how do you keep your aquarium clean?

The tank is not "cycled" yet. That means that there are not enough good bacteria that break down the ammonia that fish five off. Ammonia is dangerous to fish. There will be one type of bacteria that will eat the ammonia and break it down t nitrite which is also harmful to fish. Then there will be another type of bacteria that will break down the nitrite to nitrate which is not as harmful to fish. This usually takes several to fully cycle a tank but you can jump start it by getting gravel or filter medium for a fully cycled tank that is healthy. If the cloudy water is green, then that is a sign that you have suspended algae and you need to cud down the light. That will mean covering it completely for 3 days so that no light can get in. Do not worry abut feeding the fish as they can go for weeks with out eating (unless they are babies). It would help if you got test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH so that you know where your cycling is at. You can also take samples of water to your pet shop to have them test it for you but make sure to get numbers and not "It is OK."

I have been in the hobby for over 55 years and can tell you that it is hard to do too many water changes. And I do not mean 100% water changes but rather only 25 to 30% weekly water changes with water that has been treated for chlorine and chloramine if that is present and make sure that the temp is close to the sames as in the tank. When you do a water change make sure to vacuum the gravel so as to get rid of the fish droppings and uneaten food, (this water can be used to water your house plants or garden plants). Do not over feed the tank , feed only as much as they will eat in one or two minutes a day or the size of the eye is about the size of the stomach. So not overcrowd a tank, the rule of thumb that I have is take the adult full size fish and multiply the length in inches times the height in inches (do not include the fins) and this will give you the number of gallons of water that fish should have, not the on inch of fish to one gallon of water. Sure if oscars only grew to one inch long, then ten oscars could fist in a ten gallon tank but one ten inch oscar is greatly over crowded.

maybe you don't have a stable water yet. that't the problem when you bought an aquarium and you are so excited to add fish as soon as you filled it with water. most of the beginners mistake. i have a 7 feet customized aquarium with 2 overhead filter. and guess how manytimes i change the filter and change the water. not as often as you think. i change the filter every 2 weeks and i change the water after every 2 months. here are some tips i can give you since you did not include how big your aquarium is and what are the types of fish you have. i bet your problem is no matter how many times you change the water it keeps on turning green(not just the glass) in less than 3 days. this means there is actually not enough good bacteria that could digest the nitrate present on your tank. which is bad. this is very hard to solve. the best way is for you to buy another aquarium or remove the fish and have it stay somewhere else. you really need to cycle the tank first. cycling means you have to put water on your tank, set it up the way you want it, let the filter run WITHOUT THE FISH for at least 1 week. you will really need a lot of patience. but once you have done this. i assure you keeping the tank clean will be a breeze. here are also some additional tips when changing the water. 1.never change the entire water. remove 20% of the water then add new water- water change depends on how big your aquarium and how many are the fishes. the bigger the aquarium the less frequent of change. the lesser the no. of fishes, the less frequent of water change. 2.make sure you don't overfeed your fish. if there are leftovers, remove it after 10 mins. 3.change filter substrate at least once a week. you can view my profile photo to see my aquarium hope this will help you enjoy your fish. have a good day:)

how long have you had that aquarium? I guess like the others before me that there is something wrong with the balance or you are overfeeding the fishes. That is what happened in my aquarium in the office. I left it to the care of the trainees and when i got back after only 2 weeks of absence... oh my god!!!! the water is more algae then water. I hope my fishes survive this. normally I clean the filter weekly (its too small for the aquarium so that is why i do it so regularly) and change water once a month sometimes twice. We have a small aquarium so it needs more care. ANd if you are wondering to change pets: dont they need just as much care as that aquarium. if not more.