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cloudy, smelly water

23 16:08:56

Question
Set up a 75 gallon freshwater tank almost two weeks ago.  We have a lot of experience with aquariums and have never had this problem.  We filtered for 24 hours, added bio-boost and several bio-balls from an established tank.  Added 10 danios and 5 barbs to cycle.  fish have done well. We tested yesterday.  PH is high ( we were told by Jack's that the PH is high in the area??) Ammonia was very low, very low nitrates and nitrites.  Today water went a little cloudy and is very smelly! I tested and got same reading. I expected high ammonia, but everything is low, except PH. We have a fluval filter. Would you suggest a water change?  We turned the lights out and will not feed for a couple days.  We are also going to keep the lights out.
Appreciate any help! Thanks for your time!

Answer
Hi Kelly;

If the color of the cloudiness is whitish or off-white, it's just from the break-in period. It will eventually clear up on it's own. New tanks just aren't biologically balanced yet and many go through a cloudy and smelly stage.

If the water is greenish, it's from suspended planktonic-algae. It is a very difficult problem to eradicate. Below are some web pages about it. They are geared toward ponds but the cause and possible treatments are pretty much the same for aquariums;

http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/WaterQuality/GreenWater.html

http://www.akca.org/library/greenwtr.htm

http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/detail.aspx?aid=9605&cid=3784&search=

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins