Cloudy with A Chance of Disaster

[dresnoone]

Okay, I’m trying to get back in the habit of my hobby after an 8 year hiatus. I have severely forgotten how to maintain a tank and have been taking advice from PetSmart associates and not doing so well.
First off, I want to experience breeding variations of Mollies. Possibly an orange cremesicle molly with a black molly, etc. However, I can barely get the water to act right. I purchased a heater from Amazon; the darn thing didn’t have a temperature gauge, like I thought. The price probably should’ve said it all. I purchase a sticker thermometer last Saturday that hasn’t worked in 4 days.
Today my water is cloudier after a 25%-30% water change.
What products does anyone recommend for a freshwater tank? I’m interested in products that perform more than one action simultaneously and will work in conjunction with the filters that I have.
Currently I have a Tetra Whisper In-Tank Filter 40I with BioScrubber, 20 to 40-Gallon and a Marineland Penguin Power Filter Up to 20-Gallon, 100 GPH running across from each other in the tank, as well as a Tetra Submersible 50-Watt Heater that keeps the water at a constant 78 degrees. I do not have an air filter or bubble wand. I would love to add one but I love consolidation, if I could have one gadget that doubles as something in addition to the bubble wand/air filter, I’d prefer that over having to plug in five different pieces of electrical equipment in a surge. Any suggestions?! It’s a 10g tank.

 

[dkpate]

Do you have fish in the tank yet? What kind of substrate? That might be a little too much filtration for a 10g, and also, you are going to be limited on what fish you can get for that tank.
Also, you should read up on the nitrogen cycle, if you don't know about it already.

 

[librarygirl]

The cloudiness could be a bacterial bloom. I'm assuming you didn't properly cycle the tank first if you listed to the PetSmart associates. The one thing you'll definitely want to get is a liquid test kit (the API Master is best). Test your water daily and any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25 do a water change to get them down (this may mean large water changes, or even more than one in a day); same with nitrate over 20. You'll be doing this for some weeks until the tank establishes itself (e.g. grows the proper bacteria).

In my signature there's two links: "new tank with fish" and "what is cycling." Both of those, along with a liquid test kit and water changes will help your fish get through the cycle. How many Mollys do you have in that tank? Any other fish? 10 gals isn't very large. What kind of Mollys, if you know? Different kinds grow to different sizes and may not be suitable for a 10 gal. If you can upgrade to at least a 20 gal tank that would be preferable.