Has this ever happened to you? Your water tank is beautifully clear, but it quickly turns green one day.
Your initial action is to change the medium of the water and filter; it improves, but it returns to the same state so soon that you think you’re insane, right?
Don’t worry, we’ll get to that later!
What Causes Green Water Spikes?
Excessive Light
Algae, while not plants, enjoy light in the same way as plants do. Your tank supplies them with water, nutrients, and light through the glass, allowing them to thrive in ideal conditions. Some even employ artificial lighting to save lighting time.
Imbalance in Nutrients
Algae nutrients are primarily nitrates and phosphates. These are primarily derived from fish waste and uneaten fish meal. Furthermore, these nutrients may be present in tap water.
Inadequate Maintenance
Inadequate maintenance and water changes will simply cause your tank to gather an increasing amount of nutrients suitable for algae growth.
It can also harm the fish because parents don’t know when to change the water until their children become ill or an algae bloom occurs.
What can be done to avoid green water?
So it’s time to work up a sweat and get rid of the algae. To eliminate green algae in tanks, follow these three golden principles.
Reduce the brightness of the light.
In reality, decreasing light simply stops algae from overgrowing and does not eliminate it.
If you put plants in your tank, make sure they get enough light every day (8-12 hours is ideal). If there are no plants, you don’t need any light (except to admire your fish), and your fish won’t mind.
Nutrient management
When feeding the fish, make sure they can finish the food in under 2 minutes.
Do not overdo it, since too much food will sink into the cracks in the substrate, causing nitrate and phosphate levels to rise.
Include algae eaters.
Algae-eating fish, snails, and prawns are excellent algae eaters. They work relentlessly to drain algae from the tank’s top and walls, assisting you in keeping your water clean. You can go to the aquarium store, where everything is ready to buy.
