Hello All I am new to the board.. I have a questi

[cg0617]

Hello! I am new to the board and I have a few questions. I am 23 and I haven't had a fish tank since I was 5. I wanted to get some fish, so my husband and I recently bought a 10 gallon aquarium. We set up the tank, I added my fish.. And everything was great for the first 10 hours or so. And then my water started looking cloudy.. I did all the things I was supposed to. I have a filter.. I rinsed the gravel real well. I treated the water for chlorine with Start right. And the water is really new so it can't be dirty.. What happened???

Any help would be appreciated.

cg0617

[Jay]

A tip for u... Never ever use tap water... And rain water is the best...

[blueheron]

I, too, had cloudy water at the beginning of my tank fills for some reason. What kind of filter are you using and how long did you let your tank cycle before adding the fish?

I learned that a "disposable" filter is not effective at all. It is the minimum acceptable for one fish in a 10 g. tank, and then, I needed to do water changes. A filter like a Mini-Penquin with a bio-culture wheel or filter bag, would probably clear out this water. You need to also have test kits to check the pH, nitrites, and nitrates.

My best bet has been to let a good filter run for several hours, after knowing the parameters are correct re: pH, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, and the water clears. I use well water with a balanced pH already and a new fill will cloud the water for several hours, for some reason. A Penquin-mini is only $16.99 and a Bio-whisper filter is awesome (same price or a few bucks more). I run 2 ^0 gal. B.W.'s in a 55 gal. tank with 12 fish (4 LARGE) and it works great. Still have to do a 20% water change 1-2 times a week, but I think that's to make myself feel good. Let me know if this is helpful. Good luck. Hope so. PS. Don't overfeed! It's fun to watch, but a curse on the waste load.