i bought a new 10 gallon tank for my 3 small goldfish, i am going to get a bigger one once they get bigger. but anyways, the tank came with a filter made by topfin, and the only thing it said about it was that its for 10 gallon tanks. i washed the gravel alot and i washed all the stuff before i put it in the tank. i used tap water so i used the tap water conditioner.

the problem is, my tank still gets cloudy, its been 1 day and its cloudy. i washed the filter cartridge. its still cloudy. its not from the food because they eat the food it doesnt sit there.

could it be ammonia? because i bought test strips and they dont test for ammonia, only for general hardness, carbonate hardness, nitrites, nitrates, and ph, and all of those are normal so far, and have been normal for 2 days.

yeah, ammonia test strips would be good.

did you cycle your tank?

I am glad that you are here and trying, but there are a few things you are going to need to address to make sure your fish are as healthy as you can keep them.

In general, a kit that includes a filter has a filter that is only capable of filtering the needs of smaller tropicals - not goldfish. Goldfish are remarkably messy fish - and need at least 10 times turnover in their tanks. This means that your filter should pass all the water in the tank through it's media as least once an hour. For a 10 gallon tank that would be at least 100 gallons per hour. Since a 10 gallon tank is barely enough room for one fish, having three tiny fish in there is going to require substantial filtration and careful testing and water changing. I have 4 fry in a 10 gallon tank. They are about 1 inch in length, average, and require 170gph with 5-6 gallons of water changed every other day. That is with a fully cycled filter and extra media!

In an uncycled tank/filter, the ammonia level will rise in a scary fashion within hours. It can take weeks to properly cycle the tank - and during that time, daily water changes and treatments are needed to keep the water on the side of surviveable. This time is also a VERY important time for your little fish. If exposed to higher ammonia and, in time, nitrites and even nitrates when they are very small, they can become "stunted" and even display life long problems. It is best to address the water parameters when your fish are small.

I suggest that you immediately change out at least 5 gallons of your tank's water. Then, invest in an ammonia test kit - or take a water sample to the fish store and have them test it. Get a numerical reading - not just a "good" or "not good"...... and we can go from there.

yeah, but right now its day 2 and no nitrites or nitrates, and i have 7.0 for ph.
so is it the ammonia or lack of a better filter why its cloudy? because i didnt think you could see ammonia in water.
also my general hardness is 180, and my carbonate hardness is 240, the highest it can read.
i only plan on keepin the tank until they get bigger right now the common is 2 inches long and the other ones are around 1 1/2 inches long.

can anyone recommend a filter for 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank? if not can you reccomend how many gallons per hour it should have?

Ammonia laden water allows all kinds of other things to grow in a tank's water. Hence, the cloudiness.

The tank's cycle requires two types of beneficial bacteria to set up shop in your filter's media. The fish and any leftover food and plant material produces ammonia. That will be testable within an hour after placing the fish in the tank. The first type of beneficial bacteria will process that ammonia and change it to nitrIte. This will become testable after about 1-2 weeks, on average. The second type of beneficial bacteria will take the nitrIte and change in into nitrAte. This will take about 2-6 weeks. You will not be able to test any nitrite or nitrate at this stage of the game, yet - for there are no beneficial bacteria to process the ammonia into these forms of nitrogen.

You need to test for the ammonia - and change out the water until it is no higher than 0.25ppm. This will protect your fish. This amount is plenty to get the cycle started - so have no fears there.

A 10 gallon tank with the fish load you describe should have at least 100gallons per hour turnover. I, personally, would put a 170gallon per hour filter on that tank, and still change the water at least every other day - usually every day. Prime or Amquel will go a long way to protecting your fish from toxic ammonia and eventually nitrite, between water changes.

you think that if i put a bubble maker thing in it that it would be less cloudy? because i have an old one that works good.
but thanks for the help, ill get an ammonia test kit asap and a new filter soon

Adding extra oxygen to a tank is always a good idea. If it is summer where you are, it is a particularly good idea.

But a bubbler will not help in processing the ammonia. The only way to process ammonia is either to have a cycled tank - something that will take you many weeks to accomplish, or for you to change out the water. I suggest changing about 5 gallons a day for the time being - or more if your tests show that you have ammonia over 0.50 when you test it. At 0.50ppm, when you change out 5 gallons you will lower the ammonia to 0.25ppm - a tolerable level for fish. Adding in Prime or Amquel will help preserve that quality until the next change on the next day.

ok thanks alot guys i got a 145 gallons per hour filter, and let me tell you, its much much better. in just a half an hour we could tell that the water was more clear. i also got an amonia test kit, and it showed up as a .25, not too bad but if it starts to get any higher i will change the water until it gets lower.