Help! My Waters Gone Green

[Miller2009]

I set up my new tank recently moving the filter media some old water from my old tank and after a few days the water started to turn green I did a 25% water change yesterday I was using the pink/purple light for a hour or two when I first get up around 8 then put the normal lights on turning them off whenever I leave the house then turn them back on when I get back in then around 8 at night I turn the pink/purple light back on again for a hour around 8/9 till I go to bed.

Am I having the aquarium lights on too much during the day?
There is some natural light coming in but not direct light, will this affect it?
What can I do to stop the water going green?

 

[Miller2009]

I set up my new tank recently moving the filter media some old water from my old tank and after a few days the water started to turn green I did a 25% water change yesterday I was using the pink/purple light for a hour or two when I first get up around 8 then put the normal lights on turning them off whenever I leave the house then turn them back on when I get back in then around 8 at night I turn the pink/purple light back on again for a hour around 8/9 till I go to bed.
Am I having the aquarium lights on too much during the day?
There is some natural light coming in but not direct light, will this affect it?
What can I do to stop the water going green?

Just read on a website the best way to clear it up is step up water changes and leave the lights off for a few days is this correct?

 

[daizeUK]

That's what I read too.  You can try a large water change followed by a blackout for a couple of days, but it doesn't always clear it up.  I guess that's because it doesn't address what caused the green water in the first place.
 
My tank is next to a window and I'm getting fed up with the permanent green tinge so I'm shopping for a UV sterilizer.
 
Your lights should be on for no more than 6-9 hours depending on the strength of your lights (maybe less if you don't have plants).  Have you considered getting a timer for your lights that way you don't have to keep switching them on and off?

 

[Miller2009]

Yeah I thought about getting a timer but I'm up and in the house most days so I can turn them on as and when I please but I'm defo going to cut down the amount of time I have the lights on. I've been running airstones will this be helping towards the algae bloom?

 

[snazy]

Green water algae is caused by ammonia and light(not necessarily too much light)
So your problem is that the filter isnt' coping with the ammonia produced, hence algae is blooming and consuming it.
Killing the algae isn't going to kill the source of ammonia, on the contrary, it will make it worse.
Your tank is new, so it needs to mature a bit and cope with the current bioload. Green water is good for the fish so you can just leave it outrun it's course, do the regular water changes, maintenance, etc..and possibly reduce the feeding as that's contributing to ammonia. It may take weeks, but as long as the filter and tank start coping with the bioload, the algae will recede.

 

[Miller2009]

So would you do a black out for a few days? How often would you do water changes?

 

[snazy]

I personally wouldn't do a blackout, for the reasons I stated above.
But if you want to do one, then 3-5 days max should be sufficient, but you are risking an ammonia spike instead.
So it's either looks or water quality, whatever is more important to you.
Water changes as a routine are ideally done weekly, 30-50% each time.
However, if you tank is new, you can do more than that to avoid water quality issues.
The bacteria in the filters should pick up early or later.
 
Alternatively, you can add some live daphnia to the tank . If the fish don't eat it immediately, it will love eating the green water algae.

 

[Miller2009]

So if I just do regular water changes the algae bloom should sort it self out? If I wasn't to do a black out should I just use the natural light that comes into the room during the day rather than you the lights on the tank? Running airstones does it help or hinder the process of getting rid of it?

 

[snazy]

Unless you have a planted tank in which aistones are no good as they could deprive the plants from CO2, then I'd suggest run them.
They'll help with oxygen levels which are needed by almost everything existing in the tanks, from fish to good bacteria.
Depending on how much light you get in the room, you may want to decrease the amount of light in the tank itself, especially if you've got no live plants. High light in a tank with no plants and co2/nutritient supplement will always lead to algae of some sort.
 
I can't tell you how long the algae bloom will last, it maybe quite a while but once the ammonia rise is gone, it should recede.
The other option that will help is to get floating plants, like amazon frogbit or salvinia. They'll help with the ammonia, stealing it from the algae and contribute to it disappearing faster, also stabalizing the tank. Fish will love it.
 
I'd do a few extra water changes for the time being, as the excess ammonia not dealt with by the filter is being used by the algae, so you need to have as little as possible for it to feed on. Regardless, the filter should start coping better eventually, and outcompete the algae.

 

[Miller2009]

Ok thanks ill do another water change today around 40% then hopefully that might sort it out. So all this bloom means something's going right yes or no?