Can't get my simple betta tank clean...Help!

[jdhoop]

Hi there! I'm an aquarium newbie and I could really use some advice on keeping my basic betta fish tank clean. I bought this inexpensive 2.5 gallon tank on Amazon to house a betta fish for my five-year-old daughter. Once a week I change out and treat about half the water, and I scrub out as much algae as I can, but by the following week it looks like this:



I'm regularly treating the water with these products, following the guidelines on each labels:



I've also used test strips to confirm that ph and the various other levels are where they should be. No matter how diligent I try to be with the cleaning and water treatment, the tank just never clears up. It's consistently cloudy and covered with algae, and my daughter can hardly even see her fish. Meanwhile, my brother has a betta for his daughter and his tank is perfectly clear with no algae or scum and very little maintenance required. So I know that such a simple fish tank setup should not be this hard to keep clean.

What am I missing or doing wrong here? Could it be that this tank does not have a very good filter system? Here's the type of filter it has:



Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jdhoop]

I should add, I first got this fish and set up the tank in September 2023. In the past seven months I've experimented with changing the water and cleaning more or less frequently. I've tried going a few weeks without cleaning, hoping that the ecosystem would naturally balance out, but it always just gets more and more green and foggy.

There was a brief few-week period when the water did completely clear up, though there was still a lot of algae growth. I thought the tank had finally cycled properly with enough good bacteria, but then before long after a water change it went back to the dense green cloudiness and hasn't improved since.

 

[Andy Sager]

I should add, I first got this fish and set up the tank in September 2023. In the past seven months I've experimented with changing the water and cleaning more or less frequently. I've tried going a few weeks without cleaning, hoping that the ecosystem would naturally balance out, but it always just gets more and more green and foggy.

There was a brief few-week period when the water did completely clear up, though there was still a lot of algae growth. I thought the tank had finally cycled properly with enough good bacteria, but then before long after a water change it went back to the dense green cloudiness and hasn't improved since.

Green algae is the result of lighting and nutrients. The nutrients come from the fish food in the way of nitrates. The lighting is on either too long or the wrong spectrum of light letting the algae capitalize on the nitrates. Reduce the number of light hours and if possible, adjust the amount of light the bulb puts out. ( Bettas actually prefer dim lighting). Continue with weekly water changes and scrubbing off the walls and in time, the green algae will die back due to lack of nutrients and lighting. The Algaefix will probably also work better when you do these as well.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Thats a lot of chemicals. All you really need is water conditioner, which you have 2. The aqueon and stresscoat + do the same thing. I would pick whichever is cheapest/ water change and stick with that. Seachem Prime and API Aqua Essential tend to work out the cheapest water conditioners, and they are also both better products than the 2 you have. The rest all have situational uses, and apart from the Algaefix you havent indicated a problem that would require any of those products. Not saying all these chemicals are causing your problem, but they arent helping either.

As Andy says algae is caused by too much light and/ or nutrients.

You say you are testing the water, what are the test results?

Are you over feeding your betta? Too much food will cause excess nutrients. Bettas need a small pinch of food twice a day, as much as is eaten in a couple of minutes, or a couple of pellets twice a day.

Is your aquarium sat in direct daylight? Maybe close to a window? How long are your aquarium lights on for? 6 to 8 hours a day is all that's needed. Is that plant live or artificial? Live plants will help with controlling nutrients.

 

[af2018]

That’s a ton of chemicals in a 2.5 gal that you only change water on once a week that poor fish.

I have a 2.5 I use strictly for quarantine, it’s a short term solution I utilize on an as needed basis. When I have to use it I change out water every other day, sometimes everyday. I’m really anal about my water I test it a lot (daily if I use that tank). I also don’t put a bunch a chemicals in my water. I’m about to upgrade to a ro system but I boil all my water the day before and fill jugs. A 30% water change on my 55 is 16 1/2 gallons, it’s a huge chore but I’m too cheap to buy all that crap and it doesn’t really do anything but make a different problem for them to sell you a product that’ll claim to fix that. It’s a vicious cycle. You’re definitely putting way too much junk in your water tho.

 

[jdhoop]

Thanks for the advice so far! I changed 3/4 of the water this past Monday and this time omitted the redundant chemicals. I've also been keeping the light off during the day and on at night (my daughter uses it as a night light). Before the light was basically on 24/7, and so that's probably what has led to so much algae growth.

I also reduced my feeding from about five pellets twice a day to 2–3 pellets twice a day.

Here's how the tank looks today (Friday):



The algae you see on the decor is old—I didn't have time to take them out and scrub them on Monday. So overall I'd say after four days the algae growth isn't as bad as it has been. The water is still so cloudy though. How do you get clear water without replacing it more than once a week? (I barely have time for that weekly maintenance schedule.)

Here are the results of a test strip I just put in today:
NO3: 0
NO2: 0
pH: 9
KH: 240
GH: 30

Seems like the pH is too high. How do I bring that down without buying more chemicals? Or should I just get the "pH Down" product?

Last question for now: Should I completely empty out the tank and clean everything and basically start from scratch to get rid of all the algae on the decor and in the gravel? I don't want to disrupt the ecosystem, but it seems like it's just always going to look unclean if I leave it like this.

Thanks again!

 

[jdhoop]

Thats a lot of chemicals. All you really need is water conditioner, which you have 2. The aqueon and stresscoat + do the same thing. I would pick whichever is cheapest/ water change and stick with that. Seachem Prime and API Aqua Essential tend to work out the cheapest water conditioners, and they are also both better products than the 2 you have. The rest all have situational uses, and apart from the Algaefix you havent indicated a problem that would require any of those products. Not saying all these chemicals are causing your problem, but they arent helping either.

As Andy says algae is caused by too much light and/ or nutrients.

You say you are testing the water, what are the test results?

Are you over feeding your betta? Too much food will cause excess nutrients. Bettas need a small pinch of food twice a day, as much as is eaten in a couple of minutes, or a couple of pellets twice a day.

Is your aquarium sat in direct daylight? Maybe close to a window? How long are your aquarium lights on for? 6 to 8 hours a day is all that's needed. Is that plant live or artificial? Live plants will help with controlling nutrients.

The plant is artificial. I should also mention that the first couple months of having this tank, I was only using the Aqueon water conditioner and nothing else. It was still getting completely green and cloudy every week or so, and so that's what led me to try adding in all the other products. Nothing seems to make a huge difference. At least the fish is still living! I guess I should be grateful for that. I just wish you could see him!

 

[Aiken Drum]

You havent mentioned ammonia in your testing. I presume from the tests you have noted that you are using test strips as they don't have ammonia tests on them. Test strips are notoriously unreliable.

The nitrate is a bit weird. In a cycled tank you should be seeing nitrate. In the absence of an ammonia test result, it could be you arent cycled and ammonia is fueling the algae. Or it could be that the test is wrong, and you have nitrate, which could be high, and nitrate could be fueling the algae.

But, your lighting schedule is a concern. During the day, even without the light on there will be some ambient light from the room. At night, you have the aquarium light on. So there is light all the time, and no period of complete darkness. This cant be good for the fish either, as they have a circadian rhythm.

What i would do is a complete blackout of the aquarium. Completely cut off all light going into the tank for 1 to 2 weeks. Switch off the aquarium light, cover the aquarium with a dark cloth or box it in with dark coloured cardboard. Feed your fish in the dark. No light whatsoever. Make sure the water is well oxygenated. Get an airstone, or redirect the filter output to get more surface agitation. Maybe lower the water surface half an inch. Make sure you wipe the algae off beforehand to remove as much algae and then a big water change to remove algae spores. This should kill off all the algae and then you need to go forward with a better lighting schedule.

 

[Andy Sager]

The Ph is high but truthfully, since the Betta is living in it, I wouldn't do anything to change it. Is that the Ph that is coming out of your tap water or source water? I ask because even in S Florida where the water goes through calcified coral rock which makes the GH very high, the Ph wasn't that high.

 

[jdhoop]

The Ph is high but truthfully, since the Betta is living in it, I wouldn't do anything to change it. Is that the Ph that is coming out of your tap water or source water? I ask because even in S Florida where the water goes through calcified coral rock which makes the GH very high, the Ph wasn't that high.

It's tap water, and this is testing the tank after changing and treating it Monday. So yeah, I guess it's okay. I don't really know how to adjust it, other than using the treatment products I've been using which are supposed to regulate the pH.

 

[jdhoop]

You havent mentioned ammonia in your testing. I presume from the tests you have noted that you are using test strips as they don't have ammonia tests on them. Test strips are notoriously unreliable.

The nitrate is a bit weird. In a cycled tank you should be seeing nitrate. In the absence of an ammonia test result, it could be you arent cycled and ammonia is fueling the algae. Or it could be that the test is wrong, and you have nitrate, which could be high, and nitrate could be fueling the algae.

But, your lighting schedule is a concern. During the day, even without the light on there will be some ambient light from the room. At night, you have the aquarium light on. So there is light all the time, and no period of complete darkness. This cant be good for the fish either, as they have a circadian rhythm.

What i would do is a complete blackout of the aquarium. Completely cut off all light going into the tank for 1 to 2 weeks. Switch off the aquarium light, cover the aquarium with a dark cloth or box it in with dark coloured cardboard. Feed your fish in the dark. No light whatsoever. Make sure the water is well oxygenated. Get an airstone, or redirect the filter output to get more surface agitation. Maybe lower the water surface half an inch. Make sure you wipe the algae off beforehand to remove as much algae and then a big water change to remove algae spores. This should kill off all the algae and then you need to go forward with a better lighting schedule.

Yeah I don't know about ammonia...the test strip didn't say. That's an interesting idea about blacking out the tank to kill the algae. Maybe I'll try that and then get my daughter an actual nightlight so we can start leaving the tank light off at night.

What about the water cloudiness? Do you have an ideas about how to get it clear? Is the cloudiness caused by the algae?

 

[Aiken Drum]

You wont be able to bring down the pH by adding chemicals. Your KH is high, and KH will just absorb any pH lowering chemicals (mild acids). You will just be adding more and more of these chemicals, to first deplete the KH before the pH starts to drop. Its just pointless trying.

The only way to bring the pH down is to dilute your tap water with water thats low in KH, so thats RO water or distilled water. Your tank isnt that big, so its an option to buy RO and mix 50/50 with tap for a water change. But, as Andy says, your fish isnt being effected so why change it?

Yes, the green cloudy water is algae.

 

[jdhoop]

You wont be able to bring down the pH by adding chemicals. Your KH is high, and KH will just absorb any pH lowering chemicals (mild acids). You will just be adding more and more of these chemicals, to first deplete the KH before the pH starts to drop. Its just pointless trying.

The only way to bring the pH down is to dilute your tap water with water thats low in KH, so thats RO water or distilled water. Your tank isnt that big, so its an option to buy RO and mix 50/50 with tap for a water change. But, as Andy says, your fish isnt being effected so why change it?

Yes, the green cloudy water is algae.

True, I might try mixing in some distilled water. As for the cloudiness though, the water is not even clear right after I change it. It always has a white cloudiness to it, which turns green over the course of the week from algae. Shouldn't it be clear when you first change it?

 

[Aiken Drum]

The white cloudiness is bacterial and is bacteria feeding on nutrients in the water. So we go back to your water testing which we don't have full details and cant trust the test results we have.

A water change can trigger a bacterial bloom if it supplies nutrients. Do you know if your tap water is chlorine or chloramine treated? Chloramine will be bringing in anmonia with every water change.

 

[jdhoop]

The white cloudiness is bacterial and is bacteria feeding on nutrients in the water. So we go back to your water testing which we don't have full details and cant trust the test results we have.

A water change can trigger a bacterial bloom if it supplies nutrients. Do you know if your tap water is chlorine or chloramine treated? Chloramine will be bringing in anmonia with every water change.

I know our tap water has chlorine added—I don't know about chloramine. What's the purpose of test strips if they aren't reliable? Is there a better tool for testing water?

 

[af2018]

I’ve had really good luck with these.

There’s also 5 packs of 20 which I really appreciate. I only open 1 pack at a time just in case I mess up and drop all my strips in my water, which has happened to me before lol

Also tap water isn’t good for your fish. That’s why I boil mine right now. You should see all the build up I get in my pans. I don’t even drink the tap water anymore.

 

[Aiken Drum]

The purpose of test strips is to get you to spend money buying them, then when you learn they are no good you buy a proper test kit and spend more money. Test strips are usually cheaper for a pack than a liquid test kit, so you buy them thinking they are cheaper. But then you discover you also need an ammonia test, and then buy that also. Then you work out that the £20 you spent on test strips only gets you 20 tests. A liquid test kit might be double the price but you get 100s of tests so are cheaper long run and they are more accurate. But they got to make more sales out of you by selling you thr test strips first, then when you learn more about the hobby you buy what you actually need.

The whole aquarium trade is based on selling you stuff you dont need, products that don't do anything useful, or doesnt do what they claim, or in some cases are just harmful. Its completely unregulated, manufacturers can just make up whatever claims they like to get you buy stuff.

Look at all those bottles you bought. Only 2 of them do anything useful, and they both do the exact same thing. One of them, they even wrote the word "betta" on it to get you to spend more on it, even though its the exact same product as their regular water conditioner. The API Stresscoat + is the most stupidly expensive product on the market, when something like API Aqua Essential does the same for about 5% of the cost.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Here is a thread where i compared the cost of some common water conditioners.

Ammonia

What filter do you have?

www.aquariumadvice.com

Post #26

473ml of stresscoat is about £12. It will treat about 3700 litres of tapwater. So about 32p to treat 100 litres of water. Compared to their aqua essential at 7p to treat 100 litres of water. And aqua essential is by far a better product than stresscoat.

 

[jdhoop]

The purpose of test strips is to get you to spend money buying them, then when you learn they are no good you buy a proper test kit and spend more money. Test strips are usually cheaper for a pack than a liquid test kit, so you buy them thinking they are cheaper. But then you discover you also need an ammonia test, and then buy that also. Then you work out that the £20 you spent on test strips only gets you 20 tests. A liquid test kit might be double the price but you get 100s of tests so are cheaper long run and they are more accurate. But they got to make more sales out of you by selling you thr test strips first, then when you learn more about the hobby you buy what you actually need.

The whole aquarium trade is based on selling you stuff you dont need, products that don't do anything useful, or doesnt do what they claim, or in some cases are just harmful. Its completely unregulated, manufacturers can just make up whatever claims they like to get you buy stuff.

Look at all those bottles you bought. Only 2 of them do anything useful, and they both do the exact same thing. One of them, they even wrote the word "betta" on it to get you to spend more on it, even though its the exact same product as their regular water conditioner. The API Stresscoat + is the most stupidly expensive product on the market, when something like API Aqua Essential does the same for about 5% of the cost.

Ok, so I initially started with nothing but the one Aqueon water conditioner, and the fog and algae were really bad even then, and so that's why I bought more products thinking that would help. Are you saying I should go back to just using water conditioner and nothing else routinely (except maybe AlgaeFix as needed), and just try to get on a better lighting schedule?

 

[Aiken Drum]

The only product you need is water conditioner. Planted tanks will benefit from an all in one fertiliser.

The algaefix just isnt doing anything is it. Controlling algae through controlling light and nutrients is by far the better way to go.