Algae problem cant get rid of the green water no matter what we do! Feel like giving up!

[newtothis2023]

Hi we are relatively new to keeping fish my son was bought a 70 ltr tank, gravel, filter pump, light the whole shabang along with 2 x Guramis to start up with in October 2022. We used a water conditioner and bio boost at first and changed water weekly 7ltr per week. It got really bad to the point we could barely see the ornaments inside. So my husband now does twice a week 14ltr change each time with no bio boost. We got more fish 4 neons, 2 x snails and 1 catfish(to help with the algae). It was starting to look better but slowly but surely the water is getting greener and harder to see again! We tried turning the light off for a few days but this has not made much difference. Thinking of doing 50% water change tonight. Oh and forgot to mention we clean filter sponges once a week too. We do have a gravel cleaning pump which we use to but not sure how effective this one actually is.

So really want to know is what are we doing wrong and how can we get crystal clear water like everyone else seems too! We want to be able to enjoy the fish!

Any help will be much appreciated

 

[davros]

Cleaning the filter should mean rinsing the media(sponge) in the old tank water and putting it back it. Anything else kills the beneficial bacteria. Do you get sunlight on the tank?

 

[Sgooosh]

Hi we are relatively new to keeping fish my son was bought a 70 ltr tank, gravel, filter pump, light the whole shabang along with 2 x Guramis to start up with in October 2022. We used a water conditioner and bio boost at first and changed water weekly 7ltr per week. It got really bad to the point we could barely see the ornaments inside. So my husband now does twice a week 14ltr change each time with no bio boost. We got more fish 4 neons, 2 x snails and 1 catfish(to help with the algae). It was starting to look better but slowly but surely the water is getting greener and harder to see again! We tried turning the light off for a few days but this has not made much difference. Thinking of doing 50% water change tonight. Oh and forgot to mention we clean filter sponges once a week too. We do have a gravel cleaning pump which we use to but not sure how effective this one actually is.

So really want to know is what are we doing wrong and how can we get crystal clear water like everyone else seems too! We want to be able to enjoy the fish!

Any help will be much appreciated

welcome!
Your gouramis are really pretty!

the catfish will not help since the algae is in the water and not on the glass, where the catfish can eat it.
but either way the catfish won't help a lot since it will just add more bioload

I would encourage you to keep doing larger water changes with conditioner, and if you have access to live plants, i reccomend you to get some floaters, in my tank they have out-competed many types of algae

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Green water is algae. You get it because you are supplying what it needs to multiply like crazy. The two most important things would be nutrients and light.

The odds are you are over feeding as the source of the nutrients and then excess light. I see a live Wendlov Java fern aka frilly tipped. Plants and algae compete for the same things. Adding some fast growing stems plants will help. Are you adding any ferts for the fern and if that other thing I see is also a plant?

You can change a lot of water in a tank as long as the water you put back is close to that in the tank in terms of pH and GH as well as temp. Many here change 50% or more of their water weekly.

A decent bacterial seeding product only needs to be added once. More is basically a clue that it doesn't contain rge right bacteria. So I am a bit worried about the stae of the cyle in your tank. However, given how long you have had it the right bacteria should have estanlished anyhow. Less so if whatever is in bio boost is eating some of their lunch. Stop adding it!!!!!!

- Next, do a very big water change at least 50% and more is fine. But be sure you have the new water ready. Dechlor it before you add it.
- Then do a blackout on the tank. This does not mean just turning off the light, it means covering the tank so no ambient light gets in. You can use a big towel. Keep it on for a few (2-3) days depending on how green the water looks after the water change. If it is very light, 2 should do.
- Do not feed the fish during the blackout, they will be fine.
- At the end of the blackout remove the towel at the end of the day when the room is dark and return the light to turn on the next morning. The idea is for it to get light gradually in the tank because fish do not have eyelids.
- After the lights are back on do three things: 1. Vacuum the tank. 2. Rinse the filter media in a bucket of dechlored changing water (prepare enough water in advance for that). Throw out the water used to rinse the media. 3. Refill the tank and feed the fish.

The next part of this is to make sure the algae does not return. Do not over feed, do not provide excess light. Put it on a timer. 8-10 hours will be fine to start you can alway increase from 8 or decrease from 10 depending how things go in the tank. Live plants are one of the best tanks filters one can have.

 

[ChasingFish]

Things that will help with clearing the algae:

• test your nitrates (once your tank has cycled - which it should be since it's 3 months old now). once ammonia and nitrites drop --> nitrates will climb. high nitrates will lead to algae bloom unless you have ample live plants in the tank to use up the nitrates). If you don't have a master test kit, try to get one, but most LFSs will test your water for free if you bring in a sample of like a half a water bottle full of tank water.
• get more live plants in the tank (as stated above, they compete with algae for the nitrates)
• cut back the hours your lights are on, try like 6-8 hrs and see how your plants do with that amount
• try not to overfeed your fish - i know it's hard! this is the most fun part of the hobby to me!
• large water changes (like you're already doing)
• don't use incandescent lights (hardly anyone does anymore, but worth mentioning just in case)
• if tank is in a sunny window, that will cause green water
• adding more 2nd/3rd tier scavengers/digesters like snails, shrimp/crabs to help eat up uneaten food in the tank (the clearest tank i own is full of snails! i think they filter the water like oysters do, in addition to eating extra waste from the substrate...too bad they are pest snails). speaking of filtering the water, some shrimp like vampire shrimp, are filter feeders which may help a tiny bit
• deepen the substrate a bit (like an inch or two), this helps clear water and reduce water smell too
• reduce flow out of filter if possible and see if that helps (fast moving water creates more surface agitation, which produces high oxygen + plus high light = lots of algae)

 

[seangee]

The other obvious thing you can control is the light. How long are your lights on per day? These should be on a timer so its the same every day. The lighted period does not have to correspond with daytime, although in a bright room it would make sense to shield the tank from direct sunlight if you plan to use the lights at night. I would start by having your lights on for 6 hours per day. If the algae clears you can gradually increase the duration as long as you seen no more algae.

If you are able to reduce the light intensity do so. One of my tanks that came with lights included (and looks similar to yours) I run the lights at only 35% of their max brightness. Gouramis live in heavily vegetated rivers, so do not get a lot of bright light in the wild, and would appreciate a lot more plants, as others have said this will also help with the algae.

 

[Naughts]

1 catfish(to help with the algae).

What species is it? Very few catfish are 'algae eaters' so you may have been misled by the shop.

 

[newtothis2023]

Cleaning the filter should mean rinsing the media(sponge) in the old tank water and putting it back it. Anything else kills the beneficial bacteria. Do you get sunlight on the tank?

yes we do that with the filter the fishtank is in our lounge and we have a relective film on our window as we are next to a public footpath so i would say it doesnt get any direct sun light

 

[newtothis2023]

welcome!
Your gouramis are really pretty!

the catfish will not help since the algae is in the water and not on the glass, where the catfish can eat it.
but either way the catfish won't help a lot since it will just add more bioload

I would encourage you to keep doing larger water changes with conditioner, and if you have access to live plants, i reccomend you to get some floaters, in my tank they have out-competed many types of algae

thank you. we will try getting some floaters fingers crossed becuase we cant get rid of the algea

 

[newtothis2023]

Green water is algae. You get it because you are supplying what it needs to multiply like crazy. The two most important things would be nutrients and light.

The odds are you are over feeding as the source of the nutrients and then excess light. I see a live Wendlov Java fern aka frilly tipped. Plants and algae compete for the same things. Adding some fast growing stems plants will help. Are you adding any ferts for the fern and if that other thing I see is also a plant?

You can change a lot of water in a tank as long as the water you put back is close to that in the tank in terms of pH and GH as well as temp. Many here change 50% or more of their water weekly.

A decent bacterial seeding product only needs to be added once. More is basically a clue that it doesn't contain rge right bacteria. So I am a bit worried about the stae of the cyle in your tank. However, given how long you have had it the right bacteria should have estanlished anyhow. Less so if whatever is in bio boost is eating some of their lunch. Stop adding it!!!!!!

- Next, do a very big water change at least 50% and more is fine. But be sure you have the new water ready. Dechlor it before you add it.
- Then do a blackout on the tank. This does not mean just turning off the light, it means covering the tank so no ambient light gets in. You can use a big towel. Keep it on for a few (2-3) days depending on how green the water looks after the water change. If it is very light, 2 should do.
- Do not feed the fish during the blackout, they will be fine.
- At the end of the blackout remove the towel at the end of the day when the room is dark and return the light to turn on the next morning. The idea is for it to get light gradually in the tank because fish do not have eyelids.
- After the lights are back on do three things: 1. Vacuum the tank. 2. Rinse the filter media in a bucket of dechlored changing water (prepare enough water in advance for that). Throw out the water used to rinse the media. 3. Refill the tank and feed the fish.

The next part of this is to make sure the algae does not return. Do not over feed, do not provide excess light. Put it on a timer. 8-10 hours will be fine to start you can alway increase from 8 or decrease from 10 depending how things go in the tank. Live plants are one of the best tanks filters one can have.

thanks for that. I didnt understand the part:

A decent bacterial seeding product only needs to be added once. More is basically a clue that it doesn't contain rge right bacteria. So I am a bit worried about the stae of the cyle in your tank. However, given how long you have had it the right bacteria should have estanlished anyhow. Less so if whatever is in bio boost is eating some of their lunch. Stop adding it!!!!!!

??

We are currently trying the blackout method we have just done a 50% water change and covered the tank with a towel. The tank is kept in the living room and it isnt in the window so doesnt get any direct sunlight. Plus our window has a reflective film on it as we live next to a public footpath.

We have just one plant the frilly tipped as you said and we dont give it anything. Should we?

We are going to purchase more plants and reduce the hours on the light in the tank.

So frustrating it keeps coming back. We have reduced the amount of food we feed the fish aswell

 

[newtothis2023]

Things that will help with clearing the algae:

• test your nitrates (once your tank has cycled - which it should be since it's 3 months old now). once ammonia and nitrites drop --> nitrates will climb. high nitrates will lead to algae bloom unless you have ample live plants in the tank to use up the nitrates). If you don't have a master test kit, try to get one, but most LFSs will test your water for free if you bring in a sample of like a half a water bottle full of tank water.
• get more live plants in the tank (as stated above, they compete with algae for the nitrates)
• cut back the hours your lights are on, try like 6-8 hrs and see how your plants do with that amount
• try not to overfeed your fish - i know it's hard! this is the most fun part of the hobby to me!
• large water changes (like you're already doing)
• don't use incandescent lights (hardly anyone does anymore, but worth mentioning just in case)
• if tank is in a sunny window, that will cause green water
• adding more 2nd/3rd tier scavengers/digesters like snails, shrimp/crabs to help eat up uneaten food in the tank (the clearest tank i own is full of snails! i think they filter the water like oysters do, in addition to eating extra waste from the substrate...too bad they are pest snails). speaking of filtering the water, some shrimp like vampire shrimp, are filter feeders which may help a tiny bit
• deepen the substrate a bit (like an inch or two), this helps clear water and reduce water smell too
• reduce flow out of filter if possible and see if that helps (fast moving water creates more surface agitation, which produces high oxygen + plus high light = lots of algae)

Thanks for your reply. What does LFSs stand for? We have never tested the water before and not sure what i would do with the information from the test.

We are going to get more plants and scavengers to help it is just so frustrating how the water keeps turning green all the time!

we are trying a black out in the tank at the moment but not sure what that will actually do in all honesty......

 

[newtothis2023]

The other obvious thing you can control is the light. How long are your lights on per day? These should be on a timer so its the same every day. The lighted period does not have to correspond with daytime, although in a bright room it would make sense to shield the tank from direct sunlight if you plan to use the lights at night. I would start by having your lights on for 6 hours per day. If the algae clears you can gradually increase the duration as long as you seen no more algae.

If you are able to reduce the light intensity do so. One of my tanks that came with lights included (and looks similar to yours) I run the lights at only 35% of their max brightness. Gouramis live in heavily vegetated rivers, so do not get a lot of bright light in the wild, and would appreciate a lot more plants, as others have said this will also help with the algae.

Thank you for your message. We currently have the lights on for 12 hours so after this blackout on the tank we are going to try 6 hours although we have tried this before and didnt see a difference. But we are goign to buy more plants and see if that helps as i think we are doing most things the right way. We need to check light intensity so will give that a go thanks for your ideas muc h appreciated.............

 

[Byron]

I would not mess with a blackout because you need to correct/remove the causes, otherwise it will just come back. @TwoTankAmin covered it above, but there seems to be some confusion if I read the subsequent posts correctly. Green water is caused by nutrients in the presence of light, and either nutrients or light or both are not balanced [live plants requires a balance to avoid problem algae], hence the green water or any other problem algae. Reducing the light (12 hours is a lot when you do not have more than one plant) and taking steps to ensure nutrients are lessened is all you need to do. I won't repeat the specifics because others have posted them. Good luck, and keep us posted.

To some specific questions. First, do not add scavengers, this means more organics. In addition to reducing the fish food, you need to ensure the organic waste is removed from the system...vacuum the substrate very well at every water change, keep the filter clean of the brown gunk which is organic matter, regular substantial water changes.

You also asked about tests...there are two tests that should be carried out periodically or routinely, namely nitrate and pH. Changes in either of these can often alert you to problems, present or likely. Ammonia and nitrite are two other tests but once the tank is cycled, these should not be necessary except if something seems to be wrong. Fish dying for example, one should always do all the tests and a major water change, then look for the issues; the test results can tell you a lot in such situations.

 

[ChasingFish]

Thanks for your reply. What does LFSs stand for? We have never tested the water before and not sure what i would do with the information from the test.

We are going to get more plants and scavengers to help it is just so frustrating how the water keeps turning green all the time!

we are trying a black out in the tank at the moment but not sure what that will actually do in all honesty......

Hey newtothis,

LFS stands for local fish store. Most of them, if you bring in some of your tank water, will test it for you to see if your levels are good. If you are able to, you should consider purchasing a "master test kit" (search Amazon or they have them at Petco, Petsmart, LFS, etc.), they aren't super cheap but are indispensable for monitoring tank conditions. If you do get the test kit, it's pretty simple, they give you test tubes, you fill to the line with tank water, add the number of drops of each chemical it tells you to - and then the test tube water changes colors and you compare it to a color scale to determine if the levels are good or in the danger zone. You're kind of flying blind without this, especially in the beginning when the tank is cycling for the first time. Typically, after that initial cycling period, as long as you stay on top of water changes and filter cleaning when needed, the bacteria present in the water and on all the surfaces in your tank, should keep it fairly stable.

It's good that you are getting more plants and scavengers, that will help, and the black out should help too just to kill some of that algae that is making the water green. After that, keep your lights on a timer if possible, and try keeping them on a shorter window. Not only does too much light lead to green water, but too much light stresses the fish and even the plants need the day/night cycle. So, it's good to find the right balance. I have heard of people doing as few as 6 hrs a day, to 12 hrs a day (but with lights at like 50-60% instead of max illumination). Another thing that has probably been mentioned, is, most of us overfeed our fish - at least in the beginning. This can lead to algae blooms as well. Well, good luck!

 

[10 Tanks]

Hi we are relatively new to keeping fish my son was bought a 70 ltr tank, gravel, filter pump, light the whole shabang along with 2 x Guramis to start up with in October 2022. We used a water conditioner and bio boost at first and changed water weekly 7ltr per week. It got really bad to the point we could barely see the ornaments inside. So my husband now does twice a week 14ltr change each time with no bio boost. We got more fish 4 neons, 2 x snails and 1 catfish(to help with the algae). It was starting to look better but slowly but surely the water is getting greener and harder to see again! We tried turning the light off for a few days but this has not made much difference. Thinking of doing 50% water change tonight. Oh and forgot to mention we clean filter sponges once a week too. We do have a gravel cleaning pump which we use to but not sure how effective this one actually is.

So really want to know is what are we doing wrong and how can we get crystal clear water like everyone else seems too! We want to be able to enjoy the fish!

Any help will be much appreciated

Hello new. Your tank is a small one, so it will require large and frequent water changes. It's been my experience that tanks smaller than 45 gallons need half the water changed a couple of times a week if the water chemistry is going to remain stable. The main cause for algae growth is overfeeding the fish. Gradually decrease the amount you feed and add some floating plants to your fish tank. Anacharis and Dwarf Water Lettuce are good and will compete with the algae for food. The floating plants can use the extra food faster than algae. So in time, with the water changes and the added plants, you should see less algae.

10 Tanks