Wow. If it's 4yo then I would just start dosing peroxide to the tank. You can directly treat the badly infected areas if you choose - it will generally turn white and you can manually pull it off over the next few days. I've had great success with it followed by routine dosing of chemi-clean with water changes.
Exactly I started this tank at 10 years old so I knew basically nothing. If I get a lot of green lights on peroxide dipping I will problably do it.
No idea how to start dosing peroxide+coral??
How big is the tank? I wouldn't put peroxide on the coral, I would just put it in your tank if that's what you're saying. I'm not familiar with rip clean so I can't recommend or warn against it, I do know I've personally dozed peroxide and it's been fine but I was very nervous to do that.
No need to do this yet.
I would but I am afraid if I ask my parents wont let me restart.I've seen a few threads you have posted & we all want you to succeed. Before you spend any more funds, have you thought about replacing your tank with a drilled tank or even go with a siphon overflow to a sump? I started out with a siphon overflow with a small 10g sump a long time ago. My hang on the back skimmer was on the sump with a small refugium. The problem I had with skimmer on the display tank was the water level would affect performance & the dreaded microbubbles. Here are a couple examples of some tanks that were DIY, including my 1st 10g sump 20+ years ago:
My recent urchin died and ate 0 algae
This isn't a full rip clean its partial. But your right chemicals are a last resort. I have been putting rock cleans off for a long time because I have been way to scared to do it etc. But at least 5 rocks will be pulled out nothing from the base only the top ones.No need to do this yet.
Go slow, steady don't be rash everything will be okay!
I have to say it's refreshing to see a teenager into aquariums instead of video games and the like.
Best way to do this is manual removal, scrubbing, water changes.
Hooking up the skimmer is a step in the right direction and we're here if you need help with that.
In no way is a skimmer going to remove nitrate or phosphate but, instead it will help remove things that may cause those issues.
It is still up to you to change water and scrub these rocks, which I KNOW you can do.
Chemicals, rip cleans should always be a last resort and rarely if ever solve anything, especially if you have no experience in either.
We're here for you just take it one step at a time.
You can use 3% peroxide which is an oxidizer
If its thick algae or bryopsis - urchin will not touch it
Ya all of it is very thick and it gets long if I don't remove it.
www.reef2reef.com
Post a short video of skimmer running if you can
