Green Problem,,,,,,,,,,

[heather]

my sister in law just rang me she said she has alot of green in her tank ,i said are all her filters working she said yes shes using a under gravel and a external on a 4 ft tank.
i was rattling my brain then i said has the sun been shining on the tank as this can cause the tank to go green she said no ,, i said are you overfeeding she said no ,, i asked her what she was feeding then she told me she puts alge tablets in every day for her plec ,, i said no stop doing that for a bit surely they dont need algae pellets going in every day as they also have them plec waffers. have i done the right thing stopping her from putting more and more algae into her tank as obviousley the plec cant keep up with it all ,,

 

[carrera]

algae is in most, if not all plec food

 

[heather]

that must be why then .not only is she putting alga tablets in she putting the food in too .. maybe shes overloaded it with too much algae i just dont know but i certainly dont put alga tablets into my tank everyday like you said its in most fish foods ,,

 

[annka5]

If its green water, then you were right in suggesting to her that its due to the sunlight - too much light is a classic cause of this. I know it too well myself!
Assuming she can't move the tank somewhere out of direct sunlight, then the best option would be for her to shade it from the sun - either drawing the curtains when the sun is on it or whatever. A UV sterilizer/clarifier will also help; I think there have been a fair number of topics on this if you do a search on the board.
I don't think algae wafers will make that much difference, so long as she isn't overfeeding.

 

[Aquagurl]

The walls of my tank go a bit green every once in a while! I find that magnetic brushes are very useful in getting rid of it, but only if its not too much! Also, I read somewhere that making partial water changes regularly prevents the tank from going green. Well, good luck!

 

[Subsane]

I just purchased a 9watt uv sterilizer for my 75 gallon tank which I was constantly fighting a green water problem. Within 24hrs the tank is absolutely crystal clear! YAY!