Hi Reefers,
I had restated the hobby. I used to have a 30g sumpless FOWLR setup about 10 years ago. Now I have a 50g sumpless reef setup which I had cycled for 2 months. I have aan adult sailfin, a clown perc and an azure damsel fish (these are the fishes that survived). I also have several corals (elegant, bubble, sps). I use 2 T8 lamps @35w each and am using 3 box fans to cool the water to 28-29'C.
Recently, my 2 hammer corals withered and the water turned murky. I did a 20% water change yesterday and the water clarity improved a bit, but I noticed an outbreak of black hairy algae on the surface of the top layer LRs.
Kindly advise what to do to have crystal clear water and control algae growth. I started dozing with ethanol last night (10 drops of 70% ethyl alcohol) to control NO3 and PO4 levels. I use a Queens skimmer with a 2200 powerhead and a corner filter for mechanical filtration. I use a wave maker and a rio800 to achieve water flow.