Severely neglected tank, how to restart?

[Kaludar]

Just do a large water change with matching salinity/temp and siphon out the sand... either rinse the sand in tap forever until clear or add new sand. You can do this in multiple water changes if that is what it takes to get the sand out.

Manually remove what algae you can, add some CUC and some female emerald crabs for the bubble algae.

Fixing this problem is pretty easy in smaller tanks.

I see no reason to start over... if you started with new acid washed rock... you would just reset yourself back to the ugly phases where most get algae anyways.

Just to clarify, when you say siphon out the sand, do you mean physically remove the sand and replace it, or just remove detritus from the sand?

I think on my initial go with this tank I went way overboard with trying to micromanage everything. I was dosing carbon, and i essentially scrubbed all nutrients from my tank, had zero algae, but my corals were struggling. Then i stopped dosing and things started to rebound, but i got freaked out by having some algae in the tank and started dosing again.

It's a shame because i did have some corals that were doing well. Had a beautiful gold torch coral that was thriving. Mushrooms are either really hardy or I had a good setup for them cause they were growing like crazy. I was never able to grow acros though, they bleached out and died within days, same with my scolys, they kept receeding. When i couldn't grow acros I just kinda gave up and let the tank go to crap.

I think I need a more simple approach this time.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I ripped cleaned my my 20 gallon nano all in a few hours 100% changed the water and rinsed the sand 100+. I had really bad cyano/dinos and bad water all around I did a complete rip.

tank went from this

to this

There is tons of bacteria on the rocks.

This is true. If you leave the rocks alone the bacteria will survive. I thought ripped clean meant you take out the rock and scrub them and bleach them and all that good jive.

Nice submarine. I want one!

 

[CanuckReefer]

Just to clarify, when you say siphon out the sand, do you mean physically remove the sand and replace it, or just remove detritus from the sand?

I think on my initial go with this tank I went way overboard with trying to micromanage everything. I was dosing carbon, and i essentially scrubbed all nutrients from my tank, had zero algae, but my corals were struggling. Then i stopped dosing and things started to rebound, but i got freaked out by having some algae in the tank and started dosing again.

It's a shame because i did have some corals that were doing well. Had a beautiful gold torch coral that was thriving. Mushrooms are either really hardy or I had a good setup for them cause they were growing like crazy. I was never able to grow acros though, they bleached out and died within days, same with my scolys, they kept receeding. When i couldn't grow acros I just kinda gave up and let the tank go to crap.

I think I need a more simple approach this time.

Your last sentence. Live by it....

 

[sfin52]

Hi guys,

I have a 250L tank that has been neglected for about 8-9 months. I have two clown flish, a peppermint shrimp and 1 remaining living coral, some sort of green mushroom which I'm amazed is still alive. I am a bit ashamed to admit but I completely let the tank go to crap, its overrun with green algae and bubble algae, the sump is in horrible shape, it will need a complete tear down and cleaning.

Me and my wife have decided we want to give it another go, but set our expectations a bit lower this time. I actually had a decent tank going but I was unable to grow acropora and got really disheartened and kinda gave up. Anyway question is how should we go about doing this? I think we will probably give the livestock back to the local fish store while we do our clean up. How should we handle cleaning the rock? We have a moderate amount of coraline growth that we would like to not kill, but I also want to start fresh with no algae in the tank. Should we just remove all the rock and manually scrub them, should we do some sort of acid wash to get rid of all the algae?

If we tear the tank down and scrub the rock will we have to re-cycle the tank again?

How should we go about doing this reboot? Any advice is appreciated.

Digi are great sps easy to grow and give you an acro look.

 

[shadow_k]

This is true. If you leave the rocks alone the bacteria will survive. I thought ripped clean meant you take out the rock and scrub them and bleach them and all that good jive.

Nice submarine. I want one!

Haha the wife wanted to be included.

@brandon429 has a great rip clean thread.
I kept my rocks wet the whole time. In a a 30 gallon tub of old saltwater. And just moved them back and forth really fast to dislodge any detritus. Rinsed my sand in tap and then it’s final rinse was in pure RO water. I did this in the beginning of September that picture up top was this morning

 

[Tamberav]

Just to clarify, when you say siphon out the sand, do you mean physically remove the sand and replace it, or just remove detritus from the sand?

I think on my initial go with this tank I went way overboard with trying to micromanage everything. I was dosing carbon, and i essentially scrubbed all nutrients from my tank, had zero algae, but my corals were struggling. Then i stopped dosing and things started to rebound, but i got freaked out by having some algae in the tank and started dosing again.

It's a shame because i did have some corals that were doing well. Had a beautiful gold torch coral that was thriving. Mushrooms are either really hardy or I had a good setup for them cause they were growing like crazy. I was never able to grow acros though, they bleached out and died within days, same with my scolys, they kept receeding. When i couldn't grow acros I just kinda gave up and let the tank go to crap.

I think I need a more simple approach this time.

Physically removing it is easier. Then you can clean it outside the tank and replace (or buy new).

Algae is healthy.. you definitely want algae.. you just don't want a forest of it.

 

[shadow_k]

Just to clarify, when you say siphon out the sand, do you mean physically remove the sand and replace it, or just remove detritus from the sand?

I think on my initial go with this tank I went way overboard with trying to micromanage everything. I was dosing carbon, and i essentially scrubbed all nutrients from my tank, had zero algae, but my corals were struggling. Then i stopped dosing and things started to rebound, but i got freaked out by having some algae in the tank and started dosing again.

It's a shame because i did have some corals that were doing well. Had a beautiful gold torch coral that was thriving. Mushrooms are either really hardy or I had a good setup for them cause they were growing like crazy. I was never able to grow acros though, they bleached out and died within days, same with my scolys, they kept receeding. When i couldn't grow acros I just kinda gave up and let the tank go to crap.

I think I need a more simple approach this time.

I did the exact same thing you did my friend. I dosed vibrant once a saw a little algae and my tank went down hill soon after… a lot of people say it’s hard to kill a mushroom…. But guess who killed 2 …. Me ..

 

[sfin52]

I would pull the rock scrub rock in one bucket a good rinse in a second. Any algea floating around in the tank is potential seed for new growth. I would also add a good amount of snails and crabs. Hermits for hair and emerald for the bubble.

 

[G Santana]

No sense killing off all that bacteria.
I would deep clean the sump, get a bottle of Vibrant, dose weekly while adding 10ml hydrogen peroxide daily.
Manually pull what you can daily, after a couple of weeks dosing Vibrant, vaccuum rocks daily.
It worked for me and I had a jungle.
7 weeks of dosing, vacuuming and hand pulling and the tank is pristine.
It took alot of time to get there it will take time to reverse but definitely doable.

Good luck.

 

[fish farmer]

It's kinda hard to see much in there, just manually removed like 2 lbs worth of green and bubble algae. But its a hot mess in there.

That's nothing, my tank was way worse with GHA.

If no corals present, pull rocks, scrub, etc.

If you want to keep things in place, WC, CUC....just get back into a routine of maintenance and managing your nutrients how you wish to.

 

[brandon429]

Does not kill bacteria, fixes reefs:

Algae Identification

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

www.reef2reef.com

x200

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

no doser can beat that, vibrant can kill your reef:

Vibrant Killing Corals..

So I had some very small spots of algae in my tank, 3 spots each the size of a nickel. I decided to test out vibrant to see what this chemical was all about. I started out with a conservative dose of 3ml for a 100 gallon tank. Well this was a horrible mistake. Within 12hrs I started to notice...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Kaludar]

So to summarize, fix my sump. Rinse the crap out of my sand and manually remove as much algae as possible from my rock and return it to the tank. Do a lot of weekly water changes. This should remove most of the algae and keep beneficial bacteria that I have cultivated on my rock?

 

[Kaludar]

Does not kill bacteria, fixes reefs:

Algae Identification

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

www.reef2reef.com

x200

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

no doser can beat that, vibrant can kill your reef:

Vibrant Killing Corals..

So I had some very small spots of algae in my tank, 3 spots each the size of a nickel. I decided to test out vibrant to see what this chemical was all about. I started out with a conservative dose of 3ml for a 100 gallon tank. Well this was a horrible mistake. Within 12hrs I started to notice...

www.reef2reef.com

Brandon, you mention using peroxide in part of the rock cleaning process, will this kill my coraline, or potentially kill off all beneficial bacteria on my rock?

 

[brandon429]

It’s shown directly there not to. I have overseen peroxide for ten years straight in remote jobs and am 100% sure *the way we use it* does not undo a cycle, which includes

-rip cleans are rocks on counter and knives that scrape off targets and dislodge them from anchor (like tufts of algae for example) and peroxide is only getting spot applied to slight portions of the rock. We aren’t dipping or anything.

-tens of thousands of peroxide dosers input one mil per ten gallons of 3% into some reefs to battle dinos and various insults, I hardly ever use it this way.


I use 35% in my tank, most use 3%.

@MnFish1 that should be the next test for your good setup in my opinion if you get bored, in what ways can peroxide be used to markedly suppress prior demonstrated nitrification ability in rocks.

 

[brandon429]

Here’s a decade of outcomes to track

Peroxide saves my Tank! With pics to Prove It!

www.nano-reef.com

pico reef pest algae problem challenge - Reef Central Online Community

pico reef pest algae problem challenge Nano Reefs

reefcentral.com

*reefcentral, namely BrianD, take note, see how we are allowed to link to you since it’s ok to link to other boards at reef2reef? This allows rtr to grow exponentially. Tons of potential still exist at reefcentral. We lost reefs.org and 20 years of data so make a quick change to preserve the vast info your board holds / valuable useful info, merely a personnel fix needed. Be the leader for change.

this one isn’t mine, we look up to it though, oldest peroxide thread on the web I’ll bet:

Dinoflagellates my experience......h2o2 reefing tool!!!!!

aaaaaaarrrrrrr just wanted to share my recent battle and how i won!!!!!!!!! "i wish i took pics but i didn't..:(" so about 3 weeks ago my tank broke out pretty bad i mean bad!!!!!! my coast to coast overflow would get plugged and almost overflow my tank..... so i did my research and found...

www.reef2reef.com

rtr should never ever unsticky that thread it’s historical gold by TroyLee



here’s another 33 pager we are running on rtr currently

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

What you are really in for: Hand cleaning, hard work siphon and rasp-removing of accumulations and invasions outside the tank and doing massive water changes is 90% of this thread, peroxide is 10%. We almost never dose peroxide into the tank water, this is a you-work-physically-hard as catch-up...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Kaludar]

It’s shown directly there not to. I have overseen peroxide for ten years straight in remote jobs and am 100% sure *the way we use it* does not undo a cycle, which includes

-rip cleans are rocks on counter and knives that scrape off targets and dislodge them from anchor (like tufts of algae for example) and peroxide is only getting spot applied to slight portions of the rock. We aren’t dipping or anything.

-tens of thousands of peroxide dosers input one mil per ten gallons of 3% into some reefs to battle dinos and various insults, I hardly ever use it this way.


I use 35% in my tank, most use 3%.

@MnFish1 that should be the next test for your good setup in my opinion if you get bored, in what ways can peroxide be used to markedly suppress prior demonstrated nitrification ability in rocks.

Okay thank you, plan on doing this next weekend, i'll take some before and after pics

 

[LuizW13]

I don’t think there’s a need to pull your sand out to rinse. Just do a decent water change with a little sand siphoning then pull a rock out into that water change bucket and scrub the hell out of it then put it back in.
Then repeat every few days, scrubbing a different piece of rock each time. You can literally ‘restart’ the reef in just a few water changes.
To me, that picture doesn’t justify ripping everything out to rinse the sand.

 

[Just John]

In

Okay thank you, plan on doing this next weekend, i'll take some before and after pics

I have to say that what @brandon429 recommends sounds like a huge pain in the butt most of the time, however taking an entire day to clean everything until it's spotless is a lot easier and better for your sanity than spending weeks or longer frustrated. Seriously, frustration is one of the biggest reasons people give up on their tanks and you can get back to enjoying it in just a day or two. I think that fact really matters. You may wish to use chemicals or something else on top of it, but the rip clean is the way to go. One required tool that he forgot to mention is a 6-pack of beer. Also, a pizza delivered around noon.

 

[InactiveAcct]

Agree with those who said not to tear down. You can try fluconazole and water changes to get the algae under control. I had bryopsis and turf algae ramping up and the fluconazole wiped out the bryopsis and the turf algae as an added bonus - sometimes you get lucky there. Once it starts to die off, wait a little bit and then start up the water changes.

I think it’s really wise to take a look at what you want to care for versus your time and experience. You can make a stunning tank with softies, LPS, and/ or montipora.
You probably also want to take a look at the things that were a pain as far as the maintenance so they are easier to do for next time. I just upgraded my RO from 75 to 200 GPD and it’s made life a lot easier- stuff like that.

 

[shadow_k]

In

I have to say that what @brandon429 recommends sounds like a huge pain in the butt most of the time, however taking an entire day to clean everything until it's spotless is a lot easier and better for your sanity than spending weeks or longer frustrated. Seriously, frustration is one of the biggest reasons people give up on their tanks and you can get back to enjoying it in just a day or two. I think that fact really matters. You may wish to use chemicals or something else on top of it, but the rip clean is the way to go. One required tool that he forgot to mention is a 6-pack of beer. Also, a pizza delivered around noon.

I agree with this , frustration does kill the hobby, I did everything everyone told me

I got cyano = chemi clean it and siphon it out with water change.

dinos= don’t do water changes let your nutrients go up my case nitrates were 100+ and phosphates were 0:

then they said buy neophos to bring up phosphates but the. When phosphates came up I got cyano and it was just a never ending battle.
I wasted money on chemicals and additives stressed out and killed most of my corals. After about 4 months I decided the rip clean method was the way to go.