I think I should start over

[Geebs19]

Just a quick note on your clowns, maroons can be very very aggressive. I had one that would not allow me to add anything to the tank. They do not do well as a pair at all. Where did you buy them? If at an LFS, I would see if you could give one back or you are going to have a sump fish.

 

[Bos]

hmm, from what little I know

My maroon clowns are just not getting along.=not your fault, if they are same size, they are fighting for dominance
It's a 75g. I cycled with bottled bacteria=good
Equipment is a bashsea sump=doesn't matter the brand as long as it hold return pump, heater, skimmer and some form of filter pad/socks/sponge
Bubble Magnus curve 5 skimmer=good enough
Bubble Magnus carbon/gfo reactor=just a reactor
Phosban reactor=just a reactor
Return pump=essential
Two sunsun wave pumps=essential
Finnex marine light=good

-You used live rock and dry rock, the dry is pukani or Reef Saver/Macro? IF Pukani, did u get all the dead stuff off it?
-Do you test for Nitrates, Phosphate?
-Are you using RODI water or tap water?
-Your skimmer is good, is it set right, is it skimming good?

Like the guys said
1) switch off your lights, as to your frags, just leave them, zoa are hard...don't complicate things
2) can keep using Carbon in reactor
3) stop Phosban reactor....whatever is in there

 

[dantimdad]

Agreed. Let's stay the course.

 

[Reefbuds]

First things first not all clowns will get along. No matter age or species. Second, your tank doesn't look that bad man. I had a full blown reef tank that green hair algae just took over and killed. You wouldn't want to see what THAT looked like. It will get better my friend, patience and a little work will get you there. Great aqauscape btw.

 

[MTBake]

@dantimdad has you on a good track for sure.

I would follow his advice and make changes slowly and one at a time.

I'll keep an eye on this one. We'll get you through this for sure. I've seen worse and powered through it. Every time I reset a tank, I go through the same problems I tried to escape. I just keep on tackling issues as they pop up as a result.

 

[Mike1995]

Ok. First let’s tackle the algae with a 5 day blackout.

This isn’t anything that hasn’t been seen on the site before. There is a variety of things that you can do, but still think the blackout followed by a series of water changes in the 30-40% range will be in play.

It will take some time, but it’s fixable.

Ps: Maroon Clowns are pricks. Mean ******** from what I have read

Yeah.. they're mean. I found out the hard way. Beautiful. But mean.

 

[Mike1995]

Just a quick note on your clowns, maroons can be very very aggressive. I had one that would not allow me to add anything to the tank. They do not do well as a pair at all. Where did you buy them? If at an LFS, I would see if you could give one back or you are going to have a sump fish.

That fish place in lancaster pa. The female is around 3". The smaller, hopefully male is like 1". I put him in the sump and he seems to be having the time of his life haha

 

[Mike1995]

hmm, from what little I know

My maroon clowns are just not getting along.=not your fault, if they are same size, they are fighting for dominance
It's a 75g. I cycled with bottled bacteria=good
Equipment is a bashsea sump=doesn't matter the brand as long as it hold return pump, heater, skimmer and some form of filter pad/socks/sponge
Bubble Magnus curve 5 skimmer=good enough
Bubble Magnus carbon/gfo reactor=just a reactor
Phosban reactor=just a reactor
Return pump=essential
Two sunsun wave pumps=essential
Finnex marine light=good

-You used live rock and dry rock, the dry is pukani or Reef Saver/Macro? IF Pukani, did u get all the dead stuff off it?
-Do you test for Nitrates, Phosphate?
-Are you using RODI water or tap water?
-Your skimmer is good, is it set right, is it skimming good?

Like the guys said
1) switch off your lights, as to your frags, just leave them, zoa are hard...don't complicate things
2) can keep using Carbon in reactor
3) stop Phosban reactor....whatever is in there

Yes, so far the skimmer has worked well. I usually empty it eveeyday.

 

[Reefbuds]

That fish place in lancaster pa. The female is around 3". The smaller, hopefully male is like 1". I put him in the sump and he seems to be having the time of his life haha

He's single again what do you expect? Hehe

 

[Mike1995]

First things first not all clowns will get along. No matter age or species. Second, your tank doesn't look that bad man. I had a full blown reef tank that green hair algae just took over and killed. You wouldn't want to see what THAT looked like. It will get better my friend, patience and a little work will get you there. Great aqauscape btw.

it doesn't look too bad now.. but a few days ago it was horrible.. I mean everything was covered in stuff lol. Pulled as much out as I could.

 

[Mike1995]

Okay so I'll start with the lights out thing for 5 days. Can I come back after that for more help?

 

[Geebs19]

Okay so I'll start with the lights out thing for 5 days. Can I come back after that for more help?

Absolutely. When you are ready for your next steps just put @dantimdad and it will give him an alert. He seems to be taking care of you well so we should let him continue so you don’t get conflicting responses.

 

[Reefbuds]

it doesn't look too bad now.. but a few days ago it was horrible.. I mean everything was covered in stuff lol. Pulled as much out as I could.

Good man it must've created quite the difference. It looks great. Once you get all the algae off and parameters steady it will stick.
I came in from mowing the grass and my wife had EVERY piece of live rock in the tub scrubbing it. Needless to say it fixed the GHA
Albeit I have been really controlling nutes since then lol.
Just saying, this is easily fixed man don't give up. This hobby is challenging at times but extremely rewarding if you are passionate about it.
Keep it up!!

 

[JumboShrimp]

As someone who is battling Marine Velvet by going fallow for the third time (boo! hiss!), adopt the motto I provided to my skeptical wife: "I will NOT be defeated!" Lol. You will get all the help you need here at R2R, and the BRS videos. Hang in there, and best wishes.

 

[MTBake]

Okay so I'll start with the lights out thing for 5 days. Can I come back after that for more help?

Yep

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask. More than happy to help.

Lights out will help you get a leg up on the algae. May not knock it back for good but helps for sure. I know it's nerve racking doing lights out. I've been there

 

[Mike1995]

I had the lights off all day. Turned them on for about 5 minutes and turned back off.
So.. all the algea has either turned gray, or has been mowed down by my ceriths, nerites and turbos . There's none left on the bottom .and the gray stuff is just flaking off . After a few days when the lights go back on, will it all come back? :/
Also, my maroon clowns where hanging out on top of one of my corals! I had my gf put the male back in to see if he will be okay this afternoon . Are they just groggy from sleeping or does that seem like they might be nice?

 

[Reefbuds]

I had the lights off all day. Turned them on for about 5 minutes and turned back off.
So.. all the algea has either turned gray, or has been mowed down by my ceriths, nerites and turbos . There's none left on the bottom .and the gray stuff is just flaking off . After a few days when the lights go back on, will it all come back? :/
Also, my maroon clowns where hanging out on top of one of my corals! I had my gf put the male back in to see if he will be okay this afternoon . Are they just groggy from sleeping or does that seem like they might be nice?

Dude! This is a vast improvement in terms of algae. Keep it up!

 

[MTBake]

I had the lights off all day. Turned them on for about 5 minutes and turned back off.
So.. all the algea has either turned gray, or has been mowed down by my ceriths, nerites and turbos . There's none left on the bottom .and the gray stuff is just flaking off . After a few days when the lights go back on, will it all come back? :/
Also, my maroon clowns where hanging out on top of one of my corals! I had my gf put the male back in to see if he will be okay this afternoon . Are they just groggy from sleeping or does that seem like they might be nice?

Looking good so far!

I was just wondering what lights out would do to a pair of unpaired clowns. Might work, might not. Maroon clowns are pretty aggressive.

 

[Mike1995]

Dude! This is a vast improvement in terms of algae. Keep it up!

Thanks!
I guess patience now. Do you think it was my light causing algea?

 

[Reefbuds]

No. It was nutrients and light causing algae. But since you can't have one without the other, the blackout has interferred with it. Now you need to figure out how to control nutrients. Unless your tank has not fully cycled, in which case you need to be patient and let it run its course. As long as you have a steady nutrient supply. Do you have any small fish yet?