Neglected tank, how to revive -or- reef tank remodel (pics)

[arrowheadpuffer]

So I got my tank looking good, really good IMO, and then ran into a point where I could no longer care for my tank. I now have time to revive it, and hope it could be better than before.

Here is a pic of how it was, I just upgraded to a 90g and it looked great for a long time:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=1829

So after no water changes for a long time, no dosing, nothing but feeding and FW top off here is how it stands now:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=4825

I am ashamed to post that picture, but its time to get this reef tank back to where it should be! The rock is covered in a rainbow of algae from calupera, bubble, GHA, aptasia and cyano.

So I started with replacing the bulbs and adding a phosphate reactor and doing 60g changes weekly.

So what to do now?

Tank specs:
90g with 20 long sump, 55g fuge with 5-7" DSB and calupera
2x54watt T5 and 2x65watt PC
Coralife SuperSkimmer 220
Mag 9 return, 3mj1200s on a red sea wavemaker pro and a koralia 4
Fish: fu-manchu lion and marine betta, soon to be sold, going fishless till I fix this problem.
Corals: right now softies, but as it useto be I would like to keep SPS/LPS and a derasa along with the softies.

I am toying with either continuing the battle with water changes, GFO and manual removal of algae, but I also have been considering fraging the corals and soaking the rock in acid to start fresh, I fear that no matter the water changes and maintenance that I am going to have reoccurring problems with all sorts of algae, so the nuke would be a cure.

What would you do?

[T Man]

Kudos for posting the pic, I'd break it down and hand pick/scrub the rock. With that amount of rock it would be a far better alternative and a much quicker way to whip it back into shape. T

[fishguy84]

If it were me...

I'd get razors and scrape everything off the glass then siphon it out. I'd add circulation in the display somewhere. I would then add a cleanup crew and Chaeto to soak up the nutrients and choke out the algae in the display. After water parameters have been improved, add a couple peppermint shrimp.

[arrowheadpuffer]

I'd break it down and hand pick/scrub the rock

Thanks, I am at minnium taking the tank down and doing that, the tank is being moved so that I can have a fish room, my wife said it was okay to take over the 3rd bed room as a fish room and have the tank plumbed though the wall to the living room. I also am upgrading the lighting to 6x54watt T5.

So as the battle continues I forgot to add that I got a tuxedo urchin about a week ago and it is slowly making clean trails of algae free rock. I am goning to wait for the move to scrape the back and side walls.

Really what I am wondering is:

#1 acid soak the rock

-or-

#2 physicaly remove and scrape the rock free of algae, add peppermints and kalk/aptasiaX the aptasia

Either way I am going fishless till this is over!

[fishoutawater]

I love a challenge! If it were me, I would focus on husbandry, new cuc, water changes, lights as you mentioned. Maybe a sump with an ATS just to test it out. I think there would be a lot to be learned in doing that, versus a complete teardown. If you do opt to not tear down, please post pics to update your progress. Thanks for posting pics of the tank at all, that took some nerve. Good luck!

[sbanks78]

http://www.LiveAquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+524+724&pcatid=724
try these out first. good luck

[mak3mydae]

i wouldnt even bother doing any physical work myself.. that tank looks pretty bigg and that is alot of rocks to be scrubbin'... i would get a couple emeralds and some pepermints and hope your fu man chu doesnt eat them.

Out of curiosity, how come niether your betta or your fu man chu are in either pictures?

[arrowheadpuffer]

i wouldnt even bother doing any physical work myself.. that tank looks pretty bigg and that is alot of rocks to be scrubbin'... i would get a couple emeralds and some pepermints and hope your fu man chu doesnt eat them.

Out of curiosity, how come niether your betta or your fu man chu are in either pictures?

the fu is on the left side of the overflow in the 2nd pic. Both are hand fed by my girlfriend. The betta is very shy and the fu useto be. Either way, they are both up for sale, and I want to find a good home.

http://www.LiveAquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+524+724&pcatid=724
try these out first. good luck

I might consider that, maybe with a few berghia nudibranchs? Match that with no fish, water changes and GFO/carbon? I guess that would be better than acid?

[arrowheadpuffer]

I love a challenge! If it were me, I would focus on husbandry, new cuc, water changes, lights as you mentioned. Maybe a sump with an ATS just to test it out. I think there would be a lot to be learned in doing that, versus a complete teardown. If you do opt to not tear down, please post pics to update your progress. Thanks for posting pics of the tank at all, that took some nerve. Good luck!

ATS? as in a fuge? Thats what got the calupera in the DT! I have a 55g fuge, I grew chaeto in it and then tried calupera and it got into the DT with in a year. Lesson learned, just use chaeto!

With the new set up I am planning a 40g fuge, with higher flow rate, to tuble the chaeto. It would form a nice tight ball with high flow, but with the lower flow in the 55g it formed a matt that choked the fuge. 7" + DSB with new sand, going to sell/trash the old sand.

[arrowheadpuffer]

I found these pics when searching for old shots of the tank:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=4865

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=4866

(note: the fuge is on a reverse photo period, just on for the shot)

(I miss my old tank looking at these shots..... :sad2: )

[thrillreefer]

I know what you mean, it always stings when you look back at how nice the tank once was. But you'll get back there again

[jeffeg]

I'd order a fresh batch of live rock. I think it will save you many headaches down the road.

[danrobberg]

i think with no fish and lots of water changes and the phosban and carbon you will be ok. my tank didnt get that bad but i went almost a year with only adding tap water for top off and no waterchanges. just about everytning came back ok. maybe try dosing a carbon source to lower your nutriants. are you going to have a sump and fuge in the fish room. im so jealous i cant wait to have my own fish room. good luck

[danrobberg]

i would also take all the rocks out and rinse them in ro or salt water to wash off and detritus from them, thats what i did. you wouldnt believe how dirty that water will get

[insane]

No nukes! You kill all of the good bacteria and life along with killing the bad. How old are your bulbs? What K are they? Caulerpa is good for nutrient export if you remove it from the tank before it disintegrates and releases everything back into the water. Get some peppermints after you get rid of the lion so they don't become a snack.

[njfish77]

From the pic of the tank before you stopped cleaning I can tell you know how to keep and maintain a great looking reef tank. Since the tank is being moved id say restart it, upgrade some stuff you want to upgrade ( i always love upgrades), and start that fish room.
Sell the livestock, take out a decent amount of rock and let it dry out, then use it for base rock and add some nice pieces of cured live rock when its up and running again, add new sand, clean all the equipment and scrape the back glass before draining. Its going to suck going to have to wait for a new cycle but getting this tank back to the way it was is going to be a big PITA if not.

[goldmaniac]

Here's another vote for No Scrubbing. I don't think your tank is in that bad of shape at all. Sure, it looks much worse than when you had it looking good (very good, actually), but I've had 2 periods of about a year's time when I put the tank on auto-pilot (the two times we had a kid born) and since I didn't have a heavy bioload and a big refugium with caulpera and chaeto, it came back with time and maintenance.

I would suggest taking the rock out and giving them a good shake in salt water to get all the detrius out of the rock, however. That would give you a head start.

Good luck, and betting you'll have it looking good in no time at all.

[becact]

Better skimmer, more flow, and run carbon. I would change the rock out, as they have likely become phosphate loaded. When you clean up the water the rocks will just keep leeching phosphates back into the water, growing more algae on the rocks. I went through this myself buying old rock.

[Masoch]

If'n I may toss in my $.02 ...

Use five-fingered snails to yank out the caulerpa.

Get a long spine urchin -- they have a big appetite for a lot of nuisance algae.

Put a filter sock on your drain, and stir up as much crap as you can from the rocks with a turkey baster or small PH. Clean out the sock after a few hours.

Do a 20 gallon water change once a week for the ongoing future.

Use lots of carbon, and change it frequently (you'll be unlocking a lot of organics, so you should run to carbon to keep things clean).

Slowly add some new snails -- say a half dozen ceriths one week, and a couple turbos the next. But don't go nuts.

Seriously consider using some chaeto or a turf scrubber for additional nutrient export -- caulerpa is problematic for lots of people.

You don't have a lot of high light corals, so you could also consider running your tank dark for a 3 or 4 days. Cover the sides and top of the display with something opaque, and make sure your refugium is /very/ brightly light to make sure your tank stays well-oxygenated. If you do this, make absolutely certain your skimmer is running well, use lots and lots of carbon, and use a filter sock and clean it daily. You'll be unleashing a lot of organics in a short period of time, so you'll have to work at keeping the tank clean.

Once you've got the algae under control, it'll be easier to see where the aiptasia are.

Good luck :)

[arrowheadpuffer]

Update, I just finished installing the new T5s, the board I mounted them on bowed a little and one set of lights is not working because the distance from one end cap to the other is now to far. I been working all day on the home remodel so too tired to add any more, but here are some pics.

The tank while I was removing the popcorn ceiling, I am going to paint on tuesday:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=5173


new T5s, need to get two endcaps moved closer together, gonna do that tomorrow
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=340&pictureid=5172

[strout]

Keep us posted

[arrowheadpuffer]

Well not much of a update, I have taken down the fuge, oddly the tank looked better the next day. There was one small patch, about 6"x6" that smelled rotten, but the rest of the 55g DSB was clean.

I have been running a BRS deluxe reactor for carbon and GFO.

I came home from holiday vacation, turns out our neighbor kid who was supposed to top off the tank never did... My T5s are covered in salt water but running fine. My temp is at 72, but every (soft) coral looks great. Mind that I only keep softies ATM...

So the home remodel restarts and in a few weeks I can start the fish room, I drew up a preliminary room design so that will be posted tomorrow if I dont get too busy.