Help me Rehab this tank

[MohrReefs]

Hello everyone. I was just gifted a 32 gal nano bio cube by a friend who couldn't take his tank with him. It needs some work, big time. It clearly lacked maintenance and I bet it's been months since it's last water change. It's completely ate up with cyano and the return pump is pretty weak.

My first thought was filtration, right now it has these cartridges that sit inside it, I freshly replaced it.

I siphoned out as much water and cyano as I could, did about a 90% water change. The water is now cloudy but not yellow.

Should I toss a mega amount of CUC in here to spruce it up?
Currently stocked with 2 clowns, gramma and engineer goby about 7" long. No corals.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to bring this baby back to life?
Hold off on feeding for a couple days and work on nutrient levels?
I have a stand coming tomorrow so I can upgrade things if need be.

 

[Staghorn]

I would keep up with Maintenece and give vibrant a go.

 

[Tamberav]

I would just do reg maintenance and replace the sand bed.

 

[PeterC99]

What are the water pay that you are dealing with? Hi/low nitrates & phosphates, etc.?

 

[MohrReefs]

What are the water pay that you are dealing with? Hi/low nitrates & phosphates, etc.?

Not sure yet, was letting everything settle for a bit before testing.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I would just do reg maintenance and replace the sand bed.

Agree here. IMO Rock actually looks nice and mature, a few pineapple sponge etc by looks of it on there, should filter things out nicely with a replacement sand bed. I'd add an extra floss powerhead or two ,change daily, help suck some junk out. CUC as determined in a few weeks to a month, depending on parameters at that point. Nice score OP... bring this reef back to life!

 

[Uncle99]

I’d get a handle on the water chemistry in terms of testing all 8 major parameters, then moving them slowly to normal hobby ranges and finally, keeping them as close to target as possible.

10% water changes weekly.

 

[MohrReefs]

Agree here. IMO Rock actually looks nice and mature, a few pineapple sponge etc by looks of it on there, should filter things out nicely with a replacement sand bed. I'd add an extra floss powerhead or two ,change daily, help suck some junk out. CUC as determined in a few weeks to a month, depending on parameters at that point. Nice score OP... bring this reef back to life!

How do I get the sand out without draining it? Siphon?
Thanks!

 

[CanuckReefer]

How do I get the sand out without draining it? Siphon?
Thanks!

Sand...I will forward to the expert @brandon429 ....

 

[Cwentz758]

How do I get the sand out without draining it? Siphon?
Thanks!

A clean dust pan then siphon the rest or shop vac it.
Might be easier to just drain the tank and shop vac out the sand that way. Put all rock and water with fish in a bucket?

 

[Uncle99]

Sand looks fine to me.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Whatever you do, do it slowly.

I took over a forgotten about tank and it took months of works to get chemistry inline. Being diligent about blowing off the rock work with a turkey baster helped a lot.

Eventually I had to pull each rock out one by one into a five gallon bucket of sw and give it a Really good cleaning and blowing off.

A good CUC can do wonders.

 

[MohrReefs]

Thanks yall, I'll take it from here. I'll have this looking like my DT in about 4 months I'd wager.

 

[Staghorn]

I wouldn’t replace the sand. I guess vacuum it if it’s loaded with detritus but I don’t think there’s any need to replace the sand bed. That probably will cause allot of biological problems. Just keep up with water changes and routine Maintenece.

 

[MohrReefs]

I wouldn’t replace the sand. I guess vacuum it if it’s loaded with detritus but I don’t think there’s any need to replace the sand bed. That probably will cause allot of biological problems. Just keep up with water changes and routine Maintenece.

Yeah the sand looks fine to me, just desperately needs a vacuum.

 

[Tamberav]

I wouldn’t replace the sand. I guess vacuum it if it’s loaded with detritus but I don’t think there’s any need to replace the sand bed. That probably will cause allot of biological problems. Just keep up with water changes and routine Maintenece.

what problems with the rock there?

When I buy used tanks I replace the sand as it’s usually full of crap. People rip clean all the time and replace sand on that enormous thread.

I literally just pulled my sand last week and washed it in tap water and replaced it. Not even an acropora blinked.

If the sand isn’t dirty then there is no need but if it is nasty and cloudy then I would pull it as it’s super easy quick way to get a tank in tip top shape. Practically an instant fix.

 

[MohrReefs]

what problems with the rock there?

When I buy used tanks I replace the sand as it’s usually full of crap. People rip clean all the time and replace sand on that enormous thread.

I literally just pulled my sand last week and washed it in tap water and replaced it. Not even an acropora blinked.

If the sand isn’t dirty then there is no need but if it is nasty and cloudy then I would pull it as it’s super easy quick way to get a tank in tip top shape. Practically an instant fix.

The sand looks fine, there's just chunks of crap everywhere, I'm pretty sure I can vacuum this into decent shape. But if it doesn't I'll go the new sand route. I have a bag full it I could use.

 

[Tamberav]

Sounds good. More flow will probably be of great benefit to the rocks. Just be careful not to send too much debris flying at once.

 

[MohrReefs]

Already looking better from that water change earlier now that things have settled

.

 

[MohrReefs]

Ye

Sounds good. More flow will probably be of great benefit to the rocks. Just be careful not to send too much debris flying at once.

Ah definitely ends a power head in there, I'm getting one tomorrow. That return pump is not enough flow.