water colour

Question
Hi
i have a new tank now for about 6 months, recently the water has been going very green and no matter if i change the water and filter the stones, also clean the filter it still goes green almost right away ...... the fish are not affected and seem to happy enough and thriving . i have changed the water approx 5 times since this started to happen and it still goes green

any help would be greatly appreciated

Kieran Bell

Answer
Dear Kieran,
Because algae depends on two major things to thrive, light and nutrients. Let's first insure that there isn't too much light on the aquarium. Many fishkeepers will say avoid any sunlight but I have found sunlight to be fine and keep many aquariums very near windows and algae problems are the very least of my worries with those aquaria. But sometimes it could be your artificial lighting that could be causing the problem. You should have your aquarium lights on for no more than 12 hours a day and if you do not have aquatic plants, less it fine. If you have no aquatic plants, you should have the light off all the time unless your fish have trouble finding food during this treatment of green water.

Now I have cured many green water aquariums within days with one secret weapon--water changes! Yes, nothing special. No chemicals for treating algae problems please. They are relatively ineffective anyway. I was once given a 30 gallon aquarium that had been up and running for maybe a year and had one 6 inch Oscar living in it. The water was pea-soup green and had been for months! The original owner of the aquarium tried algecides and did water changes occasionally, changed filters, ect... Nothing worked.
I got the Aquarium, put it in a sunny room (not intentionally but the only place the tank could go, this was a rescue for the oscar) I kept the lights off and changed 50% or more of the water every single day. Within 4 days the aquarium was clear and has been for years now.

There is one key to green water that I have found only in my exprience, daily 50% or more water changes will help. Insure the replacement water is equal in temperature to that of your aquarium and is always properly dechlorinated with a good water conditoner.

If your aquarium is not clear within a week with consistant daily 50% or more water changes and insuring no overfeeding is taking place. Let me know.

Best wishes and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~ best of luck!