Upgrading to a Fluval Flex 32.5

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I added a pincushion urchin and a skunk cleaner shrimp. Also rearranged my rock work to make space to add another piece
 
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Pulled out the fluval ps1 protein skimmer and replaced it with a Tunze 9001. So far not impressed, but I'll give it some time.
 

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I've kept my lights off for almost a month, but so far everything is still green. Not sure what my next solution is.
 

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I've kept my lights off for almost a month, but so far everything is still green. Not sure what my next solution is.
Most likely high nitrates and phosphates. I would not blame the lighting, but you should turn the whites/red/pinks down. I would siphon out the back chambers. Do a nice deep cleaning. Filter floss can also help since you can catch a bunch of organics, and them out quickly. How long has the tank been up? And are you using RO water?
 
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Most likely high nitrates and phosphates. I would not blame the lighting, but you should turn the whites/red/pinks down. I would siphon out the back chambers. Do a nice deep cleaning. Filter floss can also help since you can catch a bunch of organics, and them out quickly. How long has the tank been up? And are you using RO water?
Tank has been up since February. Always using RODI water. I just did a large 50% water change and cleaned out the back chambers
 

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Tank has been up since February. Always using RODI water. I just did a large 50% water change and cleaned out the back chambers
Perfect! That sounds good! Hopefully things start to look better. It could just be an ugly phase, and detritus could be accumulating. I would test Phosphates, and Nitrates here and there and see where things are at. You could also siphon some of the algae with airline tubing. Also a Tuxedo Urchin will happily munch on the algae. Just make sure to drip acclimate it well if you decide to do that.
 

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Hi DStecz, I like your choice of fish. I was reading through your thread and see you lost one of your snowflake clowns a while back but also see you've got another clown in there. Is the non-snowflake one of the original two you had or did you add it after you lost the one snowflake? I'm interested in attempting to pair some clowns in my 32.5 and I'm curious if your clowns have paired. Thanks!
 
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Hi DStecz, I like your choice of fish. I was reading through your thread and see you lost one of your snowflake clowns a while back but also see you've got another clown in there. Is the non-snowflake one of the original two you had or did you add it after you lost the one snowflake? I'm interested in attempting to pair some clowns in my 32.5 and I'm curious if your clowns have paired. Thanks!
I added in the non snowflake after we lost one of the pair. I took a chance and brought home one larger than my snowflake and it worked out beautifully. They are completely a pair now.
 

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Hi DStecz, I like your choice of fish. I was reading through your thread and see you lost one of your snowflake clowns a while back but also see you've got another clown in there. Is the non-snowflake one of the original two you had or did you add it after you lost the one snowflake? I'm interested in attempting to pair some clowns in my 32.5 and I'm curious if your clowns have paired. Thanks!
Yeah, just as Dstecz has said it is a slight risk adding a 2nd clown. I did as well, but the opposite. I got a much smaller clown, and the bigger one did not even pay it attention at first. She eventually nipped at him a bit here and there and showed dominance, but that is inevitable and it was not bad. The little guy acclimated well, and did not get overly stressed at any point. They also do not have to be the same designer type. I would recommend if you get a small clown getting a breeder box (with a pvc elbow for shelter) and putting it in there for at least a couple days so you can make sure it is getting food, and acclimates well. Also Seachem stressguard helps when acclimating new fish, and removes ammonia when drip acclimating.
The main thing is getting a clown that is noticeably smaller or larger that way they do not fight for dominance (at least not as much since at some point one will put the other in its place)
 

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I added in the non snowflake after we lost one of the pair. I took a chance and brought home one larger than my snowflake and it worked out beautifully. They are completely a pair now.
Thanks for the reply. That’s fantastic news, congrats!

Yeah, just as Dstecz has said it is a slight risk adding a 2nd clown. I did as well, but the opposite. I got a much smaller clown, and the bigger one did not even pay it attention at first. She eventually nipped at him a bit here and there and showed dominance, but that is inevitable and it was not bad. The little guy acclimated well, and did not get overly stressed at any point. They also do not have to be the same designer type. I would recommend if you get a small clown getting a breeder box (with a pvc elbow for shelter) and putting it in there for at least a couple days so you can make sure it is getting food, and acclimates well. Also Seachem stressguard helps when acclimating new fish, and removes ammonia when drip acclimating.
The main thing is getting a clown that is noticeably smaller or larger that way they do not fight for dominance (at least not as much since at some point one will put the other in its place)
Glad to hear some pretty positive responses on pairing. My tank is still wrapping up the cycle so I’ll be looking to add a some clowns as my first fish perhaps next weekend. My LFS normally has several so I’m considering just picking out a large and small one and seeing how it goes. They’d be the first fish in the tank so no one would have a territory yet and there’d be plenty of space if things get stressful. Thanks for the tips!
 
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Yeah, just as Dstecz has said it is a slight risk adding a 2nd clown. I did as well, but the opposite. I got a much smaller clown,

Thanks for the reply. That’s fantastic news, congrats!


Glad to hear some pretty positive responses on pairing.

I will say, when I lost one of my original pair they were both still very small and very young and had not yet really battled it out to see who would be the female. So it was less risky for my to add another.

On my older more established tank in the past, I lost my male clown when he jumped into the return chamber and got stuck. Because that pair had been together a long time I ended up trading in my single larger clown on two new smaller ones because she wouldn't accept a new male
 
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I think I've determined part of my algae problem. Apparently the thermometer I had on the tank originally wasn't reading accurately. I decided to double check it and put in one of the cheap ones from my freshwater tank.

Fans being added!
 

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Some big turbo or trochus snails will help eat the algae, they are the best at it in my tank. If you still can't beat it, Vibrant will clean it up.
 

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Forgot to mention that I finally got around to adding more rock.
20210802_131632.jpg
When was the rock added? Because that can actually indirectly be the cause of the algae. New dry rock usually will release phosphates over a bit of time into the water unless it is cured. I did not know this, and I put a lot of Caribsea Rubble rock into my tank a while ago, and I did not even rinse it that much due to being worried of adding tap water on the rocks. But it ended up just making my phosphates high for a long period of time, and it took a while to get them down. (THEY were VERY HIGH. At one point it was 2.7......). Which explained the bland coloration and lack of growth in my corals.

There are many possibilities, but I would not worry about it too much. Over time it should chill out especially since you've done some work to help :)
Hope things go well, but Urchins and Snails are your best bet for clean up crew control.
As far as vibrant. Do research since it can affect levels in the water, and negatively affect things if improperly dosed or if the directions are not followed.
There are other products that can help as well.
But you do not want to remove everything from the tank completely or too fast (nitrates, phosphates, and algae) since it can result in Dinoflagellates, which is much worse.
 
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When was the rock added? Because that can actually indirectly be the cause of the algae.
Algae was there before the new rock, but I also cured the new rock for quite a while before adding it to the tank. Rinsed it with a pressure washer first on low pressure, then rinsed it in rodi water, then let it sit in a bucket of salt water with prime with a heater and a circulating pump for about a month with water changes before rinsing it again with rodi water before putting it into the tank.

The algae originally came in on the live rock I added to the tank, if I ever set up another tank I'll use nothing but dry from now on
 
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Nitrate is still high. I don't have a test kit yet for phosphates but I need to get one.
 

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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