metallickiss
New Member
Hello fellow fish lovers!
Though I’ve had my nano 20 gallon salt water tank over a year, I still consider myself an amateur to marine fish-keeping. I have in my tank a tiny Valentini Puffer and two PJ Carndinals. I have had them a long time and they are doing very well, but one problem that has plagued me since the beginning is getting rid of brown/green algae, and growing instead coraline algae. My salinity is, ammonia is 0ppm, Nitrates at about 5ppm, and Phosphates around 5ppm. I have a mini phosphate skimmer and a 40 gallon hanging filer. I bought the skimmer because a friend said it would help get rid of phosphates, and thus algae, but I have had no luck. I’ve taken every rock out, scrubbed them with a toothbrush, and two days later the bubbles and algae are back full force. I also tried putting a piece of live rock in my tank that already had coraline algae but still no luck. I’ve heard coraline algae needs calcium to grow, so a long time ago I bought one of those calcium tube tests and liquid calcium. Nothing seemed to come of it, so I gave up. I recently tested again, and while I was using the test to check the calcium level, I added drop after drop into the test tube, but never reached the endpoint color, even after 20 drops. So I was wondering if anyone has some advice for me. All I want to do is get rid of this cursed brown algae and grow coraline. Have I been doing something wrong?
Thank you for reading!
Though I’ve had my nano 20 gallon salt water tank over a year, I still consider myself an amateur to marine fish-keeping. I have in my tank a tiny Valentini Puffer and two PJ Carndinals. I have had them a long time and they are doing very well, but one problem that has plagued me since the beginning is getting rid of brown/green algae, and growing instead coraline algae. My salinity is, ammonia is 0ppm, Nitrates at about 5ppm, and Phosphates around 5ppm. I have a mini phosphate skimmer and a 40 gallon hanging filer. I bought the skimmer because a friend said it would help get rid of phosphates, and thus algae, but I have had no luck. I’ve taken every rock out, scrubbed them with a toothbrush, and two days later the bubbles and algae are back full force. I also tried putting a piece of live rock in my tank that already had coraline algae but still no luck. I’ve heard coraline algae needs calcium to grow, so a long time ago I bought one of those calcium tube tests and liquid calcium. Nothing seemed to come of it, so I gave up. I recently tested again, and while I was using the test to check the calcium level, I added drop after drop into the test tube, but never reached the endpoint color, even after 20 drops. So I was wondering if anyone has some advice for me. All I want to do is get rid of this cursed brown algae and grow coraline. Have I been doing something wrong?
Thank you for reading!
