Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[Seton]

Holy moly that’s what you call a deep clean

full credit to him for the work but for my 400 litres that seems very daunting

I read a post here by someone doing a rip clean....I recall he’d underestimated the work involved and was still sorting it at 2am and he then went on to have water quality problems...did it cycle again? I cant remember now

 

[brandon429]

yes agreed in that big of a tank it'd be risky to under do the rinse. those smaller systems are spoiled on easy access agreed. its ok to sit cleaned rocks back in the tank your sand didn't look particularly deep or dirty/accumulated with black patches in the sand etc. you'll see the clouding most likely well up a little when you move rocks in and out, thats some feed these algae and cyano use to capitalize on. its not very potent detritus but it still serves as attachment and nourishment substrate for various opportunists


how we handle the rock directly keeps channels open for good filtration, doesn't affect major chemistry etc.

test a small section of the tank first, if a big cloud emits then it may really be dangerous to do all the rocks without a rip clean. if only a small cloud of waste emits, the risk is low.

 

[Seton]

the bed isnt deep and I vacuum it during water changes so it’s used to being sifted/cleaned. certainly no dark patches

 

[brandon429]

I truly think based on this prior access habit vs stagnation its safe. really do. even the cloud should be well aerated typical reef dust. I have never seen a shallow sandbed, routinely vac'd sandbed crash someone's tank.

 

[Seton]

test a small section of the tank first, if a big cloud emits then it may really be dangerous to do all the rocks without a rip clean. if only a small cloud of waste emits, the risk is low.

Do you mean I should remove a rock and what will the cloud look like?

 

[brandon429]

For the sandbeds that sit there unexported/classic hands off dsb's I wanted a careful increment inspection/we never know if those have dangerous pockets of waste and rot

knowing your sandbed clarity and routine access, low tank bioload based on pics and details I think its ok regardless of how it clouds. we typically find that the lower the waste clouding in a system the lower the incidence of various invasions capitalizing on it

your before shots above looked pretty clean, you're acting very early on before the tank is sinked up in waste I think its at a very safe time interval to work in the setup.

 

[Seton]

OK, I will just carry on what I’m doing for now. I do sometimes move the rocks around too if I want to change things up a bit and I use a turkey baster to blast the rocks

 

[Stansreef]

Been battling dinos, cyano, green hair algae, etc. on my Fluval Evo13.5 for months now. Chasing nutrients, different chemical treatments, urchins, snails, etc. with no lasting results! Was at my wits end, came across this thread and thought why not rip and treat!

Read through the various posts and techniques for sand cleaning and hydrogen sprays and came up with a game plan.

Pulled all my coral frags first, scrubbed them with a toothbrush dipped in h2o2 (avoiding fleshy areas). Dipped in RO, then tank water, then placed in a 5 gallon bucket with tank water and a heater. Put fish in a separate 5 gallon bucket with heater.

Pulled all rocks, scrubbed down all areas hard with a toothbrush again being sure to avoid zoas. Rinsed/dunked the rocks numerous times in salt water to get rid of debris. Then sprayed the rocks with 3% h2o2 and let sit for 4 mins. Dipped in RO then salt water before placing back in tank (after sand treatment).

Kept the rocks moist with saltwater misting while I worked on the sand. Pulled all the sand and rinsed with cold tap water numerous times in another 5 gallon bucket in the sink. Kept tap rinsing until water was crystal clear (lost count of rinses). Rinsed with RO a final time before placing back in tank.

Placed the rocks back in, refilled with water, added the fish and corals back! Corals are still ticked off but I they'll pull through. 2 days after rinse and I'm very pleased! Just waiting for zoas to open up fully.

A couple before and after pics shows the story! Just need to rearrange rocks and some corals in the future. Thanks for the thread @brandon429

 

[brandon429]

I simply cannot thank you enough


what a surprise


on my iPad just now I thought hey, this thread hasn’t popped up in a while wonder what someone did


and as I began reading, the top of the first pic peeked from the bottom but I did not scroll and see it I resisted lol and read the description first and when I saw the pic I had nerd chills. It was pure surgery pure dentistry skip cycle work


demonstrates we can nearly buzzsaw our surface area and it still skip cycles, we have room to work without cycle fear when zero detritus is allowed in the V2

its just perfect there are two other deep clean threads that will benefit from seeing your documentation and pics and updates!

I would have preserved around the briareum wall exactly that way, its your tanks beard / all the rest is 100% clean and now the allelopathic compounds are gone, there isn’t rotting plants, there’s only clean water and happy animals

 

[GuppyHJD]

I want someone’s tough fix job, whose got some algae

I am reading the thread, trying to understand the best approach. Taking the rock out of the tank to clean does not seam practical since many encrusting corals are growing on the rocks and much of the scape is epoxied together.
I know my phosphates are too high and am working to bring that back into line. (Phosphates 0.60 currently, and Nitrates 14.3). I have bubble algae and ulva. For emerald crabs are at work on some of the algae.
Can I use a syringe with H2O2 in the tank for accessible areas? How much H2O2 a day?
(Tank is 120g)