5 gallon tear down and restart

[Jeremy K.A.]

I just tore down my 5 gallon mixed reef after 3 years of it being set up. It was my very first saltwater tank of any sort! I’m sad to have done it but also excited, because, I am going to redo it. I plan on starting a new mixed reef in this tank yet again however have questions. I tore the old one down, removing all live rock and corals, and am going to remove all sand etc as well ASAP. I tore it down because I was fighting some brown film algae that was impossible to remove entirely. Every time I cleaned the glass, it would return by later that evening. What should I do to sanitize the tank once everything’s out? I was thinking of filling it with a mix of freshwater and vinegar for a day or two before cleaning glass once more and then another quick rinse before letting it sit a day or so. Would that be alright?

 

[Dom]

White vinegar to to clean.

In a tank that size, the algae you had no doubt comes from elevated phosphate and nitrate levels. You fix that via nutrient export. You're going to have the same problem if you tear it down and rebuild it the same way.

You need to provide more information:

-What kind of filtration do you have?
- Are you running a skimmer?
- What kind of lighting?
- Are you doing water changes? How often?
- What kind of water are you using?

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

White vinegar to to clean.

In a tank that size, the algae you had no doubt comes from elevated phosphate and nitrate levels. You fix that via nutrient export. You're going to have the same problem if you tear it down and rebuild it the same way.

You need to provide more information:

-What kind of filtration do you have?
- Are you running a skimmer?
- What kind of lighting?
- Are you doing water changes? How often?
- What kind of water are you using?

No skimmer, I've never found one small enough to fit in the back chamber, except maybe a reef glass nano I think? Which was way overpriced imo
Filtration was phosphate, carbon, and ammonia filter pads plus small amount of GFO
Lighting is a Zetlight but I forgot the model
Rarely did water changes and everything was fine, once things got bad I started doing them more often and it made absolutely no difference.
Water was RODI, with Red Sea coral Pro salt mix.
Also when testing phosphates and nitrates were always undetectable and Alk was 9-10 and Calcium 450-500

 

[Dom]

No skimmer, I've never found one small enough to fit in the back chamber, except maybe a reef glass nano I think? Which was way overpriced imo
Filtration was phosphate, carbon, and ammonia filter pads plus small amount of GFO
Lighting is a Zetlight but I forgot the model
Rarely did water changes and everything was fine, once things got bad I started doing them more often and it made absolutely no difference.
Water was RODI, with Red Sea coral Pro salt mix.
Also when testing phosphates and nitrates were always undetectable and Alk was 9-10 and Calcium 450-500

How long was the tank running before you got this crazy bloom?

 

[ZoWhat]

Use the 5g tank as an ice-n-beer cooler and go buy a 240g 6ft tank





.

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

How long was the tank running before you got this crazy bloom?

almost 3 years at that point

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

Use the 5g tank as an ice-n-beer cooler and go buy a 240g 6ft tank





.

Dude if I could afford one and had a place to put it I DEFINITELY WOULD! haha