Milky water before adding bacteria

[Erik the Red]

Hi,
I have an issue with my tank.
Its brand new, I have just used RO water and added the salt pouring it in small bits while the mp10 was turned on to help stirring. I used dry rocks, some glued with cement, and were washed before going in the tank.

no bacteria inoculation was added

I don’t understand what is the issue, as there is no residual salt on the bottom.

there is a sort of whitish haze around the rocks and the water is not clear

could you please help me?

 

[Doctorgori]

Hellow and welcome. Most of the time you’ll be pre mixing the salt in a garbage can or whatever, waiting a prescribed time per bag instructions and or heating it....et.

it will clear in time and again welcome.
: post your setup, 100 micron socks and floss can often help, my guess is it is particulates

 

[Erik the Red]

Thank you for the welcome and the answer.

It has been running for about week...I’ll try with the socks.
I am aware mixing in the tank, at the start, is not an usual/recommended solution, but I could not do it in another way

I have a waterbox 35.2, 10kg of dry rocks, bare bottom. The tank is filled with about 110L net water volume.
Equipment: A Sicce 0.5 (600 lph) return pump, Tunze 9001 skimmer, AI prime 16HD and finally a Vortech MP10.

Can I turn off the heater when cycling? Of course higher temp should help with bacterial reproduction, but shouldn’t be an issue...right?

 

[Garf]

Cement, as in mortar? If so you have to cure it in fresh water (for a month in my case). Otherwise it can leach what I believe is calcium hydroxide into the water. Check your pH.

 

[Daniel]

Could be particulates or precipitate from the salt, rock, or possibly even adhesives as mentioned ... if it doesn't settle or dissolve over time, it may be the beginning of a bacterial bloom (common in newly established, bare-bottom systems). Even if you didn't add bacteria, there is a chance that somehow it made its way into the system and has begun to multiply, causing the haziness that you're seeing.

If it is a bacterial bloom, it'll likely get worse before it gets better. Prepare yourself for a period of waiting for the beneficial bacteria to establish during the cycle.

I've found no noticeable difference in leaving heater on/off during the cycle.

 

[Erik the Red]

Cement, as in mortar? If so you have to cure it in fresh water (for a month in my case). Otherwise it can leach what I believe is calcium hydroxide into the water. Check your pH.

I used DSR Reef cement. The instruction says it can be used for bonding corals as well, so I thought it would have been fine to have in the tank. I just poured a small bit to anchor a couple of base rocks.

I’ll check pH tomorrow and post a reply

 

[Erik the Red]

Could be particulates or precipitate from the salt, rock, or possibly even adhesives as mentioned ... if it doesn't settle or dissolve over time, it may be the beginning of a bacterial bloom (common in newly established, bare-bottom systems). Even if you didn't add bacteria, there is a chance that somehow it made its way into the system and has begun to multiply, causing the haziness that you're seeing.

If it is a bacterial bloom, it'll likely get worse before it gets better. Prepare yourself for a period of waiting for the beneficial bacteria to establish during the cycle.

I've found no noticeable difference in leaving heater on/off during the cycle.

I’ll use the filter socks for tonight and tomorrow I’ll check both water clearness as well as pH.

What should I do if it’s already a bacterial bloom? Should I wait with the inoculation of nitrifying bacterias?

 

[Garf]

I’ll use the filter socks for tonight and tomorrow I’ll check both water clearness as well as pH.

What should I do if it’s already a bacterial bloom? Should I wait with the inoculation of nitrifying bacterias?

Bacterial blooms in the water column are nothing to fear.

 

[Erik the Red]

Then tomorrow I will dose the ammonia and the nitrifying bacteria if pH looks fine, so I can finally start the cycle.

I’ll keep you posted

Thanks everyone for the help

 

[Daniel]

Time will be your biggest hurdle! Be patient during this phase, it's tempting to do more but really the best approach is to be patient. When you're bored and itching for something to do... do a round of water testing to keep yourself occupied

 

[Erik the Red]

One thing I noticed is that pointing the powerjead directly on the rocks, does affect the haze. I mean...there is like 1 inch pf haze around the rocks and it does not “move” when the powerheads is pointing at it.

 

[Erik the Red]

pH is 8.0

Still haze in the tank, even with filter socks and skimmer on (still breaking in phase)

 

[Erik the Red]

I turned off the heater and things started to get better. Its much clearer now. Also the skimmer has got some dirt in the collection cup.

If water quality will be OK, i might start the cycle tomorrow