fresh water aquarium

Question
I recently took a sample of water to Petsmart.  The problem is I can change my water by 50 percent every 2 weeks and a re-occuring green tint appears, growing darker every day until I change it again.  The test results were normal, and actually pretty good according to the employee.  What on earth are they missing?  Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hi Kenney

Petsmart will only check your water parameters ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and pH. What you have is an algae bloom. Try cutting back the aquarium lights to 10-12 hours a day. You should also be changing 25% of your water every week, not 50% every 2 weeks.

A friend of mine had green water and bought a UV Sterilizer which cleared it up. Below is a link

http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/uv-sterilizer.aspx?gclid=CMalyZf3maQCFZRR2godzhyg...

Another expert on this site had also recommended Algone. I haven't used Algone, so I can't make a recommendation about it one way or another. Below is the link to their site.

http://www.algone.com/

I do not recommend the use of algae tablets or chemicals to control algae. These may solve one problem, but cause other much worse problems.

I hope this helps, good luck!