Ok, I've done lots of reading regarding cycling and I believe this might be a baterial bloom. My tank has been set up for 14 days now. The water was clear yesterday but the ammonia had gone up to 2ppm. We vacuumed 1/3 of the gravel which emptied about 1/3 of the tank. We added new water and water conditioner. This morning when I woke up my water is so milky looking that I can't even see through the tank. Ammonia was up to about 3-4 ppm. Is this the bateria multiplying due to the ammonia? It looks like I poured milk in the tank and its freaking me out. The fish are fine and all other water readings are good except ammonia. I did add ammo lock this morning as well. Should I have not vacuumed the gravel so soon? Should I change more water or let it run its course? Any other tests I should run?

I don't think you need to be vacuuming the gravel just yet. Just remember that substrate is also a source for bacteria to grow on so leave it alone in a cycling tank.

regarding the milky water, I would probably agree with you that it is bacteria in the water due to the amount of ammonia present. What sort of fish have you got? I would feed sparingly at the moment, this will reduce the amount of waste that goes into the water. Stress zyme is a good product to use when setting up a new tank. Not only will it neutralise Ammonia etc, it will also Introduce bacteria into the water. These b will get to work on your toxins while your tank is cycling.

Thanks, I will hold of on vacuuming. I have added the stres zyme. I have two baby oscars in the tank. So does this mean the tank is cycling? It seems a bit soon for that be happening, although this is a used tank and I am using a wet/dry sump with Bio balls and the Bio balls already had established bacteria so maybe it is cycling? I am just concerned about the ammonia levels? Also did I change the water too soon? How often is recommended with new tanks?

what you have to remember with these products that detoxify ammonia and nitrites is that you will still get an ammonia reading when doing water tests. They don't remove the ammonia, they just convert it into a non-toxic form. The bacteria will get to work on this non-toxic form the same as if it was toxic.

if you have an uncycled with all the correct filtration running and you add ammonia(i.e. adding fish), it will automatically start cycling because you will have specially made media for bacteria to grow on in the filter ocean system. so to answer your question, yes the tank is cycling. I would never advise using Oscars to cycle a tank but this is a bit late for you at the moment. I would suggest that you feed very sparingly. The more you feed the Oscars, the more they will go to the toilet, thus introducing ammonia into the water.

just to add, I would do a 25% more to change every other day, you could go as much as 30%. Just keep an eye on those toxins .the ammonia should start dropping because you will have bacteria building up in your filtration

Excellent thank you so much. I know now I probably started with differet fish...But like you said, a little late for that. Thanks again.