New reefer

[rygh]

A 50% water change will NOT kill a clown fish.
I do 100% changes during quarantine tank-transfer-method procedure. No problems.
It really should help not hurt unless parameters were WAY off.
Can you describe what you did?
In particular, did you match salinity and temperature?
Developing a good water change procedure is critical for small tank.

You increased the PH???
Reef tanks are well buffered. Most PH tweaks will be short term.
So talking about changing that is a bit surprising.

Dinoflagellates would be a major pain, but they are a bit rare, so you should be sure.
Can you get a closeup picture?

Suggestion:
SLOW DOWN
A lot of what you mention above sounds like a perfectly normal start for a new reef tank.

 

[rygh]

PS:
Don't give up if it is a hassle at first.
Everyone wants to fix things quickly when they go wrong. I did when I started.
Unfortunately, reef keeping is not that way. You need the patience of a monk.

I hope we can help.

 

[Enderturtle]

Oh you might want to start a new thread on this, maybe a tank journal so we know what your whole set up is without having to read every single post in this thread.

Most people when they look at the thread title they see "Oh new member, 20 replies, i'm sure she's been welcomed, Not gonna open it up"

But yeah definitely take it slow.

Remember that algae/cyano/diatoms is feeding off of something. You control how food/fish poop/decaying matter goes in that tank.

Most people do not go full scale warfare against algae blooms for new-ish tanks. It's part of the lifespan of a tank. I didn't add my first fish until 4 weeks after my tank was cycled. No corals until the tank was about 8 weeks old. Waiting doesn't just provide you with a stable population of beneficial bacteria, it also gives you time to learn your tank's chemistry and basic reef problems and solutions.

Use a reef salt, get your salinity to an appropriate level 1.025-1.026. You will have enough alkalinity to buffer your tank against pH changes. A common cause of low pH is high CO2 build up due to a bio film or a stuffy room.Usually caused by poor water movement. Or a glass lid. Reef tanks want to breathe! There should be gas exchange happening (co2, o2, n2)

Here's a link on Common low pH problems. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/

It's really hard for us to pin-point the cause of your algae bloom without all the information, which is why we recommend starting a Tank Journal.

We don't know what size tank, how often you feed, what you feed, what kind of lights, how old the tank is, what you used to cycle your tank, did you add decaying live rock to your tank, are you using tap water? There are so many variables that could be fueling your algae problem.