For the siphoning though I can only siphon out the water when I do a water change right? I tried siphoning the water with algae into a bucket through a filter so only the water goes into the bucket and then put the water back into the tank, but problem is the water was disgustingly brown and looked really gross and I was scared to put it in the tank.
Ill try. Its so hard to not make the algae float around when I clean though, I tried catching the floating algae in a ziploc bag but it didnt work of course.
That was the one I posted earlier in this thread. The guy is Rich Ross, he used to work at the steinhart aquarium, and had bred cephalopods and is now working on breeding corals. Guy knows his stuff.
The filter socks are swapped out every week. Remove the ones from the sump and put your second set in. Rinse the dirty socks and place in 2.5 gallon bucket with super hot water and add 1/4 cup of bleach. Agitate the socks let them sit for two or three hours. Rinse the sock thoroughly with tap water and let dry. Before you swap these back into service rinse them again in the bucket with some RO water.
sounds fun, i will definitely listen.
If you do the “rip clean” just have everything prepared 110% before you start and wake up early as hell that day. Plan on it being one day and one day only . Don’t give yourself the option of leaving your fish in a bucket for multiple days.
I dont know. I need this tank spotless by June or my parents will sell it. I wanted to do the rip clean because I can have it over with in one or two days. Do you think that the list I had on the first page was good enough steps? I asked brandon one or two days ago and he hasnt replied with his advice yet so i thought id ask in a new post for the opinions of others
By algae scrubber do you mean the magnetic ones you put one in the inside and outside of the tank and scrape the glass? I have 2 of those, and Im planning on setting up a 5 gallon refugium too. Im a bit confused on plumbing it but ill do some more research.
Welcome to the hobby
Seriously there are many ways people do things differently to get to the same result. I feel like you’re just going to have to find someone you trust and try to copy their methods. I loved listening to reef therapy with Jake Adams. The point is, pick a path and try it. It may or may not work for you. 
Did you change your tank maintenance routine after you rip cleaned your tank?When I did a rip clean on my tank (13 gallons) I ended up getting a cheap dollar store serrated knife to scrape the algae off the rocks. Then I treated the spots with peroxide. My algae wasn't nearly as bad as this but my tank was dying. Corals looked sick and I was about to throw in the towel. Rip clean saved my tank from crashing.
This was 3 days after the rip clean.
All I did was:
* rinse the sandbed until crystal clear.
* scraped algae off with a dollar store knife and peroxide treated the spots I scraped.
* Cleaned the tank/equipment with vinegar and then rinse with RO water
* Put in brand new water
Now I have other issues right now but my corals for the most part are happy and I am upgrading to a different tank soon.
It's still a rats nest but I can get enjoyment out of it now.
I just did the same weekly water changes that I always did.
how do i clean the sandbed without clouding the tank and killing everything? I have impossible to reach areas of the tank
