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Got a picture? I would leave them alone until they pop off on their own.

yeah they tend to get a bit on the aggressive side especially when any type of spwning behavior is involved, but the bigger one is more likely female so maybe clownshefa? I used to have a problem with my female bullying on my hands during maintenance and then forcing the male to beat up on me too (literally she would get tired and push him over to my hand till he started attacking to.) They no longer go after me and one thing I did was I started doing maintenance more when the lights went off and when I did dare enter the tank during the daylight hours enter the tank slowly and on the oposite side of their territory. Slowly but surely they started leaving me alone. also what may have helped was I added a yellow tang to the tank making the female the second largest fish in the tank and I think that kind of put her in her place as well.

Exactly. Like I said, it's almost like a mood thing.

Thanks to all Kitch40

Thanks Marc. After the first night he seems normal, his black stripes had turned gray and he was just tearing all over the tank, but now he seems a ok. His stripes can change almost in an eyeblink!!!

Tangs can change colors based on their mood. I've seen my Hippos look dusky, then later vivid. My Naso changes from ghostly white to nearly black end to end. Yellow Tangs can look bleached, then bright yellow to almost orange later.

If the color stays one way long term, like what you described, as in day after day after day, then I'd look for cause. But what you see tonight could be completely different a day later, as in back to normal.

A skittish tang will swim just like you described when it apparently feels stressed. This should stop as well - perhaps it sees its reflection.

I had the same problem you did and have gone all over the map with solutions. No sock, sock on every other week, went from 4" to 7" sock, etc... - but i think it came down to the fact that I hate all that crap piling up in my sump (and the micro bubbles - good call).

I finally settled on moving from a 4" sock to a 7" sock and emptying that during the weekend cleaning ritual (PS, algae off glass, checking parameters, modifiying dosing if needed, etc.) I would LOVE to simply buy / build a new sump so that I could have 1/3 of overflow water going directly into a refugium , but the Elos sumps are not really well designed with that in mind (even if I am already trying / hacking a way to do that).

I fundamentally agree with baker.shawns comments about just going minimal and natural - But without a filter sock on, I just find that I am too often on my hands and knees under the tank getting anonoyed at the goby and vortechs for kicking up sand that ended up on the sump floor.

Filter socks keep snails, microbubles and junk out of my pumps. Changed every three days they are worth it to me. Necessary no they're not. Matt pretty much nailed it. If you don't change them often you're better off not using them. I do remove them for a few hours when I broadcast feed my corals.

ive never used a filter sock before...its just one more thing to worry about and IMO your better off just sucking out some of the crap in your sump when you do water changes

I'd say if you're replacing them weekly you'd be fine to just take them off. Although... they obviously are trapping things because they are getting clogged up. The main goal with them is to trap that stuff and for it to be removed before it breaks down and goes through the nitrogen cycle... so it would help to replace them more often, every two or three days. That way you're replacing them before they clog, and before more things in them are breaking down. The things that are getting trapped in there are simply going to be trapped elsewhere... likely areas of low flow or pulled out by the skimmer.

Thanks for the help, The tang hid out last night and today,he seems normal, no colour changing or such. He has always been the most boisterous fish in the tank as well as the largest. Anyways I did a water test and the parameters all seem good, although when I did the water change I forced the salinity up a bit from 1.0245 to 1.026. The temp was about 80f and it starts at 76f every day.
Temp 76, ph 8.2, nitrite 0,nitrate 5 mg/l, phosphate 0, Kh 9,Calcium 440, Magnesium1420,Salinity 1.026 Thanks again Kitch40

Yep... run every test you've got.

Temp, Salinity, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate for sure. Got more? Even better! :-)

Also list anything new that has happened in the last week or so. Anything added to the tank... fish, additives, inverts... list anything.

Need parameters, color change is usually stress related though.

Thanks Marc! PS I finally got it all going...auto top up works good although the kit was a bit of a headache and the fish now have RODI water in use!!!

And of course, you can use Phosphate Control to nuke the PO4 in your tank, catching it in a filter sock (the fuzzy kind, not mesh) or let your skimmer export it overnight.

No brass fittings should be used with our systems, not in RO/DI water nor saltwater. You can use them PRIOR to the RO/DI system, but not in your collected water.

You would be best to change it out since rodi water is fairly corrosive. Nylon pvc abs are your best choices for anything dealling with water and your tank

im not sure about brass, but i know copper is definitly a problem, since brass contains copper id say this may be a problem.

i suggest you just replace the brass with a plastic fitting, you can just cut the hose to remove the brass end and use a barb fitting from homedepot to connect the hose and pump. if the line is presurized i also suggest using plastic hose clamps to secure everything

Thanks to all!!!

If you want to get it done in a couple days, you can do a very big very long water changes, put the fresh SW in your ATO reservoir and use an airline on a siphon to remove water from your tank, with this method I can change out about 5gal in about an hour. It is my preferred method for water changes because it reduces the chance of drastic change. This being said the most I would ever change out is ~30% daily

this being said its sort of a waste of salt just to replace your water, I'd just keep on with your regular changes in a couple weeks it will be switched over