Algae Problems 20g Tank

[winngames]

ive had my 20g fish only tank now for about a year, ive always used tap water because i didn’t see the need to buy a RO unit at the time, however in the past month the nitrites and nitrates have increased (nitrite= 0.50ppm Nitrate= 15ppm) and there’s green hair algae on the live rock, would a RO help reduce theses levels? or could it just be the amount of fish i have in the tank, 2 clowns, 1 mandarinfish and a copperband butterfly fish? My neighbour has the same problem with his 60g tank, hes been told by our LFS that it’s his lights causing the problem. He got about 15 fish and has a RO unit not sure what lights though

 

[Crazy fishes]

Copperband buterfly fish are pretty big for a 20g tank they grow to about 20cm, I would think that over stocking is your problem. An easy solution is to rehouse the copperband butterfly fish in a suitable tank (minimum really is about 300 litre/ 75g). For a 20g 3 fish all about 4 inches is plenty. Mandarin fish aren't the best fish either for a nano tank something to do with feeding and the amount of copepods they require. SH knows more about this; it is an extremely contraversial area. The clowns though are fine really beautiful fish with a lovely nature. Maybe think about a firefish; they are colourful and a lovely natured fish too.

Hope this helps

Regards

 

[winngames]

Copperband buterfly fish are pretty big for a 20g tank they grow to about 20cm, I would think that over stocking is your problem. An easy solution is to rehouse the copperband butterfly fish in a suitable tank (minimum really is about 300 litre/ 75g). For a 20g 3 fish all about 4 inches is plenty. Mandarin fish aren't the best fish either for a nano tank something to do with feeding and the amount of copepods they require. SH knows more about this; it is an extremely contraversial area. The clowns though are fine really beautiful fish with a lovely nature. Maybe think about a firefish; they are colourful and a lovely natured fish too.

Hope this helps

Regards

ive had all those fish for about a year now and the only fish that has grown is the clown, at the moment the copperband is about 2 inches big, clowns about come to 2 inches and the mandarin is about just under 2 inches, i now im overstocking slightly but the ammonia in the tank is fine just the nitrates and nitrites could it have somthin to do with my skimmer recently breaking ? lol