Need help with tank and cloudy water

So I started to cycle my tank on 5/22. I did everything horribly wrong because of cloudy water. It was frustrating me and I kept doing LARGE water changes and i'm sure I just kept hitting the reset button on cycling. My tank is still not cycled, but i'm not so sure I want to cycle it anymore. How terribly wrong would it be to just do LARGE weekly water changes? I would be testing my water weekly and probably ammonia daily or every other. OR whatever testing i need to do to make this work!

Here's my issue, the water I am using is my regular tap water, I am treating it with prime. The water is my cloudy issue (i THINK), i just dont know what about it is bad. I have the axies in tubs right now and i'm doing daily water changes. After a few hours I can notice the tub water is a bit cloudy too, so this leads me to believe its my tap water! I dont know how or why!

So my question to you is~
what water can I just go out and buy and be ok with? Distilled? Spring? Purified?

I'm willing to add things to it (ie remineralizer) if I need to.

I also have access to:
Well water
R/O Water

The tank looks sad and pathetic, you cant see squat in there! I removed 2 live plants I had going, a cave and all the huge river rock just in case it was that.. but it wasnt...I'm new to all this, please help.

I hope that this article helps.
Caudata Culture Articles - Bottled Water for Amphibians
There are also articles related to cycling and other topics of interest on Caudata Culture. Have a look through to see if any offer help with your cloudy water problem.
I think you'd have to get advice from one of the more experienced keepers with regards to well water.
It is also worth finding out if the cloudy water is due to something in the tap water, or if you are having an algae bloom in the tank. That may help you to resolve the problem rather than spending a lot of money on bottled water.

Best of luck and please keep us updated on your progress.

Thanks for responding Donna!

It cant be algae, I tried blocking out all light and it didnt help at all. I mean, I could be wrong.. but I really dont know.

I'll take a look at that article, thank you.

Hopefully someone comes along and tells me if well water is ok

It might be worth contacting your water company to ask them about the cloudy water.

I also think that I remember another thread on the forum that mentioned well water, and I think that the response was that it was ok as long as the dechlorinator was used so that the dechlorinator would deal with heavy metals etc. in the well water. However, I am not totally confident that I am remembering that correctly, so unless you search the forum for that thread, or a more experienced keeper confirms that well water is ok, I really can't be confident in saying that it is fine to use it. Sorry, but I wouldn't want to make your water situation any worse by giving you incorrect information.

If you fill the tank with water, is it cloudy first thing? or does it slowly turn cloudy?

Were you getting readings of 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 NitrAte?

Fill the tank and then take some pictures and upload them to this thread, as well as testing the water and posting all the test results

When I first started the tank it wasnt cloudy, it was good. A day later it started getting cloudy and then 2 days later it was full blown cloud. I changed out the water, same thing happened. I changed out the water again, not as much water so it was cloudy from the start and didnt take a day or two to get worse. So if i do a large water change (50% or more) its clear for a day or 2 max, then it turns super cloudy, If i do just a small 25% change its cloudy from the start and stays that way. Everything reads at 0. Ammonia 0, Nitrate/Nitrite 0. Ph 7.6, Hardness is 150 (hard), Alkalinity is between 120 and 180 (says normal). I stopped changing water for a while and figured it was just the cycling taking place, but I really dont think this is the case it wont clear at all. I'm testing daily and its becoming frustrating...

Ill get some pictures up.

Day 1 - clear and im happy


Day 2 - its starting... sad me


Day 3 - its just horrible and depressing!!!


Since everything is reading at 0, im figuring its just an aesthetic issue...
Look at my poor guy.




I thought maybe its the A/C? So i ordered a chiller and it should arrive soon..I also removed just about everything from that tank except the black pvc hide and 2 fake plants.. everything else is gone.. hoping that was causing this issue, but nope.

I can understand why the water is causing you concern.
I think Chris is far more experienced to be able to help you with this problem, and I'm sure that he will be able to offer you some advice and options.
Best of luck.

Donna001 said:

I can understand why the water is causing you concern.

I think Chris is far more experienced to be able to help you with this problem, and I'm sure that he will be able to offer you some advice and options.

Best of luck.

Click to expand...

Thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am having the same problem in one of my tanks. The other tank is clear so I have eliminated the tap water or dechlorinator as the problem. It's not an algae problem either. I have read that a bacterial bloom will clear up in a few days but this has been going on for a few months. I too am looking for a solution.

I have a friend who had this issue with his tank. He said it took over a month for it to clear up.

It will not be the A/C that is the problem.

The issue is a bacterial bloom, due to the microscopic bacteria that is developing as your tank begins to cycle. The water is relatively clear for the first few days but by the third the bacteria begins to develop in huge numbers causing the tank to be completely cloudy.
The cloudiness continues to get worse as your Axolotl waste and food debris is fed on by the bacteria.

The best way to resolve this issue is patients, I would not continue to perform water changes unless 100% needed due to toxic levels of ammonia or nitrite during the cycle. Constant or large water changes will interrupt the cycle not allowing the bacteria to establish correctly.

As long as your Axolotl is behaving normally, and not coming to the surface gulping for air constantly then you should be fine.

The cloudiness is not aesthetically pleasing, but unfortunately for some it has to be tolerated for the cycled to complete naturally.

Only other way's I have seen to avoid cloudy water from a bacterial bloom when first cycling a tank is to seed the tank with bacteria from an already established tank.

AxolotlChris said:

I have a friend who had this issue with his tank. He said it took over a month for it to clear up.

It will not be the A/C that is the problem.

The issue is a bacterial bloom, due to the microscopic bacteria that is developing as your tank begins to cycle. The water is relatively clear for the first few days but by the third the bacteria begins to develop in huge numbers causing the tank to be completely cloudy.
The cloudiness continues to get worse as your Axolotl waste and food debris is fed on by the bacteria.

The best way to resolve this issue is patients, I would not continue to perform water changes unless 100% needed due to toxic levels of ammonia or nitrite during the cycle. Constant or large water changes will interrupt the cycle not allowing the bacteria to establish correctly.

As long as your Axolotl is behaving normally, and not coming to the surface gulping for air constantly then you should be fine.

The cloudiness is not aesthetically pleasing, but unfortunately for some it has to be tolerated for the cycled to complete naturally.

Only other way's I have seen to avoid cloudy water from a bacterial bloom when first cycling a tank is to seed the tank with bacteria from an already established tank.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your reply. I was kind of hoping you wouldnt say this.. I hoped you'd have a "here do this and fix it" solution for me, lol. I see it is patience.. ok. I will just continue testing daily or every other and watching for spikes in ammonia or anything else that can harm him. I feel better knowing it isnt my tap water though.

Again, thanks so much Chris!

One thing I should have mentioned, is that it is advised not to cycle with any animal in the tank since they could be subjected to toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite which causes stress.

A lot of experienced keepers/breeders do cycle using their Axolotls as the ammonia source and monitor the parameters, but I believe it will take longer to cycle. A 'fish-less' cycle would allow you to dose your ammonia manually, and if using liquid ammonia this allows ammonia to be instantly added rather than waiting for a food source to degrade and create ammonia, as well as being able to control the exact ppm you are adding.