Thorough Tank Cleaning

[Salt1972]

Did a water change today on our 2.5 year old 125g mixed reef. Tank has been struggling lately with cyano. Parameters drifting -- nitrates climbing from 3 to 15 over a period of 6 months. During the water change, I decided to do a deep vacuum of the gravel bed. Had a small return pump on the bench and decided to use it to stir the gravel. As I held the pump at the surface and mixed air into the stream, the detritus bubbled to the surface in MASS amounts. I added and kept rotating filter pads and kept stirring and aerating until there was very little detritus left. Maybe a mistake, but I removed a 5g bucket of detritus. That couldn't have been healthy. Here's the thing... I'd have sworn that my tank was clean.

 

[Terri Caton]

I've been slowly vacuuming my sandbed. A very neglected tank I bought. Filthy! Doing it in small sections to not have any spikes. Still adding an ammonia neutralizer after each time (about 5 days apart) just in case.

Amazing how much gunk you can pull out.