Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 55 gallon take, mostly filled up and I have a Eheim Canister filter. The problem is I can't ever get rid of the green algae. No matter how much I scrub, it just returns. The water is even a green tint because of this. What can I do to eliminate this problem?
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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals"
--Immanual Kant

Do you have a hood light or basking light on all the time? Or is the tank in direct contact with sun light or any other light? If your tank is constantly exposed to light (any kind) algae grows something fierce! If it is in the sun find a new spot or if you have lights on by it constantly turn them off at night turtles need 12hr's sun and 12hr's darkness. If that's not the problem try getting some snails. I'd recommend Apple Snails, you can get these snails as big as your fist and they don't cost too much money ($10-$15 (I think) for huge ones). Just make sure they're much bigger than your turtles mouth! Theres also different kinds of things you can put in your tank that supposedly prevents algae. They come in tablets and liquid form. I've never tried these so i don't know if their ok for turtles. I'd recommend getting this problem squared away fast, algae can give you a fuzzy turtle if it's really bad, and the turtle has no basking area. But I hope I helped

Just a note, algae growing on your turtle really isnt a problem. It wont hurt them one bit, although it may look bad. You can always clean your turtles with a soft toothbrush if it looks bad.

Algae is a result of the combo of nutrients in the water and sunlight. In a way it is helpful, because it eats the water pollution. But, if you correct the water issues you should only collect small amount of algae on the glass. I have snails too, and they work great.
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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

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sig file edited 1/29/05 [phw]

Thanks for the feedback. To answer your questions, my tank is not in direct sunlight, in fact it isn't near any. I keep the lights on 15 hours a day, so I will cut it back to 12. I just don't know what else to do. Thank you.
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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals"
--Immanual Kant

15 hours is definately too long. One other thing, how long has your tank been set up? How old is the filter. Also, with a turtle, you don't need the fill the tank all the way since you want room for a basking platform. What size tank, amount of water, how often do you clean the tank and filter?

One word of caution with snails..... they could end up being lunch.

Thanks for the response. To answer your questions:

-I have had the set-up for 2 years
-The filter is fairly new..3 months old
-Tank size: 55 gallons
-The water is fill about 2/3 of the way
-I am cleaning constantly because of the algae.

Thanks
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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals"
--Immanual Kant

Well it's definately not new tank syndrome. Does the tank get any direct sunlight? I would cut the lights back to even less the 12 hours until the agea problem clears. With summer fast approaching hopefully it's warm enough in your area to take your turtle out for a bit of real sun.