Glb's tank rehab

[glb]

Hi everyone! I know it's been a long while since I posted. I had some huge setbacks with my tank and am trying to rebuild it. Last summer our air went out and due to 92 degree temps in the house and lots of fluctuations in temp before that, I lost all my coral. Right now I'm down to one peppermint shrimp and maybe a few snails. I had a bad outbreak of stringy red algae and what looks like cyano on the sand and glass. I treated with chemiclean and continued to brush it off, but it keeps coming back. I'll be honest and admit maintenance on my part hasn't been good in the last 3-4 months after losing the coral. Numbers and pics to follow. I need everyone's help to get my little nano back to its former glory!!!!

 

[glb]

Hard to tell with pic but red algae is everywhere

 

[glb]

Last numbers:
Ph: 7.3
SG: 1.020
Alk: 161
NO3: 10ppm
Mg: 1020
Ca: 375
Temp: 78
Phosphate: 0.04

I know it's a mess. But I am committed to bringing my little tank back.

 

[glb]

I know I need to scrub the rocks, probably treat them and do a massive water change. But how do I get the red algae to stop coming back? I'd be grateful for any advice before doing something drastic!

 

[glb]

Help anyone? I know there's a lot to be done but before I break the whole thing down I could use some advice about the algae.

 

[glb]

Ok here's my rehab plan. First brush red algae off rocks and sand. Then treat tank with chemiclean. Clean sponges and replace purigen. Massive water change (70-80%) (the only living thing in there is a peppermint shrimp). Test water and supplement if necessary until parameters are good. Add crabs and snails. Add one or two fish. After tank has been stable for a month or two, with no return of red algae, add first coral. Does this sound like a good plan? I've never had to recover from a crash so any and all comments are welcome!

 

[juggalogentry]

Well that appears to be a good game plan, ive never had to deal with a tank crash myself so i dont have any firsthand advice for you, but at least the tanks not on the selling forum kudos to you for bringing it back to life. Im following along so i can see how the progress goes.

 

[glb]

Thanks! After reading up on red algae and cyano, I decided to wait on the chemiclean. Here's what I've done this morning: scrubbed and removed all live rock from the tank, cleaned sand, cleaned filters, replaced rocks, did a 90% water change, cleaned glass and turned off lights. I'll keep the lights off for a few days. I only have one blue-legged crab and a peppermint shrimp in there right now. I'm going to test the water this afternoon. It should be in good shape. Then I need to add more cuc's to keep the tank clean. I'm thinking about a dozen hermits and 6-7 snails for the glass. Most of my cuc died off for unknown reasons. The up side is I could do some drastic measures to clean it up quickly without worrying about livestock. Most likely a cascade of events set off the crash, starting with the temp fluctuations over the summer and the tank getting up to 92 degrees. I added cuc's after that but they didn't make it. Hopefully I can start from scratch now.

 

[glb]

Update: went to LFS and picked up some new Purigen and some Phosguard. So now in the sump I have sponges, old purigen (for the bacteria), new purigen and phosguard. I'm going to keep the lights off for a while to get rid of the algae. In a week I'll test the water and if all is well, I'll pick up some crabs and snails for a new cuc. The tank looks much better than it did this morning! Clean rocks, clean sand and clean glass. Lots of hard work today but I'm determined to get it up and running again!

 

[glb]

Update: lights are still out and the tank looks better. I'll test the water soon and post the results. My peppermint shrimp and two crabs survived the rock cleaning and seem to feel groovy.

 

[glb]

Update. Lights have been out for a week and the tank has stayed clean. The algae has died off, so tomorrow I'll test the water. If everything is in order, it's off to the LFS for new cuc's!

 

[glb]

Quick question. I'm ready to stock my tank shortly and since it's empty now is the time to make changes. Right now I have sponges, purigen and Phosguard in the sump. I didn't have carbon in the tank before. Would that be a good addition?

 

[glb]

Algae free and ready for cuc's and fish!

 

[glb]

Here's my numbers:

NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 5ppm
Ph 7.6
Temp 78f
Mg 1375ppm
Ca 430ppm
SG 1.024
Alk: 191ppm
PO3: .17ppm

I know the phosphates are high. I have Phosguard in the sump. I think it's from die-off of the algae. I'm off to the LFS and will post another pic with the fish. Cuc's should clean off the rock and (hopefully) lower the phosphates. Any advice would be very welcome.

 

[glb]

Well the clownfish, turbo snails and hermit crabs are in. Will these cuc's eat the die-off from a bad red hairy algae outbreak? Can anyone chime in? I could really use the help.

 

[glb]

Ready to give up. Both of my clowns died over night and my snails and crabs aren't moving around. I think there might be something toxic in the tank but I can't figure out what it is. I lost another set of cuc's in the past while I was trying to stabilize things. I've never had this much trouble before. The water parameters are fine. I had cyano but it's gone now. Can anyone help me out here? I feel like throwing in the towel. [emoji17]

 

[miamiangler]

If it was me , I would have taken the tank down , cleaned all equipment , cleaned all rocks in a pail of salt water and put them in a larger container with water and pump . Start from the beginning . I would bump the sg 1025 . Your clowns may have died because the petshops tanks might have sg 1020 or so and might have shocked the fish . I `m not sure where you live in Miami but I will be in the Bird Rd area the next two days , I live in North Miami, You can PM Me If you like ,

Willi

 

[glb]

Thank you! My tank used to run without a problem but since the crash it's just been one thing after another.

 

[glb]

I think I realize what happened. Store SG was 1.022 and mine was 1.024 and I acclimated so that wasn't the problem. I rinse the filter sponges in fresh water yesterday. I just wasn't thinking. I think ammonia spiked overnight and by the time I tested it this morning it was gone. I feel terrible.

 

[fishroomlady]

welcome back to the hobby glb! I'm sorry but I just saw this thread or I would have been posting some encouragement and maybe helped if I could. It sounds like you figured out what happened to the clowns - I'm sorry for the loss but at least it sounds like it wasn't something amiss with the new setup. One piece of advice I have - did you replace the sand? since it was sitting for a while and had the crash, that may help. One other concern would be your rock could be leeching phosphates - but you're doing what you can about that with the phosguard - the only other thing that could really take care of it would be to bleach the rock and then cure it until you get no phosphates. Given that it's a fairly small tank, have you thought about maybe starting over with some new live rock or maybe some dry with supplementing with a couple of pieces of live rock? I'm just thinking stripping down to basically starting again may be your best bet in the long run.

Don't throw in the towel!! You will succeed and you'll be happily watching your beautiful slice of the ocean soon. HTH with at least some ideas.

I think I saw on another thread that you're a female? I'm just always glad to see other girl reefers in the hobby