Hi. I have one RES, about 5" long. I've had her now for about four months. Her name is Shelby and her tank is 55 gal. I keep it just over half full. She has a basking lamp and she's in front of a window. I was told that her tank needs to be in front of a window for natural light. Her filter is a Tetra Whisper power filter with two filters and I keep gravel on the bottom.



There's also a large gold fish in the tank as well. He was suppose to be food but she can't catch him and now I call him Fred and feed him.



I have to clean her tank, completely once a week. I do a complete water change, clean the filters, filter housing, her basking stone, thermometer, gravel and inner tank walls every week. I also use my hose to stir up the gravel and partially fill and empty three to four times each time I clean the tank. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to do everything each time.



It only stays clean for about three days, then it starts to get murky. After five days it's already turning green and by the seventh day, it's a medium green and I can't see through it.



Also, the stone has little nooks and cranies in it so I can never seem to get all of the algea off of it.



What's wrong? Why is this doing this? Or is this common?



I love her but I'm considering donating her to the Fort Worth Zoo because I just can't seem to keep the tank clean.



Can anyone please help?





Thanks

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