Help please - New tank no fish cloudy water

[DOMTOV]

I have set up my new tank 5 days ago and on the second day the water was a milky cloudy colour.

I have rinsed the gravel, ornaments, fake plants filter media and sponges so I'm sure it's not debris from any of that.

I have a fluval u3 filter in a fluval roma 125 tank. I added aquacare tap water conditioner which instructed 5ml per 20 litres so I added 6x5ml dosage.

The water temp is 25c.

Have I done anything wrong from this description?
The water is like this for the third day now and isn't clearing. I looked up bacteria bloom and have seen this clear in 2 to 4 days.

Any help with what to do would be appreciated

[Vale!]

Hello D (and welcome!)

It's almost certainly a 'bacterial bloom', as you suspect. I guess your tapwater is chloraminated (a combination of ammonia and chlorine, rather than disinfected with just chlorine) and the bacteria in question are feeding off the ammonia released when the Aquacare conditioner split the bonds between the chlorine and the ammonia. The chlorine will be 'neutralised' by the conditioner but, typically, the ammonia is left for the aquarium filter to digest.

The bloom is quite common after an aquarium is first-filled with chloraminated water ; less so if the tapwater is disinfected with chlorine, though there may still be dissolved organic material which these bacteria (heterotrophic bactrria) can munch. Later in an aquarium's life bacteria blooms are uncommon because partial water-changes introduce much less ammonia and/or organic material than does a first-fill.

I would just ignore it for the time being - it'll likely burn itself out in time as the bacteria hoover up the nutrients made available by that first-fill - and proceed with cycling. What are your plans for that - are you going to do it fishlessly?

[Gingerlove05]

Hello and welcome
As Vale! has said, its quite common in new setups and it can last around a week to 10days, it will clear on its own soon enough

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.
How are you "cycling" the tank/filter?

[Martinspuddle]

Greetings.

[Tycho]

Hi and welcome...

Nice looking tank, look forward to seeing what fish you go for!

[DOMTOV]

Hi guys, thanks so much for the help and responses. I'm going for a fishless cycle. Do you think I need to wait for the bloom to dissapate before I do that?

[Gingerlove05]

No you can start the cycle straight away
As Vale! mentioned there might be some munchers in the bloom that are feeding off ammonia or something that may be useful
Here’s a guide to fishless cycling :
https://www.aquariumforums.co.uk/guides