Ok, so I just replaced the filter and for some reason as soon as i replaced it the water got all cloudy and I don't know what is wrong. It's worrying me because I don't want it to be harmful to my fish. It's not super super cloudy but cloudy non the less. can anyone help me?

Hrmmm, how long has your tank been cycled? and what are your water params? and did you rinse your filter before putting it in?

yeah i rinsed the filter before i put it in. I let the filter run for like 2 days before i actually put fish in and cleaned the rocks till they were practically spotless. it's driving me nuts-o any suggestions on how to clean it up??

Now personally--and I hope I don't get jumped on for this--I just rinse my filters in the same tank water(in a bucket) while I am doing water changes--My tank has been clear for 6 months now and I have not bought new filters to use.
More experienced help than I will give you advice on what to do or what not to do.
Good Luck.

thank you so much

I too follow this. I always rinse my filters in the tank water that I've removed. However personally.. when I clean my tank.... One week I do this with the filter, the next week I syphon the gravel. I never disturb both at the same cleaning. But you'll find that a lot of people clean their tanks different ways. My present filter is about 7 months old as well.

JillieBillie... do you have a bare bottom tank? If you do.. you could have cloudy water because you removed the good bacteria that exsisted on the filter, in turn upsetting your cycle.

Does this mean your tank is newly set up? It could be a harmless bacteria bloom looking for a place to settle if it is. And if it's new, you really don't need to clean your filter just yet. If it is an established tank then you may have just disturbed the good bacterias from the rock cleaning and all. It should settle back down, but you should keep a close eye on your water params. Good luck with it!

That's what I was wondering, fishrpets.

It could just be new tank syndrome, or if the water params are nasty (high ammonia/nitrites) the water could be cloudy as well. Or, if you might just have some gunk floating in the water that clouded it up when you took your filter out and cleaned the rocks. It should settle eventually. If the third happens to be the case, you can get some water clarifier if it really bothers you.

yeah it's a pretty new tank, Thank you so much. I feel better now

For the first month while cycling, my tanks went cloudy off and on while going through all the phases of a normal cycling process. If you have any fishies in there now you should watch your parametres closely and make sure you do part water changes during the process to protect your fishies.

It has actually cleared up since i posted this. dramatically. Im really surprized! thank you to all of you who have given me advice and put me at ease. My fish are very happy babies

We are all here to help each other. Keep up the good work