cycling

[cskillet]

I put the water in my 16 gallon tank along with the sand about 5 days ago so it could start cycling. Will the water cycle without any living thing in it? Cause right now I don't think there is anything in there. Unless there are bacteria in the salt we put in. I've been trying to test it every day with my hard to read color strip test kit and it looks like a few things might have changed but I don't really trust this kit... the PH was 8.4 when I first put the water in and now it's 8.0 and it also looks like the alkalinity has dropped from 240ppm to 180ppm. Also about 2 days into it the tank has gotten quite cloudy. I didn't rince everything off before I put it in the tank so that might be a contributer to the cloudiness. Could it be bacteria growing? I also want to redo the sand and get some aragonite with fiji rock. Do I need to dump everything out and start from scratch or is there some way I can keep the water in the tank? I'm interested to see what you think. Thanks a lot.

(I know I should have done a little more research before I went out and put the water in the tank... but at least now I know)

Chris

[Aquaman]

Yes you need something to start your cycle. Buy some live rock. Some people use Damsels but it isn't prefered anymore because they usually die.

[Blitzkrieg]

I would say the cloudiness is most likely because the sand wasn't rinced yes. You can change the sand at anytime really, however the sooner the better (It gets a bit tricky to change the sand in an established tank).
You need something live in your tank to start the cycling procces, live rock is the best for this. I'm possitive you would find is easier to take everything out of the tank to change the sand, however it is doable.

[Condiman]

I have herd that you do not nessicaraly have to rince the sand before you put it in to your aquarium. But I know with mine I rinced before I put it in. You shouldnt have to take the sand back out. In time it will settle. If you have a HOB filter that will also help take out the sedement faster.

[MikeS]

was the water clear then cloudy?

what is your ammonia level? high ammonia can sometimes make the water cloudy.

Mike

[SaltyDawg]

Use a piece of frozen fish food to start the cycle, or any fish food for that matter. I would suspect the water will clear up in a few days once the cycle starts.
Wayne