# fishtank turns green every 45- 60 days



## dingus (Apr 4, 2008)

Can anyone give me a link for my goldfish tank 55 gal? It tuns green frequently.


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID (Dec 23, 2004)

I would think the green and gold would provide a nice contrast. Are you a Green Bay Packer fan?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

There are two ways you can approach this... find out what's causing your water to turn green and fix it... or use a UV light to kill it when it does come...

I have high phosphates in my local water, which is basically algae food. I could fight it with chemicals, but I choose not to...

Direct sunlight is a huge algae booster...

Since yours comes on a cycle it would be a lot harder to find the cause of it... I'll not waste time speculating...

My suggestion would be save your brainpower and buy a UV light... There is a small submersible 7W Unit that should work great for your 55 gal. If your interested in some of the additional benefits such as killing parasites then try the 9W and run it at it's slowest setting.


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## dingus (Apr 4, 2008)

I talked to somene in a repupatable fish joint last nite and he reccomended a 5 or 7 watt uv JBJ submersible for this tank. He said 5 w. will prabably work but the 7 w. will. I will most likely buy a 7. thanks a couple of bunches!


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

Just a question.

How often do you perform maintenance on this tank and what does the maintenance consist of?


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## dingus (Apr 4, 2008)

25% change monthly - overhead filters monthly - skip 2 weeks and then fluv. can. spongecleaning and 2 carbons replaced and 1 amonia repl. each month


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## cichlids _killer (Apr 13, 2008)

dingus said:


> 25% change monthly - overhead filters monthly - skip 2 weeks and then fluv. can. spongecleaning and 2 carbons replaced and 1 amonia repl. each month


stop being lazy get the water change 25% every week or 50% every 2 week ..you will be ok :thumb:


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## fiupntballr (Jul 7, 2004)

Python FTW!


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

If 25% monthly water changes keeps the nitrates in check... then we can hardly call such proper maintenance lazy...

It may be true that additional benefit could come from doing say a 15% water change every other week... or 10% weekly... but if 25% monthly keeps things in check then it can hardly be called "lazy"

You probably said it with a smile on your face and with the best of intensions... but such friendly tones are sometimes lost on the internet...

The JBJ submersible UV is the one I was talking about  I did goof up though, they are available in 5 or 7 W... I was thinking it was 7 or 9W...


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## beaker99 (Apr 15, 2007)

If you are having trouble with algae get a pleco cat fish. Mother natures algae vacuum cleaner.


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## dingus (Apr 4, 2008)

Ihave a pleco that eats algie off of the glass and rocks, but the green is in the water itsellf.


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## brycerb (Dec 23, 2007)

I had the same problem. It took me forever to figure it out. I didn't have enough filtration. All filters are good for is half what they are rated. I added two HOB filters to my 125 gallon in addition to thr rest of my filters and the pea soup water went away.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Got to get the algae food (nitrates and phosphates) out of there!

Definitely get more water changes in there. You want to get some weekly water changes and gravel vacuuming (a $5 investment) going. Old, uneaten foot decays and produces nitrates and phosphates which algae love. Fish "pee" also winds up as nitrates. There's also other kinds of contaminants. Best thing we ever did was get 30 feet of vinyl tubing to siphon the tank water out of the gravel vac bucket along with old food and fish poop and shoot it out the front door. 

Along with weekly water changes, I've recently been using Tetra's "Nitraban" in our 75 gallon tank. It locks up nitrates and phosphates with seemingly no ill effects. We also just started using this cut-to-fit filter material that binds phosphates. Cheap and functional. Both of these help keep the water crystal clear because it locks up algae food in a way that algae can't use it. :thumb:

-Ryan


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

I'd bet you have the tank near a window and the sun shines on it for a couple of hours a day. Is that the case?


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

I'd bet you have the tank near a window and the sun shines on it for a couple of hours a day. Is that the case?


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## dingus (Apr 4, 2008)

no sunlight reaches my basement. 55 gal 2 whisper40-60 daul overheads and a fluval 205. i added a JBJ 7 watt water clairifier yesterday w a clear to most tank and am with an almost perfectly clear tank now.


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