Hi all,

I am new to this website, this is my first post! I LOVE my goldfish and am obsessed with finding out better ways of taking care of them. I hope all you knowledgable people can help me.

I set up a new 30 gal tank about a month ago with a Bio-Wheel filter 350 (with two wheels) plus a Hydro-sponge filter with air stone. I thought that overfiltering the tank plus getting a bigger tank would keep the water cleaner. Also I moved the tank to a darker area of the house to avoid the algae I had in my 10 gal tank before. However, the "green water" has come back within the last week plus white foam on the top of the water and I'm not sure what to do.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

(Once I get the required 100 posts, I will show you all a pic of my two cute fish, "Orange Roughy" or O.R. for short, and "Black Stripe", not B.S. for short )

YOu may still have a bit too much light for the tank. Perhaps cutting back on the number of hours of light you give the tank would help. Or maybe putting a backing on the tank to help block light.

If your nitrates are higher - even 20ppm - that is food for the algae - so it may be growing because you are feeding it. Perhaps you can lower your nitrates.

A really great way to conquer green algae blooms (green water - not on the surfaces) is a UV unit. They do wonderful job!

At least green water is healthy, if unsightly! Looking forwrd to pics!

I had the same problem with a 10 Gallon I had along time ago. I tried everything, and couldnt get rid of it. I would try a UV unit. They can do a wonderful job! Also lowering nitrates. Good Luck, and WELCOME TO KOKOS!

and good luck with your new tank!

Hi BlackStripe,

A question. Is the foam pure white or is a whitish brown/tan?

If it's whitish brown then that is a build up of protiens such as you see in lakes or at the edge of the waves on the beach at the ocean. A build up of protiens in the water column is usually caused by over feeding, not frequent enough water changes, or not getting enough fish waste out.

If the foam is pure white then I'm stumped as to what it is.

Hi troyjames,

The foam is actually pure white. I just did a 20% water change on Sunday, however the green water and foam continues to get worse. I tested the water and all the results look OK. I will try another water change tomorrow.

I will also look into the UV sterlizer. Are they expensive? Do any of you have one now, does it work well? Does anyone recommend using a chemical such as Al-g-gone? I would rather not overload my tank with chemicals but if any of you have good results, I will try it.

Also, I am using Prime as a water conditioner. Does anyone know if this is a good product or not? I just changed from AquaSafe (i think?) to Prime.

Thanks all of you for the great responses! You guys rock!

Hi again BlackStripe,
Someone else will have to comment on the use of Prime as I'm lucky enough to live in an area where conditioners aren't needed.

The white foam is puzzleing me, I'm going to try and research what that's about tomorrow.

UV sterilizers aren't expensive but everyone has a different definition of expensive.

Don't use Al-g-gone. While the algea looks bad it's not actually harmful whereas an algaecide/poison isn't good for anything in the tank.

Algae thrives in tanks where nitrates and phosphates are high/present so anything that can be done to reduce those,(frequent small water changes, growing aquatic plants to outcompete, reduction of feeding), are helping to reduce algae at the root cause.

Just a few ideas, hoping it helps!

Thanks troyjames,

I just read another thread about a UV sterilizer on this message board and it said you need a canister filter to use. Are there any UV sterilizers that dont require a canister filter? I have never heard of UV steril. before this so I am clueless as to what it requires for set up.

I saw that some "work horse" sterilizer was around $350, which I consider expensive because I just set up a new 29 gal with a new stand and hood and all the other goodies. I saw another sterilizer that was around $150, which is OK but I don't want to get one that sucks....just want my water to be clear.

I am also in No. Cal. and didn't know there was any place in CA where the water was halfway decent. You are very lucky!

Hmmmm, I'm not familiar with having to have a canister filter to be able to run a UV sterilizer, unless it was for using the filter as a means to pump the water through the UV. The only way I've ever set up a UV is plumbed into an out of tank filter system either with the UV having it's own dedicated pump or plumbed last in line after the mechanical/ biological filter. Rainbow Lifeguard is the company that makes the UV's we use at work. If you do go with a UV, you want a fairly slow water flow, to give the UV time to kill what it's going to kill, and you don't want airbubbles in the water as it passes through the UV.

There a still a few out of the way places that have decent water escpecially up here in the mountains