20 gallon help!

[brycecouture]

i have a 20 gallon soft coral reef , it has 2 TB occelaris clownfish pair , 1 TB bangii cardinal , 1 royal gramma.
i have a peppermint shrimp , 2 hermit crabs , 1 turbo snail , 1 margarita (i thinck) snail
i have a waving hand coral , a polyp coral , and a kenya tree frag
everything is doing well and healthy
i have 1 15 watt reef sun bulb t5
2 1/2 inch sandbed
20 pounds live rock , just bought a couple more pounds online waiting for it to come in mail
marineland magnum H.O.T filter , 250 gph , qwueon filter 100gph
no protein skimmer
i will be adding some soft corals overtime
there is alot of brown algae on glass and sandbed , i just did a water change and gravel siphoned the sandbed and 3 days later it is coveredi n the brown algae and this rly dark green algae , the brown algae grows on sand and glass and the other only on sand.
i wanted to know if it is possible for me to get a lawnmower blenny to help with the algae problem

 

[DrEclipse]

adding fish to get rid of an algae problem is never a good idea, because the algae is growing because there is an excess of nutrients in the tank, adding a fish will further add to this problem.
can you post your ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates. one of those is most likely out of wack and thats whats causing your problem.
also, whats your water source? distilled, ro/do, tap?

 

[brycecouture]

ph:8.3
ammonia:0
Nitrate:0
Nitrite:0

i use tap water with conditioner , we have a personal well and have iron but no chlorene or anythign else but that

 

[DrEclipse]

ph:8.3
i use tap water with conditioner , we have a personal well and have iron but no chlorene or anythign else but that

this is your problem. you well never beat the algae until you use a better water source.
id recommend a RO/DI filter. hook it up to your tap, and you algae problems will disappear, if you keep up with water changes and so on.

 

[brycecouture]

i cant afford that thoe , im 14 , thats why i dont have many corals , cause i gotta save money for them , wouldnt the blenny eat it so it would help a bit , plus i kinda want one lol , do u thinck one would be able to survive and be ok in the tank

 

[DrEclipse]

i know how it feels, i started out when i was 14 as well. it takes time to get a good reef going.
if you cant afford an ro/do unit, go to wally world and get distilled water by the gallon.
i believe a lawnmower blenny would be a bit too big to for 20, perhaps a tailspot, or bi-color. i had a bi-color in my 20L for about 10 months, but unfortunately it went carpet surfing.

 

[esshoes]

Wal mart sells ro water and di water for $.88 a gallon. I also have a 20 gallon tank, and I use the green cap water from wal mart with no algae issues. Just a thought, as I know it can be hard to save up money for something big. Good luck with your tank!

 

[brycecouture]

thanks!
next time i do water changed ill see if i can get my hands on some
if i got a small blenny would it get along with the fish i have , cause someone told me that they go after similair shaped fish and my royal gramma is kinda alike

 

[DrEclipse]

thanks!
cause someone told me that they go after similair shaped fish and my royal gramma is kinda alike

ive never heard of this, haha.
but uh, with 4 fish i would say your maxed out with a 20 gallon.
is the gramma showing any signs of aggression?

 

[EllieSuz]

I agree, there's already too many fish in your tank. Don't add any more.

 

[brycecouture]

no not at all , is a bit territorial with its cave , opens its mouth wehn the bangii cardinal gets close to the cave , never attacked or nipped anything , none of the fish are hiding or acting scared or anything , the gramma is a bit hsy towars people walkign voer to tank thoe

 

[Tschupe]

I agree, there's already too many fish in your tank. Don't add any more.

I agree. You shouldn't add any more fish. Check your local LFS for water.

 

[brycecouture]

ok , i wont get anymore fish , whould you recomend anything besides the water for my tank

 

[DrEclipse]

more flow. if that HOB is all you got on there, you're seriously lacking flow in the tank.

 

[brycecouture]

the waving hand coral moves swaying back and fourth constantly , can it hurt it or other things with more flow?

 

[DrEclipse]

you can really never have too much flow. the more the better

 

[brycecouture]

ok , ill get a power head , thanks lol , and i rly want a anemone because my clwons keep hosting caves and i tried to get them to host the waving hand but that ddnt work , i have a curly q anemone in the tank once and it killed the damsel i had , is there a rly hardy anemone they would host in , i heard they die after a year , i heard that wehn they die theyl trash a tank

 

[brycecouture]

had the curly q , got ird of it wehn it killed the damsel and later foudn out clowns wont host in it

 

[DrEclipse]

i dont think your lighting is powerful enough for an anemone, can you post a link to the light please.

 

[brycecouture]

http://www.petco.com/product/10386/Zoo-Med-Reef-Sun-5050-Bulbs.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

there you go , i rly hope i can get one , i will put it on a rly high rock near lght and see if it likes it or moves