10G reboot questions

[SynGraves]

So, long story short, My 10g nano is in the middle of a bad dino outbreak which I believe is because of using GFO and carbon too much and stripped the water of nitrates and phosphates.

Currently, I am holding off water changes, dosing bacteria, manually removing and filtering tank water through a 10 micron filter sock, feeding heavily, and added a copepod and phyto culture to add biodiversity. If I do not start seeing progress in the next week or two I am contemplating a reboot.

ATM, phosphates are holding at .14ppm and nitrate is at 5ppm with the heavy feeding so I am hoping to start seeing the dinos become out competed by other algae.

Any suggestions?

Questions I have: Bare bottom or sand? Currently have 20lbs of live sand which is covered in dinos atm...

Would 12lb of rock be sufficient for natural bio-filtration if I go bare bottom?

 

[brandon429]

yep its ok if its been in place a while. we remove whole sandbeds a lot in the sand rinse thread

you are in luck having a smaller tank, its easy to remove the bed, try and make the rocks/system comply, then put back a sterilized bed to start clean.