

They don’t cost much and will turn the lights on and off automatically, without any effort from you.īut it’s not just your aquarium lighting that could be responsible for your green water problem. Rather than constantly turning your light on and off (and forgetting!), I recommend buying a good aquarium timer for your tank. So, for many of you, reducing the amount of light your aquarium receives will be all that is needed to stop the green water from appearing in your aquarium.

Seriously, I have seen grow-lights installed on tanks with fake plants! It always surprises me just how many people keep their aquarium lights on 24/7 when 8 to 12 hours of light a day is more than enough for most aquariums.Īnother common mistake is using a light that is too strong for your aquarium. Think you might have green dust algae instead? Don’t worry! I also have a detailed guide on getting rid of green dust algae. If it’s a cloudy green color, then it’s probably the algae commonly referred to as green aquarium water. If it’s clear, you likely have green dust algae. The algae in green aquarium water, prefers to float through your water, without settling on any surfaces.īecause of this, the two can be identified by taking a sample of water from your aquarium.

The aquarium water looks clear again because the water itself doesn’t contain any algae, just the surfaces.

It just looks green from the light reflecting off the green dust algae that is covering every corner of your aquarium.īelow you see what happens when you clean green dust algae off a single panel of glass. And because of this, the water in your aquarium isn’t actually green. It doesn’t like to float through your water. It will happily cover your aquarium glass, plants, substrate and anything else in your aquarium. Telling the two apart is actually very simple. On the left, you have green aquarium water, and on the right, you have a tank covered in green dust algae. If green dust algae is left to grow, then the two look nearly identical… Green aquarium water is sometimes confused with a different type of algae:Īnd, I can see why.
#GOLDFISH BOWL LIGHT HOW TO#
I’ll show you how to do exactly that later in this guide.īut first, I want to make sure that what you are dealing with is actually green aquarium water… Rest assured, it’s the same stuff – green aquarium water.Īs you see, you want to get on top of this type of algae before it takes over your aquarium. If you don’t do anything about it, then the algae bloom can get so bad that it blocks out everything in your aquarium…ĭepending on the lighting and what you have inside your tank, your water may have a yellowish-green color… When low in number, these phytoplankton will turn your aquarium a slight hazy-green color.īut as they grow in number, they will turn the water into a cloudy green mess…. It’s when these phytoplankton get together in a large group that you first notice them in your aquarium. To view individual phytoplankton, you need a microscope… In fact, you cannot see them with your naked eye. Well, it’s actually made up of millions of tiny pieces of algae called phytoplankton. You see that green cloud in your aquarium that keeps getting thicker and thicker?
