New Tank with water problems

[joseph.otto]

Hi, I am new to the whole fish thing. I bought a 10 gallon tank with a 50 watt heater, and a quiet flow 10 filter (rated up to 10 gallons I believe). I have 4 neon green glofish tetra that are supposed to get about 3 inches. It has been around 3 days in this tank and the water is cloudy, and was wondering how to make this go away, and when it comes to water changes how often and about how much should I do?

[heyitsmeallen]

Hi, I am new to the whole fish thing. I bought a 10 gallon tank with a 50 watt heater, and a quiet flow 10 filter (rated up to 10 gallons I believe). I have 4 neon green glofish tetra that are supposed to get about 3 inches. It has been around 3 days in this tank and the water is cloudy, and was wondering how to make this go away, and when it comes to water changes how often and about how much should I do?

im not sure about the cloudiness but you shouldn't add many fish.

[KevinVA]

Hey Joseph,

Welcome to the complicated but rewarding hobby of fish keeping. ;] It gets more fun, I promise, but first you should do some reading. Specifically, you should read the fish-in and fishless cycling threads by Lady Hobbs. They'll help you on your way to creating a healthy ecosystem for your fish friends.

Here are the links:

Fishless Cycling: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=5640

Fish-in Cycling: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=36492

Also, please feel free to read these at your leisure: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...hread.php?t=45

There's a heap of good information contained in this forum and those threads, especially. We'll all be more than willing to lend a helping hand, so please don't hesitate to ask your questions.

Also, you'll find that most experienced fish keepers will double their filtration. So, for a 10 gallon tank, you'd want to up your filtration to a filter rated for 20 gallons and so on. For your 10 gallon, I would recommend an Aquaclear 20 HOB (Hang on the Back) filter. They're pretty cheap online: http://www.amazon.com/AquaClear-20-P...s=aquaclear+20

In my opinion (and many others'), Aquaclear for smaller tanks, offers up great filtration capabilities, they come with variant flow settings, and optimal filter media (sponge - mechanical & biomax - biological). You won't need the carbon filter, which is typically used for removing medicines or other chemical additives - and that's for only about a week at max.

You'll also need a liquid test kit for testing your water parameters while cycling - and every so often. Most will recommend the API Fresthwater Master Test Kit, which can be obtained online, as well: http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater...aster+test+kit

I think that should get you started.

The cloudy water could be a number of things - algae bloom, bacteria bloom, dirty water...

For now, do a large water change - about 50%. I'm sure you have ammonia building up, which is very harmful and fatal to fish.