycle issues.


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## skason (Jan 8, 2009)

The smell and cloudiness is gone. Yesterday, I took some of the gravel siphon-ings from my other tank and fed it to my cycling 12gal; however, before I did that I measure my nitrogen specs.

14 Sep 2011: NH3: 1-2ppm NO2 0.5ppm NO3 5.0ppm 
14 Sep 2011: NH3: 1.0ppm NO2 1.0ppm NO3 5.0ppm 

So, yeah, I am just going to go with bacterial bloom associated with cycling?

Toshogu, It's across the room from a window, but it's heavily shaded and doesn't really bring in much ambient light.

Jason


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

kk then I'll agree just bacta bloom then.


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