Algae is a natural occurrence in all fish tanks and is the result of (a) too much carbon dioxide, (b) too much light, and/or (c) excess waste. If your tank has accumulated a lot of algae, we recommend completely cleaning the tank and starting fresh. Please email our customer support for a sample of Zymbac & Wheatgrass seeds so you can replenish the beneficial bacteria. Here's a helpful video on cleaning your tank.

Carbon dioxide needs to balanced out with additional oxygen. I highly recommend adding an air stone in your tank to create more bubbles. The additional oxygen will help keep your tank cleaner and be beneficial to your plants. Alternatively, you can add live water plants inside of your tank to reduce the carbon dioxide and increase the oxygen. Both an air stone and water plants can be found at your local pet store in the aquarium section.

If your tank is receiving too much light, we recommend adding an aquatic backing. You can purchase backing from your pet store or make one yourself! You simply want to reduce the amount of light hitting the tank's water.

If your tank builds up excess waste easily, it's really important to not overfeed your fish. A Betta's stomach is small (the size of its eye!) so it needs very little food. Because bettas have a tendency to overeat, we recommend feeding your Betta just 4-6 pellets daily. It's also important to fast (no food) your Betta one day a week to prevent disease like Swim Bladder.

Here are a few tips for the future: 
  1. Put your fish on a diet. Feed him 1/2 of what you normally do or feed once every other day-- additional nutrients in the tank mean more food for algae growth
  2. Plant more seeds. Remember, wheatgrass and sprouts have a short life-cycle and need to be replanted every 3-4 weeks. When it's time to replant, simply pull out as much of the dead plants as possible. No need to clean the rocks or be super picky about getting out all of the roots. If you do clean everything completely though, be sure to add more Zymbac (beneficial bacteria). Afterwards, plant new seeds on top of the grow stones. I like to put them on top of a piece of coffee filter to keep them from falling through. Also check the back of your seed packet for additional instructions (most sprouts need to be rinsed clean). You can grow various plants with the Water Garden including sweet potato leaves, green onions, and various house plants. Here's a great article on re-growing plants that you may already have in your refrigerator. Scallions are super easy to grow in your Water Garden, as are transplants of cuttings you've made yourself.
  3. Add water plants inside of your tank. Water plants will help absorb some of the additional nutrients in your tank. 
  4. Clean out the pump and grow tray regularly. This will help eliminate some of the algae in your tank. 
  5. One or two algae-eating snails or an otocuinclus catfish are a great addition to your Water Garden and will help maintain algae growth. 
Hope this helps and feel free to email us for further recommendations!

Happy Water Gardening,