Chemiclean and my living things

BDeVaney · Oct 29, 2013

Ok so I've decided to take care of a moderate outbreak of red slime before it were to take over. I have a new anemone in the tank(20gallon) as well as 3 fish. 1 clown, 1 chromis, and 1 tail spot blenny. I followed the directions by taking the carbon out of the filter and watched my skimmer to make sure it doesn't overflow. I also have a powerhead in the tank running as well. Does this all seem fine? I put the product in last night and will water change and put a new filter catridge in tomorrow

RichieT · Oct 29, 2013

Sounds right to me. Just used this myself in a mixed reef with no issues.

adevice · Oct 29, 2013

Sounds good, I used it and it worked great, had to shut off my skimmer entirely, it was overflowing even after the water change. I didn't have an anemone at the time, but I had plenty of fish, lps, sps and clams and they were all fine. I haven't had any slime since, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

NanaReefer · Oct 29, 2013

I suggest you use an added airstone as ChemiClean sucks the oxygen right out of the water.

Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

revhtree · Oct 29, 2013

I agree that your skimmer will need to be shut off and it will take a couple of days before you'll be able to use it again.

RichieT · Oct 29, 2013

Yeah. I had crazy foam too.

BDeVaney · Oct 29, 2013

I got the skimmer under control so I'm hesitant to shut it off completely because it puts a lot of micro bubbles in th tank that add oxygen

mcarroll · Oct 30, 2013

Red slime is usually present all the time, everywhere and only blooms to visible levels like in your tank when conditions are right.

If you see it return, be prepeared to look for a root cause. Detritus (in your rocks, sand bed, sump) is one of the common culprits.

-Matt

BDeVaney · Oct 30, 2013

Yeah for sure. I know I have detritus on my sand! How do u recommend getting it up. Some areas in my tank are too hard to reach

mcarroll · Oct 31, 2013

Well, it depends on the extent of things.

Swizzle your finger or something around in the sand at likely locations - the bases of rocks, beneath powerheads and other flow sources, etc. Any typical high-turbulence/low-flow area like that. Also take a turkey baster or power head and blast out the insides of your rocks as best you can.

Usually the rocks are fine after one or more rounds of blasting.

However, if you find that the sand bed is compromised I don't think it's worth the effort involved trying (usually in vain) to rejuvenate one. Over the course of 4-5 water changes, I would siphon out 100% of the old, dirty sand bed. (Don't rush - the live rock may need a little time to pick up the slack.) I would also consider keeping the tank bare bottomed so future messes are A) very apparent and B) very easy to clean up!

(My tank is bare bottom now.) If you decide to put a new sand bed in, at least it's dirt cheap (pun intended...heh) and very easy. Keep the new bed <1" and do something to correct what caused the detritus accumulation in the first place!

Hope this helps!

-Matt

mcarroll · Oct 31, 2013

Oh BTW, a 1/2" and 3/4" hose are my preferred tools for sand bed maintenance, generally.

1/2" for detail/detritus work, 3/4" for wholesale removal.

Careful of getting shells and other rubble caught though....take some time to clean the sand of this stuff with a net or something ahead of time....you'll wish you did if you try to skip this step.

FWIW, gravel vacs are pretty useless in a reef (most of the time), but if you're gonna use one, check out the Marina...Hagan's brand....has a nice feature that blocks things like shells and other rubble from getting sucked into the siphon tube and stopping things up. Nice! You can see it in the detail of the product picture here, but you might have to see it in action for it to make sense.

-Matt

BDeVaney · Oct 31, 2013

Ok sounds good. I do want to stick with some sand. I don't have much as it is. Maybe half an inch to 3/4 inch or so. I may buy some new sand however. Like a more course sand. Right now mine is about as fine as it gets and whenever I try to suck anything up out of it I take a chunk of the sand with me. I've heard a more coarse sand will be less likely to be sucked up as opposed to fine sand. Any thoughts?

mcarroll · Oct 31, 2013

Coarse also lets more detritus settle in.

If you're gonna opt for sand, I say get what you want and don't worry about losing some during cleaning. A necessary loss.

Before you decide tho, consider what you are going to do to prevent a reoccurrence. Increasing flow is one good option and may influence how you feel about super-fine sand. Consider if there may be other issues too though, like coral feeding, over feeding, over stocking, etc.

Hope this helps!

-Matt

BDeVaney · Oct 31, 2013

Yes of course. I know I had probably been over feeding the past couple weeks which I will start to watch. Also, is there a proper way to replace some of the sand then because after a handfull of cleanings I will have lost a significant portion. As for water flow my tank is small (20 gallon). I have a powerhead which I just moved a little to be more effective, a skimmer which has lots of input and output power and a regular hang on carbon filter. I was thinking of putting the filter at the opposite end of the tank from the powerhead. Sound right?

mcarroll · Nov 1, 2013

In terms of cleaning, you need the flow to be able to move the detritus off the bottom, and keep it in suspension until a filter/coral can eat it. It's hard to say precisely what it will take to accomplish this in your tank, so being prepared to experiment a little is key!

If you mean you want a tip on how to put new sand in an existing tank, there's not a whole lot to it - be careful of any critters, and expect the tank to be cloudy for a while. One thing is that if you get bagged, dry sand, you'll want to thoroughly rinse it before putting it in the tank.

-Matt

FaviaFreak · Nov 1, 2013

I suggest taking off the collection cup of your skimmer and just let it bubble over in your sump. This will keep your oxygen levels from dropping during the treatment