I do like the coralline algae growing there
I just scrubbed the other nasties and soaked it (just the casing, not the media) in some tap water with a bit of peroxide while I was scrubbing the rocks. In fact I ordered two zoa frags, they shipped today and should be here tomorrow.
I can't wait to add some more life to the tank, it looks so empty now! If they'll do well I'll probably get more in a couple of weeks. :3 After all a reef tank with just a leather, two sad mushrooms and a closed up zoa isn't much of a reef isn't it?
Before the rip cleaning light was 12w white + blue for 10 hours (2h break in the middle) and another hour of 6w blue. A bit less white in the week prior the rip clean actually but I still kept it on.
Looks great .Day 7
Water still crystal clear, glass is perfectly clean too:
The striped mushroom is definitely opening up. I think it detached from the rock, it might start to move around until it finds a place it likes:
That single green zoa polyp is still halfway open and pale:
Sand is dirty and needs cleaning:
The big mushroom has definitely something weird going on, I think it might be melting. Managed to snap a couple of pics. what the heck is that?
Looks like a goner to me. :|
Parameters still stable, NO3 2.5, alk around 10 dKh, salinity crept up to 1025 but I probably didn't top off with RODI enough yesterday when I did that mini water change.
The new zoa frags are still closed but shipping took two days so I guess I'll have to be patient with them.
It's been a week since the rip cleaning and the results are amazing: I don't have to clean the glass every day, alk finally isn't dropping quickly anymore and I have some detectable nitrates. Alk dropping constantly and NO3 near 0 were definitely the algae's fault, once removed the majority of them my parameters are finally stable.
Since the corals aren't so angry at me anymore I removed the paper screen. I'll keep running blues for another couple of days and then I'll try adding a bit of white and I'll see how that goes.
This will be my last daily update unless something unexpected happens, but I'll keep posting to let you guys know how the tank will do in the next weeks/months.
Tomorrow I'll do some cleaning and a bigger water change. What's a suitable amount for a weekly water change? 10%? 5%?
I'm pretty sure the smaller one is melting, the other one is hanging in there but still no signs of opening. I moved the plugs on the rocks to get them some more light.
My tank is definitely still recovering and not out of the woods so I don't consider it a 100% success yet, but the rip cleaning definitely made things better and hopefully they'll keep improving in the future. 
www.reef2reef.com
I’m sure the ripQuick update.
Algae: definitely under control. I did an approx 50% water change and there was a bit of algae on the rocks that I scrubbed off easily, a bit of stringy algae on the glass that I scraped away and the sand was kinda encrusted on the surface. I tried siphoning but it was a mess so I just used the turkey baster to suck out the top layer, rinsed in tap and then saltwater and then I put it back in the tank but it was a long and cumbersome process. I'm going to try with daily stirring and see if that makes maintenance easier.
Corals: the cabbage leather is closed again (I think it doesn't like water changes, and I messed up salinity which ended up a bit too low dang) but it was doing really well up until the last wc, I think it's growing and generally looking plump and happy. That green zoa polyp is still not completely open and pale but it does look slightly better, and I think other polyps are showing some signs of wanting to open as well. I moved the striped mushroom because it was trying to hide under a rock and it's now completely open, still a bit shrank but definitely recovering. The big mushroom is not dead yet, it still has that weird looking thing near its mouth but it definitely looks better now. I think it's a hole and I can see the rock through, maybe I injured it while cleaning the rocks and now it's recovering or even splitting.
The new frags I got are doing really poorly.
Parameters: all stable. Alk dropped a little bit (9.9 before wc, back to 10.5 now), nitrates went down a tad (about 2 now from 2.5), salinity dropped to 1022, back to 1023 now and I'll raise it back to 1024 by topping off with saltwater. I'm still feeding daily, a sprinkle of powder food and some AA (full dose) every other day. I've been adding the white light back increasing one hour per day and so far no one complained, corals didn't show any sign of distress so I'll keep ramping up until I get back to the original schedule. I still want to change that fixture though, 12w are okay for those corals but I'd like something more controllable and a little more blue than what I currently have.
The one I got now is the Reef Mineral Salt (which apparently is a thing for the Balling method and I don't even know what that is), while the one I was using initially is only Reef Salt, without Mineral. I can't swear on this forum but please imagine the amount of profanity that came out of my mouth when I realized. That's why Ca, Mg and alk were so high compared to salinity.
I’m really confused .@Brandon42 I haven't seen any study but I will consider my tank back to normal when the corals will be in a better overall shape, I'm sure it's just a matter of time and good husbandry for now on. The rip clean helped for sure since the zoas that before were always closed and covered in algae now are showing signs of recovery, the mushrooms are okay and the cabbage leather is doing great.
@Rmckoy agreed with that, I ordered another heater that will make the process easier for the next wc.
Regarding salinity... guys, I discovered I messed up big time. That discrepancy between sg and Ca/Mg/alk wasn't sitting right with me so I kept looking for answers and I finally figured it out. I ordered the wrong salt.
I ordered a new batch of salt, the correct one this time, as soon as it will arrive I'll start with daily small water changes to bring everything back where it should be. :mad: Glad that my current corals are so forgiving... we'll see if the new frags will survive the ordeal.
I believe the rip clean helped to clean and get back to a good starting place with established bacteria .@Brandon42 I haven't seen any study but I will consider my tank back to normal when the corals will be in a better overall shape, I'm sure it's just a matter of time and good husbandry for now on. The rip clean helped for sure since the zoas that before were always closed and covered in algae now are showing signs of recovery, the mushrooms are okay and the cabbage leather is doing great.
@Rmckoy agreed with that, I ordered another heater that will make the process easier for the next wc.
Regarding salinity... guys, I discovered I messed up big time. That discrepancy between sg and Ca/Mg/alk wasn't sitting right with me so I kept looking for answers and I finally figured it out. I ordered the wrong salt.
I ordered a new batch of salt, the correct one this time, as soon as it will arrive I'll start with daily small water changes to bring everything back where it should be. :mad: Glad that my current corals are so forgiving... we'll see if the new frags will survive the ordeal.
