10 gal African Cichlids sandy bottom

Question
Please Help! I have a 10 Gal. African Cichlid tank with 10 small cichlids. I use a Aqua-Tech 5-15 power filter. I have 2 small airstones for water circulation and oxygen. I do water changes weekly approximate 10 to 15 % I keep the water temp. at 78-80 and I rinse out the fliter cartridge once every 5-6 weeks. I feed my fish once a day and skip one day a week. I give them Hikari "Cichlid Gold baby pellets"
also Wardleys cichlid premium flakes and some times I give them a little of "MarineGro saltwater fish food. I only give a pinch and I switch off using a different food each feeding. The fish look healthily some times there color (especially) the blue-ish cichlid color is a little dull. My tank is pretty clear but it seems to always have a sandy look not crystal clear water. What can I do to improve this situation?

Answer
Hi Bob,
Sounds like you are doing a great job with your fish. The only problem I see is that your tank may be too small for the amount of fish you have. It might create a large bioload even though you are doing your best to keep your water in good condition. Also, with African Cichlids, they will need more space to help them with territory issues.  They also like alot of rock hiding places.
The cloudy water could be caused from a bacterial bloom if there is alot of fish waste or it could be that the sand substrate is being moved around by the fish and this can cause the water to appear cloudy. Observe your fish to see if they are digging around in the sand. You could try doing more frequent water changes to see if this might improve the cloudiness. Sometimes that is all that is needed.
The fish you described as blue-ish may need to have more rock like caves to hide in. That could be part of the reason that there is a color change. They will change with certain moods.  As a rule all African Cichlid tanks have alot of rocks and rock type caves to make the fish happy and more secure.  Of course you will need to get a larger tank to really be able to create enough rocky areas for the amount of fish you have. For now, since I am assuming that your fish are small, you can try to create more hiding places with rocks that are placed vertical instead of horizontal. Slate would work well for this. When you get a larger tank then you can have more options for placing the rock. Here is a picture of one way to place rock in a small tank.
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/africans1.html
Keep up your excellent fish keeping and I hope some of these ideas help.
Best of luck,
Karen