Acquired a neglected tank

[JRump23]

So I use to have my own reef tank awhile back and now I have the time for another so I'm saving my buddies tank since he cannot or won't take care of it anymore. The tank had all but 4 fish alive a hippo tang flame angel and 2 clowns all of the corals are dead and doesn't look like any inverts are alive now I've done some water changes and will continue to do so but was wondering if it would be wise to take the rocks out that are all covered in algea scrub them down then put them back in cleaned up maybe also take out some of the top layer of sand and put some fresh sand in. The tank has algea everywhere and the sand is covered in slime it's bad I want the best advice to save these guys thanks

 

[Bradw18]

Pics

 

[Joey waid]

If you take it all out and clean it then put it back in it will restart your tank cycle. If I was you I would do a lot of water changes and clean areas a little at a time. You can treat the algae and slime with chemiclean or peroxide.

 

[JRump23]

If you take it all out and clean it then put it back in it will restart your tank cycle. If I was you I would do a lot of water changes and clean areas a little at a time. You can treat the algae and slime with chemiclean or peroxide.

I ment just scrubbing a majority of the algea off keeping them wet while I did it.. would that still restart the cycle

 

[Joey waid]

I ment just scrubbing a majority of the algea off keeping them wet while I did it.. would that still restart the cycle

You would have to make a lot of salt water to clean the rock. If you did keep the rock wet with salt water you should be fine. You can just do water changes and take a tooth brush to the rock and clean a little each water change. I'm sure the fish are stressed. I would be worried about doing too much at once.

 

[Elementalj]

You would have to make a lot of salt water to clean the rock. If you did keep the rock wet with salt water you should be fine. You can just do water changes and take a tooth brush to the rock and clean a little each water change. I'm sure the fish are stressed. I would be worried about doing too much at once.

I agree. It's established and you're not aware of current parameters so if you're concerned about keeping the current occupants in the realm of the living I'd do it slow and steady. Got any test kits?

 

[JRump23]

Yea I have kits will be testing the tank asap. I was going to do a decent size water change and take the bad water while pumping it out put some I to a bucket and take rocks one at a time or so to scrub off algea n what not while keeping all wet

 

[Bunnee911]

I would consider replacing the sand. Or, at least rinsing it well.
You can take one rock out at a time and peroxide it.

 

[FrankiePuffer]

Does the tank have a UV? That would also help as well as a skimmer. Without corals you can reduce the lighting slowly as well but not too quickly or the algae may die off all at once and spike the ammonia. Taking a toothbrush to the rocks in the water change disposal bucket will work well. I have done it in the past and had no cycle issues. Watch how often you do the water change. Too often and you will start the cycle again and encourage the algae to grow. Been there, done that , so some words of advice

 

[JRump23]

Does the tank have a UV? That would also help as well as a skimmer. Without corals you can reduce the lighting slowly as well but not too quickly or the algae may die off all at once and spike the ammonia. Taking a toothbrush to the rocks in the water change disposal bucket will work well. I have done it in the past and had no cycle issues. Watch how often you do the water change. Too often and you will start the cycle again and encourage the algae to grow. Been there, done that , so some words of advice

No uv on the tank just a skimmer... was wondering if anyone had tips for flow for the tank now I have 2 mp 10s for the tank it's 72 gallon bow front overflow is of set in the back left but not fully in the corner with one return hose pointed at right side of tank seems like left side of tank especially in the back left corner has dead spots. Do I need another powerhead or are the just positioned wrong I have one on the right and left side of tank for the left side it seems like i get no flow unless the powerhead in closer to the sand

 

[PatW]

From the algae problems, it sounds as if the tank has too much in the way of nitrates and phosphates. Scrubbing the rock will remove the nutrients in the algae scrubbed off. There is probably enough nutrient load to have the algae return. The brute force method of frequent, large water changes will get the nutrient levels down in time. You could use other methods like carbon dosing, running GFO, or a refugium with macro algae but those are all equipment based options.

 

[xREEFINaintEZx]

No uv on the tank just a skimmer... was wondering if anyone had tips for flow for the tank now I have 2 mp 10s for the tank it's 72 gallon bow front overflow is of set in the back left but not fully in the corner with one return hose pointed at right side of tank seems like left side of tank especially in the back left corner has dead spots. Do I need another powerhead or are the just positioned wrong I have one on the right and left side of tank for the left side it seems like i get no flow unless the powerhead in closer to the sand

I really got into finding the perfect Flo... Alot of guys told to play with them front to back(depth) instead of across (width)

 

[Lowstorm]

When my tanks get bad algae issues I have taken the rocks out on water change day and used a scrub brush to scrub them off in the water that I took out, no need for new water for it. Nor does it mess up the cycled rocks. But it's short term. Long term the only fix will be good maintenance. in a few months you'll most likely have much less issues.

 

[JRump23]

I really got into finding the perfect Flo... Alot of guys told to play with them front to back(depth) instead of across (width)

I'm going to try that out today and see thanks everyone for advice

 

[Brew12]

I really got into finding the perfect Flo... Alot of guys told to play with them front to back(depth) instead of across (width)

I really like this idea. I think I would try to mount both MP10's on the back wall and point them to the front. Their flow profiles are short but wide so you should get much better flow distribution.

 

[xREEFINaintEZx]

this is what I started with. sry about the pics I was just trying to Id the inhabitants. this is what i did. relocated the tank to my house. keep all water, do small water changes every 5 day. in combination with turkey basting your rocks... get it cloudy and get some airline tubing and start siphoning, if you have bad nitrate or phos do the bigger WC.

 

[xREEFINaintEZx]

so much for thumbnails. lol