As some of you know I set up my new tank yesterday... All I did was wash the gravel and the tank put the gravel in and the few decorations and then I put in Aqua Plus Tap Water Conditioner and Nutrafin Cycle and a few flakes of Nutrafin Fishfood for tropical fish. Today the water seems to be getting cloudy... what should I do? Also from now on is all I have to do for the fishless cycle is add a few flakes of fish food every day until test results show all is clear for my fishies?

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A sudden discoloration of the water in new aquariums indicates a bacterial bloom, this is perfectly natural in a new aquarium and it should clear as the tank matures.

Personally I'd throw the Nutrafin cycle the in the trash, as most of these so-called cycling products contain the wrong type of bacteria or produce inconsistent results.

Thanks Plecky! From now on shall I just add a pinch of fish food every day until the cycle is complete?

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Around 2-3 times each week should be enough.

Im so impressed lol just like a little kid... just as I Was about to lose hope in my tank as by yesterday morning it had gotten so so so sooooooo cloudy it was scary to look at and I was going to post on here asking if this was normal and should I get the chemical to clear the cloudiness when literally every hour it got clearer and clearer it was like a science experiment lol and this morning its almost 100% clear again!

Couple of qs... will it go cloudy again during this fishless cycle period?

and when should I start testing for the nitrate, nitrate, amonia and ph levels? I havnt tested it yet and I set the tank up on Saturday.

Thanks

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The tank may or may not go cloudy again during the cycling process, it's simply a waiting game and if it does go cloudy it will clear up as the tank matures.

As for the water tests, I'd start testing for pH, nitrite and nitrate (don't forget ammonia) ASAP so you can monitor the cycle.

Thanks Plecky! Im going to hopefully order a testing kit online tonight. I did get one from P@H for £28 but then realised the same ones are much cheaper online so returned it.

Any suggestions of which one to get and from where?

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The Hagen Mini master test kits are pretty good and are perfectly accurate for freshwater use. Aquatics online have them for £22, take a look here ---> Aquatics Online UK - Aquarium Supplies, Pond, Pumps, Filters, and liners -Hagen Aquarium Test Kits

Just one thing that I would advise is to replace the nitrate test-reagent every few months as it will go out-of-date.