Algae bloom... help!

[Elmo230885]

There's so much 'advice' online and much of it is conflicting!

3 months in.
Stocked the tank gradually (mountain minnows, platy and mollies)
Doing 20% water changes weekly.
Reduced feeding as I was over feeding 🫠
Using products recommended by the shop I bought the tank and fish from (local reputable).

In the past week I've got murky water, green. From what I've read I think it's an algae bloom.

I've tried-
-switching the filter media to filter wool rather than the sponge

• 10-15% water changes daily
• keeping the light off

Any other tips, please be gentle I'm trying my hardest.

Would a bigger water change be better? I'm scared of fully ruining the cycle and removing the useful bacteria.

Seems your still over feeding. Have you any plants in the tank? Massive helpers to stop alge

Thanks. Plants will have to be the next step.

With feeding I'm putting a bit in first thing when I get up and if any is left (after 2-3 minutes) I fish it out with the net. Maybe I'll try every other day... just don't want them to starve!

Have you one of the water testing kits available? Sounds OK what your feeding.

I've been using the test strips that you dip in. Before the bloom I was struggling with nitrate and nitrite levels but these are much better now! I thought I'd cracked it.
Tested today and pH & KH are high. Argh!!

The spike is probably your nitrate starting to settle. Nitrate is what feeds the alge. I probably would advise leaving it for a bit to settle and scraping and scooping alge you see. Keep doing the weekly water changes though. Deffo get some plants too will help balance everything and fishes will be happy with them too. You can always run two filters if ya fancied

I considered a second filter but didn't know if I was being daft.
Plants are on the agenda for this week.

I now have crystal clear water finally. Wad a hard slog and we lost a few fish along the way. I was at the point I was dreading seeing the tank each morning.

Some combination of plants, different filter media, frequent water changes throughout the week and a new chemical priduct seems to have helped.

Are you on fb group? A lot of advice on that

I joined a couple and watched loads of YouTube videos. I was getting overwhelmed with so much advice!