Hey all, so glad found this board and learning a lots about RES.
Now I'm having a cloudy(milky) water issue going on with my tank, and asking for some advice to improve it. Thanks all in advance
I'm recently adopted a female RES, almost 14cm, and a very basic tank setup detailed below:
Tank size:
120(w) x 45(h) x 45(d) cm, glass basking(ramp) in-tank, so I fill the water about 30cm in the tank. in total about 150L water in tank.
Canister filter:
Reptile One 1250-R
Top tray:
White fine Sponge/Sponge (black 35ppi)
Mid tray:
Sponge (blue 15ppi)/Ceramic noodles/Active carbon(in a net bag)
Bottom tray:
Sponge (blue 15ppi)/Ceramic noodles/Purigen (100ml)
Canister container bottom:
1 layer filled with bioballs (around 100)
Tunze nanostream 6020 powerhead
1 200w glass heater
A river stone/A driftwood (boiled before put in the tank)
Silica sand as substrate (rinsed well before put in the tank)
No plant or other decos
and of course a heat lamp + uvb
My tank setup for a couple of weeks now (with turtle inside), I do 10 - 25 % water change everyday (decided to do this after I've done a bit research regarding water change during water cycling), while use Prime as instructed.
Feed her turtle food once every afternoon, not overfeeding her.
Initially the water turned into cloudy, I thought the tank was cycling, and I know it takes time to finish the cycling.
I was expecting doing regular water change in small amount would improve the cloudy (or the cycling process), however, I'm now slightly confused that if the water is actually CYCLING?? or something else is making the water cloudy, rater than bacterial bloom during cycling. Since the cloudiness seems similar to me everyday...
I do smell the water (if I put my nose close enough inside the tank), I'm not sure if it smells like ammonia, but definitely doesn't smell like rotten egg, just like normal smell from water creatures.
Here's the photo while looking from the side of my tank.
So if anyone can kindly advise me what is actually happening to the tank? If it's still cycling? and what should I do for next step?
Thanks heaps!!!