green water in 55 gal tank!

[marthadtobin]

Hello all - I am very new to aquarium world. have a 55 gal freshwater tank that was left at my house so I now own it. OK so I set it up and it was lovely for a number of months. Last month the water went all green. I put my fish in a bucket and emptied the tank and started fresh. New water filter set up and all fresh water. added/ algae treatment. water was clear for about two days.

I have 2 coi, 2 black mollies, a couple of larger goldfish, two smaller gold fish, a loach, a plecky and a bug-eyed gold fish.

I had aquatic (banana) plants in the aquarium that I took out but it made no difference in the water going green so it's not them.

I know I need to change the filters regularly; changed them out on Tuesday but no change to water.

I manage the same size tank with the exact same set up at my workplace and that tank stays clean & clear - we have danios, loaches, platys & gouramies in that tank.

is it the fish? any - and I do mean Any - assistance would be greatly appreciated. I really get a lot of enjoyment out of the fish and would hate to have to send them to another home because I can't take care of their home.

thank you!!

 

[rich311k]

Does it get any sunlight, direct or other wise? How long are the lights on?

 

[marthadtobin]

Rich - Thank you - I knew I could count on this forum to help me.

My home is very sunny so I would say lots of indirect sun. The lights go on first thing in the a.m. and go off at bed time.

I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Like I said - I inherited the tank and am uneducated about it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I'd say that lighting is definitely contributing. In a non planted tank, the lights only need to be on when you want to see the fish. Otherwise, they are uneccessary and can contribute to algae blooms. Before I completely switched over to planted tanks, I only turned the lights on when I would feed, so they were on every other day for 15 minutes or so. I would start by leaving them off for several days and doing some decent sized water changes (50-75%). Also make sure you aren't overfeeding. If you feed more than once every other day, that's too much.