To restart or not to restart

[Llorgon]

My IM25 has gone really downhill since the summer. Corals started to die off and cyano, bubble algae and aiptasia moved in.

I'm now left with the choice of do I restart completely or continue to try and fix it?

From what I know I need/want to fix

I'd like to switch up the scape, specifically the rock structure on the right

Snails/crabs don't seem to live in this tank. For 3 years I would buy snails and they would die in a month at best.

Lots of bubble algae and cyano. I can clean the sand, siphon it out on water changes and it all comes back by the next week.

The general unhappy corals despite stable params and nothing out of the ordinary showing on ICP tests. Tells me something else is going on.


Thoughts on complete restart or try and salvage?

 

[blaxsun]

A UV and good cleaning crew will work wonders with keeping algae (etc.) at bay, but this is more of a long-term/ongoing investment. I had a pair of IM 25s and always struggled with them. You can definitely upgrade the filtration and a few other aspects to help.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It sounds like the setup simply isn't working for whatever reason and it doesn't sound like anything you did specifically wrong...I'd restart with all ocean harvested live rock for the biodiversity boost and just transfer whatever you can. Nothing seems to be thriving, I'd just do a complete reset and probably even change salt mixes and definitely check your RODI water to make sure it's at 0 TDS

 

[Llorgon]

A UV and good cleaning crew will work wonders with keeping algae (etc.) at bay, but this is more of a long-term/ongoing investment. I had a pair of IM 25s and always struggled with them. You can definitely upgrade the filtration and a few other aspects to help.

What sort of uv? In tank one?

Snails, hermits, emerald crabs don't seem to survive in this tank. Since day 1, nothing has lasted more than a month.

It sounds like the setup simply isn't working for whatever reason and it doesn't sound like anything you did specifically wrong...I'd restart with all ocean harvested live rock for the biodiversity boost and just transfer whatever you can. Nothing seems to be thriving, I'd just do a complete reset and probably even change salt mixes and definitely check your RODI water to make sure it's at 0 TDS

Ocean live rock isn't really an option for me here in Canada. At most I can order live rock that has been sitting in the LFS. But that just get bacteria nothing else.

Since whatever hit this tank also hit my larger tank, RODI has been checked and rechecked. But yes, it seems like stuff just isn't happy in this tank any longer. Which is a bummer as it used to be the tank everything would grow in...

 

[blaxsun]

What sort of uv? In tank one?

Snails, hermits, emerald crabs don't seem to survive in this tank. Since day 1, nothing has lasted more than a month.

Ocean live rock isn't really an option for me here in Canada. At most I can order live rock that has been sitting in the LFS. But that just get bacteria nothing else.

Since whatever hit this tank also hit my larger tank, RODI has been checked and rechecked. But yes, it seems like stuff just isn't happy in this tank any longer. Which is a bummer as it used to be the tank everything would grow in...

With a IM25 you're really limited to the IM desktop version that fits in one of the overflows. If you go this route, place a pre-cut piece of filter floss (and toss every 3-5 days) over the black sponge or the black sponge will quickly clog up and limit the UV effectiveness.

I'd check your tank parameters - those can sometimes be prohibitive to maintaining a healthy invert population. But based on the amount of algae I can see you have more than enough food to sustain them.

You can restart with dry rock and some Bio-Spira (this allows you to insta-start your tank). All you need is somewhere to house your existing fish and corals while you reset your system.