I have a ten gallon tank and i have just set it up for a week now. How long should it take to have it fully cycled and why does it seem unclear? Ive placed water conditioners and all but it is still not as crystal clear as i hped it would be.
to be safe, full cycle probably around 3 to 4 weeks. Unclear water can be cause by many thing, mud, bacterial bloom, green water algae, etc. You need to give us more detail on you setup, like what kind of substrate do you use, what kind of media did you use, light wattage, tank dimension, etc
I am using an aqueon quiet flow: i removed the activated carbon for it might cause absorption of minerals form the ferts i am putting. It is a 10 gallon tank with flourite gravel, and one T8 life-glo buld. 6700K. It has been clearing now. compared before but i am having trouble with my HC's. I bought new ones and the ones i bought has bright green foliage on top, but as days go by, i notice that the lower part of the plant, closest to the gravel is turning brownish. I am dosing excel, iron, and trace elements. Should i still give it more time? I tried trimming off the green ones and left the lower part exposed to the light. I really want them to grow..... any help?
I'd guess it is the flourite gravel, I have 16 gal tank with fluorite and an aqueon quiet flow filter as well but I kept the carbon to provide a home for bacteria, its been over a year and in the beginning I had a lot brown on my plants similar to what you described. It is not a problem at all now, try adding some cherry shrimp once your cycling is complete, they are great at cleaning this stuff off. My tank has a lot of shrimp in it now and I don't get this problem anymore, even if I move plants around and disturb the substrate.
,
,
,