Water is cloudy then turns to green cloudy water every week!

[LexiLex888]

So I’ve had my 40 gallon tank set up for about a month or two now. All the rocks and decorations were in my previous 20 gallon tank (besides one new one). I only have one goldfish in the tank at the moment.

I recently removed all the gravel and ornaments to treat anchor worm for 2 weeks. I didn’t have a problem at all during those two weeks, barely any algae grew on the tank at all.

Then, I added all the gravel and ornaments back into the tank and did a 20% water change. At the end of the week the tank was dark cloudy green.

It starts out cloudy and slowly becomes super super green and you can’t even see the back of the tank!

Is there anything I’m doing wrong? What can I do to fix this?

 

[dzamonkey]

This looks exactly like the problem I am having ‍

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

20% is merely enough if you have treated the tank. Do a huge water change 70-90 % and see how you go. One of the more knowledgeable ones will be able to further you more with it also

 

[LexiLex888]

20% is merely enough if you have treated the tank. Do a huge water change 70-90 % and see how you go. One of the more knowledgeable ones will be able to further you more with it also

Yes, I also did a huge 90% water change last Wednesday and it’s just flaring up again.

 

[Colin_T]

It's green water caused by an algal bloom. This is caused by light and no live plants in the tank.

In a planted aquarium, the live plants will use light and nutrients and stop/ reduce the amount of algae that grows in the tank. You have light and nutrients but no live plants and algae is growing instead.

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Reduce the lighting to a couple of hours in the evening
or
Add some live plants. Water Sprite is a good plant to try. It grows rapidly on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. Other good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma & ruba/ rubra, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Sword plant.

If you add live plants, have the light on for 8-12 hours a day and see how it goes.

You can add a liquid iron based aquarium plant fertiliser to help the plants grow.

---------------
When you do the weekly water change, try to change around 75%. This reduces the nutrients much more effectively and is safe as long as the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[LexiLex888]

It's green water caused by an algal bloom. This is caused by light and no live plants in the tank.

In a planted aquarium, the live plants will use light and nutrients and stop/ reduce the amount of algae that grows in the tank. You have light and nutrients but no live plants and algae is growing instead.

------
Reduce the lighting to a couple of hours in the evening
or
Add some live plants. Water Sprite is a good plant to try. It grows rapidly on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. Other good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma & ruba/ rubra, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Sword plant.

If you add live plants, have the light on for 8-12 hours a day and see how it goes.

You can add a liquid iron based aquarium plant fertiliser to help the plants grow.

---------------
When you do the weekly water change, try to change around 75%. This reduces the nutrients much more effectively and is safe as long as the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Awesome thank you soso much!