How to properly clean a neglected aquarium?

[billyocean]

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

Study that, run it exactly on your tank

That's six different neglected reefs fixed all the same way

I was about to tag you...lol

 

[Zeal]

I was about to tag you...lol

By RIP clean, does it mean just rinse the sand and just do a complete reset?

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Rip clean is everything. Sand, rocks, tank, all of it.

 

[Zeal]

Rip clean is everything. Sand, rocks, tank, all of it.

Yeah, that's what I thought.. Im just worried about rinsing the sand... like I said it's hard in a condo. I don't want sand going down the drain

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Maybe take the sand to self car wash place and do it there. Or replace the sand entirely.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed its all at once, even if sand isn’t the problem it’s got waste that feeds rock issue…do the whole thing for the win

 

[Zeal]

Maybe take the sand to self car wash place and do it there. Or replace the sand entirely.

Agreed its all at once, even if sand isn’t the problem it’s got waste that feeds rock issue…do the whole thing for the win

Guess Ill have to buy sand...

 

[billyocean]

Guess Ill have to buy sand...

I've never done it but I've read through pages and pages of threads with success if you follow his formula. I'll be doing it when I switch tanks within the next year. Only want to have to move my scape once..it's nsa in 2 pieces...going to be tricky. Going to rip clean in my old tank and switch to new tank..but that's another story.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

I'll admit, my original tank has taken a turn for the worse. I try as much as possible to try and keep it clean but it won't stay clean.

Long story short, my skimmer was dumping skimmate into the sump and I didn't know. Ever since that, I have not been able to keep it clean.

So tomorrow I'm planning on scraping the sides of the aquariums (they're filled with Coraline algae and a type of film algae/cyano that comes off in like a sheet...)

ill maybe throw some of the sand away because it's very dirty.

Now for the rocks, there's like a cyano of algae that I can suck off... I was thinking of taking the rock out are brushing off all the algae, I live in a condo so I can't use a hose to pressure clean the rocks.

The fish will go in a bucket for the time being with a bubbler...

Anything else I should do? Not looking forward to this task but it has to get done... I would like to get rid of the skimmer also, it's supposed to be a softie tank...

Edit: its a Red Sea 170, I want to do a 90% waterchange.. maybe 100%?

What you are going to do sounds good. I suggest to every reefer to make tank maintenance as easy as possible for YOU. Lugging buckets of water around is always a pain.
A brute can on wheels with a pump and heater inside makes your life so much easier. If you spend hundreds on coral, you should be spending the appropriate amount on maintenance equipment.

 

[brandon429]

A brute can or two fully mixed with heated and set clean new saltwater agreed is ideal. Pump all that clean water back in the totally rip cleaned substrate

He’d take out the animals as planned, take the tank down to bare cleaned glass, rasp and peroxide rinse the rocks as surgical detail, have either rinsed old sand or rinsed new sand ready for cloudless install, and put the whole tank back together using only the old rocks rinsed as we do, not in tap water. Sand gets tap water, rocks get saltwater.

this is a no bottle bac job. All rip cleans are no bottle bac jobs, to show the bottle bac industry there’s one set of folks you don’t lead around with a nose ring. There’s no such thing as too little bacteria in a reef tank, we’ve been showing for ten years. Your sales ploy has been illuminated

 

[FIN&BONEZ]

If you can wait till next weekend kill the lights for a week. I think you will find that most of the algae and coralline will die off making your project a lot easier.

 

[LilsReefTank]

I'll admit, my original tank has taken a turn for the worse. I try as much as possible to try and keep it clean but it won't stay clean.

Long story short, my skimmer was dumping skimmate into the sump and I didn't know. Ever since that, I have not been able to keep it clean.

So tomorrow I'm planning on scraping the sides of the aquariums (they're filled with Coraline algae and a type of film algae/cyano that comes off in like a sheet...)

ill maybe throw some of the sand away because it's very dirty.

Now for the rocks, there's like a cyano of algae that I can suck off... I was thinking of taking the rock out are brushing off all the algae, I live in a condo so I can't use a hose to pressure clean the rocks.

The fish will go in a bucket for the time being with a bubbler...

Anything else I should do? Not looking forward to this task but it has to get done... I would like to get rid of the skimmer also, it's supposed to be a softie tank...

Edit: its a Red Sea 170, I want to do a 90% waterchange.. maybe 100%?

Would you try bare bottom? I started with sand and yes, of course I loved it. Then I got an ich tank and decided to remove the sand. I don't think ill go back to substrate the maintence is worlddddds easier now. I just use the power head to blow the detritus up every now and then and it gets sucked up.