aquarium kit

[sunkissedinCA]

the other day i bought this aquarium kit by Jungle:



what i'm wondering is, can i put one of the 'Ammonia Clear' tablets into the tank i'm cycling? it's driving me crazy looking at how cloudy and grody the tank looks right now lol. i don't feel safe putting ladybug back in there with it looking like that. will it affect the cycle if i put the tablet in? grr i hate being so impatient haha.

[dramaqueen]

Cloudiness is normal when you're cycling.

[Twistersmom]

I would not use it.
It says correct ph on the box. What does it do to you ph? Personally, I avoid any chemicals the will cause the ph to fluctuate.
How are you cycling the tank?
Like Dramaqueen said, cloudy water is normal for any newly setup tank.

[aunt kymmie]

A few comments, if I may. I'm not trying to be negative Nancy but the kit you bought is not what I'd ever use. Have you opened it yet? If not, if I were you (and I'm not) I'd return it.
Adding things like ammonia clear and proper ph will only be turning your tank into a chemical soup.
When maintaining a tank stable ph is more important than the actual ph number.
Test strips are highly inaccurate, the API master test kit is what most experienced fishkeepers will recommend.
If the cloudy water bothers you (it would me too) do a 20% or so water change and it should clear the water some. It is normal for a new tank to be cloudy for a few days after setting it up.
As you have been told prior, do not clean the filter and filter media during these initial water changes. As you know, this is where most of the bacteria will grow. Making the filter media last as long as you can (by cleaning it in old tank water you remove at w/c time) will keep your tank healthy.

[Angelmonster]

Never use a kit that tells you that you can just drop a tablet in it to fiz all of the problems! It does not work, if it did everyone would be using it already.

1) No offense meant by this but get over the cloudy, lol. IT happens in every tank, it has to in order to establish a natural cycle. If your tank is below 5 gallons then yeah clean it immediately and this is a sign that a) get a bigger tank or b) you have to clean it a lot more.

2) Unless your betta shows signs of ditress then leave him/her in there. Cycling has to be done and with the Btta in there it will be a lot faster. Simply do 50% water changes every other day in a smaller tank. In a 20+ do 50% twice a week. You will see, with fish in there, cycling takes about 2-4 weeks. After it is cycled it is crystal clear and you should have no more cloudy problems as long as you syphon once a week.

3) When it is no longer cloudy your battle with amonia is done. Welcome to the war with algae

[sunkissedinCA]

phew, i'm glad i asked about it(and didn't use it lol), i see what you mean angelmonster. thanks for the advice everyone, it's mucho appreciated!