Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i keep getting green algea on the rocks and a little on the tank. i havent changed the filter in a couple of months (fluval 404) and i feed her pellets and carrots and i bought some romaine lettuce that i give her every now and then.

thanks for anyone who can help....how do i get rid of the green algea? what can i do to prevent it?

Thanks
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0.0.1 Red Eared Slider

The algae will always come back, but it is harmless, and is actually helping clean your water a bit. You can just brush it off if you find it unsightly, or get a few snails or algae eaters...nothing too expensive cause your turtles will eat them.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

heres the thing about algae, it will always be there if the water isnt real clean and theres lotsa light. algea need those 2 things, waste and light. your turts need the light, so make thw water cleaner. i useto have lots of algae but then i changed my filter setup and now i never have a problem. ive got good biological filtration and that stops the algae. algea isnt a good sign because it means the water ius dirty

Algae needs to things to survive Light and nitrates to feed off of. Nitrates are the end produce of specialized bacteria that break down the turtle's waste (ammonia) converting it to Nitrite and the Finally Nitrates.

The best way to help control it is to do partial water changes. (say 1/3 of tank water every week or two depending on size of tank, turtle or number of turtles.) and putting some nitrate absorbing medium into your filtration unit. (Nitra-sorb) or other nitrate absorbing medium.