cloudy water

[tbear]

About a week ago I cleaned my fish aquarium. I put in a new filter and cleaned the rocks an put in clean water. I know it takes a awhile for it it clear up but it has been a week and it looks worse than before. My two goldfish are ok. They are still swimming happily and don't seem to mind. But I can not see them too well or the moss plant. It looks so dark What did I do wrong. Is there something else that can be done.

 

[Thyra]

We probably need a little more info - like the size of your aquarium for one thing. Also if you completely cleaned it and put in a new filter, your tank is no longer cycled. Do you understand the cycle? Do you test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? You are using the term "dark" for the water rather than "cloudy" - what else is in the tank? Give us a little more info and someone will surely pop up with some ideas of what you can do.

 

[tbear]

Ok. I will admit I am new to this and do not know what cycling is. I looked it up and this is a part of what it said.
Do not cycle your tank with any goldfish unless you intend to keep goldfish. So what does that mean. My tank is 29 gallons. I have two goldfish, one moss plant, two artificial plants and four decorations such as artificial rocks and etc.

 

[Thyra]

I am not sure but I think it is referring to the fact that some people use cheap goldfish to cycle their tank and consider them disposable. There is both a fish in and a fishless method to cycle the tank. The following article will give you a pretty good idea of what cycling means: Fishless Aquarium Cycle

You already have the fish so you will be doing a fish in cycle. The trick is to keep the ammonia and nitrite level at zero and you will do this by partial water changes. And you really should have a liquid test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You test for the first two daily and to partial water changes anytime you detect either of them. Eventually they will stay at zero and you will start to see some nitrate which means you have the beneficial bacteria doing its job. The goal is ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate about 20ppm. The liquid test kit will seem rather spendy - I have seen it from $19 - $30 but it is cheaper in the long run than strips and more accurate. It can take weeks to get a tank cycled and stable. Do you have a siphon to vacuum your tank because that is another important part of this as it gets rid of the debris and gold fish are considered rather more messy than some fish. Keep asking questions!