Why is my water turning green?

[Whovian10]

I got a fishtank (20 gallon) and the water went so green, you can hardly see in it. So i did a complete water change, changed the filter, wiped everything off inside the tank, cleaned everything, put fresh water back in, and within a few days, it started turning green again. and you cant see hardly anything in it. I cant figure out what to do. If it helps, I have 4 platys. It also has the bubble curtain thingy.
I just cant figure out what im doing so wrong.

 

[connorlindeman]

Are you adding any ferts? How long are your lights on? What light do you have? Is your tank near a window? Does it get direct sunlight?

If you can balance the nutrients and the light, the algae problems will go away.

 

[Whovian10]

Are you adding any ferts? How long are your lights on? What light do you have? Is your tank near a window? Does it get direct sunlight?

If you can balance the nutrients and the light, the algae problems will go away.

What are ferts? I only leave the light on during the day. Its a white LED light that came with the tank. However, on the bubble maker wand, there are lights of different color(can change from red, green, blue, ect..) There is not an off switch for those, so at night, i put it on a darker color.

My tank is close to a window, but out of direct sunlight. Its not in front of the window, but to the side.

 

[Essjay]

What are ferts?

Plant fertiliser.

Do you have any live plants in the tank (other than the algae making the water green, obviously)? How long are the lights on for?

If there are no live plants, the cause is probably having the tank lights on too long.
If there are live plants, again having the lights on too long and/or using too much/not enough fertiliser.

 

[Whovian10]

Plant fertiliser.

Do you have any live plants in the tank (other than the algae making the water green, obviously)? How long are the lights on for?

If there are no live plants, the cause is probably having the tank lights on too long.
If there are live plants, again having the lights on too long and/or using too much/not enough fertilizer.

Ohhhh duh feriliser lol... I do not have live plants. Would the lights on the bubble wand cause it to? if so, i will unplug it.

How would i get rid of the green water?

 

[Essjay]

The first thing to do is total blackout for at least 3 days. No tank lights and a thick blanket or similar round the tank and don't even open it to feed the fish.

Then work out why those singled celled algae grew and change things to stop it coming back. With no live plants the tank lights don't need to be on for more than 5 or 6 hours. Longer than that will encourage algae.

changed the filter

What exactly did you change? If it was all the media you may be going through a mini-cycle and you need to test every day to make sure there's no ammonia or nitrite in the water. In this scenario you can't do the blackout until those readings stay at zero.

 

[Whovian10]

What exactly did you change? If it was all the media you may be going through a mini-cycle and you need to test every day to make sure there's no ammonia or nitrite in the water. In this scenario you can't do the blackout until those readings stay at zero.

i bought a new filter when i changed the water the first time.

 

[Essjay]

The filter is where the good bacteria live in a new tank. So when you changed the filter you got rid of almost all the good bacteria. You now need to keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite daily and every time they read more than zero do a water change. You can't do a blackout while doing this but you can leave the tank lights turned off. It won't harm the fish.


Can you tell us please so we know the tank background -
How long has the tank been set up?
How did you cycle the tank, if you did cycle it?
How long have the platies been in the tank?
How much do you feed the fish?
How long are the tank lights on for each day?


With no live plants, the usual cause of an algae bloom is having the lights on too long. But ammonia in the water from adding fish to an uncycled tank can also contribute, which is why I asked about how you cycled the tank..

 

[Whovian10]

The filter is where the good bacteria live in a new tank. So when you changed the filter you got rid of almost all the good bacteria. You now need to keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite daily and every time they read more than zero do a water change. You can't do a blackout while doing this but you can leave the tank lights turned off. It won't harm the fish.


Can you tell us please so we know the tank background -
How long has the tank been set up?
How did you cycle the tank, if you did cycle it?
How long have the platies been in the tank?
How much do you feed the fish?
How long are the tank lights on for each day?


With no live plants, the usual cause of an algae bloom is having the lights on too long. But ammonia in the water from adding fish to an uncycled tank can also contribute, which is why I asked about how you cycled the tank..

Got the tank 2 months ago, set it up and put the tap water conditioner in
2 weeks later after testing the water, and taking the water sasmple to petsmart, confirmed the water is good, got the platies.
once a day
6-7 hours

 

[Essjay]

In that case you did not cycle the tank before getting fish, you did a fish-in cycle. The water was good when petsmart tested it because there were no fish in there to make it not good.

But it's been what, 6 weeks? since you got the platies so the tank should have cycled by now - until you changed the filter so now it is re-cycling again. It is possible that the ammonia in the water during cycling encouraged the bloom algae to grow, and now that there will be more ammonia in there, it will help keep the bloom algae there.
How much do you feed the fish? Decomposing uneaten food could be encouraging bloom algae as well. Fish need a lot less food than you'd think. Most of our food goes to keeping our bodies warm but fish get their body heat from the water so they need less food than us, size for size.

 

[GaryE]

Location is everything.

If you aren't really overfeeding the fish and skipping weekly partial water changes, then the light from the window is your culprit. I'll guess the light hits a side of the tank (I hope), and you could cover just that side to start the process of starving the algae. It'll take time, and a few 25% water changes.

 

[Whovian10]

Location is everything.

If you aren't really overfeeding the fish and skipping weekly partial water changes, then the light from the window is your culprit. I'll guess the light hits a side of the tank (I hope), and you could cover just that side to start the process of starving the algae. It'll take time, and a few 25% water changes.

So, do a 25% water change? do not do a full change? (I haven't done it yet, i want to make sure i do this right. I do not like not seeing my fish lol)

 

[GaryE]

When I last had soupy green water, in a tank I used to feed Daphnia with the water from and that I wanted to bring back into use for fish, I did this.

First, deal with light. I reset the timer to give 10 hours light, instead of 16.
Then, every day or two for about two weeks, I changed 25 to 40% of the water. Since no fish were in there, I didn't dechlorinate.

I had a tank where I tried to have algae though. It's now a clear, normal tank, but yours has done this on its own. I'm thinking light is your first challenge, otherwise, it'll return. You always need to change out 25-30% weekly, but no one enjoys that daily. Look at light and overfeeding.