green tinted water

Question
i have a 2 gallon fish tank with 2 goldfish. have air filter. have tank for about 2 weeks already changed 1 third of water. water has a pretty good green tint . we feed fish twice a day. could this be the cause of green water or something else. thanks for your time.

Answer
Hey Jim,

Gold fish are quite odd creatures. They're pretty small, at first. However, because of their high waste / high food consumption nature, they need a much larger tank then you'd expect. Plan on investing in a 15-20 gallon tank within a few months. A regular comet will grow into a monstrous 14" fish within 2 years. A fancy moor or something like that will be a softball in 3. a general rule is 15 gallons per single fish, with 5-10 gallons for each extra goldfish.

Back to your question: Green water is generally caused by floating algae. If you over feed, or do not treat your water properly, green water is often the result. To cure it, simply change 25% of the water every few days until it clears up. Stronger filtration will also help. Whisper filters are cheap and effective! I use one on my 20 gallon tank and it's quiet and powerful. Also, lighting. Lighting can cause rapid algae growth too. Too much light, or sunlight will cause algae to grow more readily too. Because your tank is young, a 20% weekly water change, and water tests every 3 days to ensure proper quality are not such a bad idea.

If a 20% change every 4-5 days doesn't help, go ahead and try algaefix or other algae reducer. Perhaps a plecostomus? Best of luck and let me know how things go!