At a crossroads with my 10-year-old tank and looking for input

[Rudefish]

I agree with drblakjak55. When I first saw your set up, the first thing that came to mind was that your aquascape was really dense with no pass through or tunnels for water flow. IMO this is a trap for ditritus to build which would cause algae and the likes. There are many good opinions the have been provided but what i would personnally do is the water change as suggested but first do a re-acquscape of your rocks that will provide lots of pass through area to allow flow. i would not bleach the rocks due to it already having too many good bacteria. Obtain a powerhead or two (those can be inexpensive) that is adequate for your size tank and I do believe that would be a good start. Patience is the way to go so take things slow. Just have fun with it and embrace the challenge.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

I'm sure there are several of us who can completely relate to your situation. I have a 125g tank sitting rather disgustingly empty, mainly due to the time required to tear it down. A little over a year ago I set up a little 14 gallon cube nano to just do clowns, gobies, and anemones, and while there is some long hair algae to fight off, it is a lot of fun since it sure takes a lot less time. And the ability to change 80% of the water in under an hour gives you great control over Nitrates and Phosphates, almost like an instant reset.

 

[ApoIsland]

I can sympathize with your situation.
I was at the same crossroads almost 10 years ago. I made some drastic changes and pressed on. And am so glad I stuck with it. I get so much enjoyment out of the tank now.

You don't need most of the equip/effort that these forums tend to imply you need to have a very nice setup. For the majority of the last 10 years I have ran my 120g tank with cheap Chinese black box LEDs, no skimmer, no mechanical filtration of any kind, no dosing, no testing, just one big 50% water change every 4-6 weeks using tap water. This tank takes almost no effort besides the 10-15 min a day to feed and a couple hours a month for the water change.

Granted I keep only the easy sps/lps and only 8-12 fish but the tank still is very enjoyable.
It will not win any tank of the month awards but everyone in the local reef club is in awe of the simplicity and success when they see it.

And the good part about keeping easy sps/lps is that you get the frags for free from the local members. Just make sure to pay it forward to new members when you can

You can have the same system with minimal cost and maintenance effort.

Buy 2 cheap black boxes for $125 each or whatever they are going for these days. i would hawk that skimmer and any other junk from your sump on craigslist. No need for anything but live rock and a place to grow some algae in that sump.

Pull all that rock out, suck all that sand out.

Scrub half the rock really well with a hard bristle brush to get the nuisance algae off. Clean and rinse it in salt water of course to keep all the bacteria alive. After all we don't want to go through the cycle process all over again.

Bleach the other half of the rock you didnt clean and go buy some expanding pond foam or some hydraulic cement and start making some awesome rock structures. Search through the aquascape forums here for ideas.

Put all that sand in a few buckets and run the garden hose through it until it's totally clear of all that nasty waste. Don't worry about killing the sand bed as thouands of gorgeous bare bottom tanks are evidence it's not necessay at all.

Get a couple tangs for algae control (im sure you know they will be fine in a 90 for many years if you get the small and dont over feed).

Then relax and kick your feet up and crack a cold one while you admire your awesome new tank. Can also have me over for dinner and drinks while you thank me for drastically changing your reefing life for the better.

If you can follow all that advice, build a nice rock scape, commit to monthly water changes, and do a good job of documenting all the progress here on a build thread; as an attempt to pay it forward like all the guys did for me many years ago, ill send you a 15 frag coral reef restart pack for free as long as you pay for shipping.

Picture of my skimmerless, filterless tank mixed with tap water under the cheap black box leds:

 

[cpschult]

I have an IM lagoon 25 and I really like it. I have had a 125 gallon— I thought about going back but was having some major thoughts about it.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I can sympathize with your situation.
I was at the same crossroads almost 10 years ago. I made some drastic changes and pressed on. And am so glad I stuck with it. I get so much enjoyment out of the tank now.

You don't need most of the equip/effort that these forums tend to imply you need to have a very nice setup. For the majority of the last 10 years I have ran my 120g tank with cheap Chinese black box LEDs, no skimmer, no mechanical filtration of any kind, no dosing, no testing, just one big 50% water change every 4-6 weeks using tap water. This tank takes almost no effort besides the 10-15 min a day to feed and a couple hours a month for the water change.

Granted I keep only the easy sps/lps and only 8-12 fish but the tank still is very enjoyable.
It will not win any tank of the month awards but everyone in the local reef club is in awe of the simplicity and success when they see it.

And the good part about keeping easy sps/lps is that you get the frags for free from the local members. Just make sure to pay it forward to new members when you can

You can have the same system with minimal cost and maintenance effort.

Buy 2 cheap black boxes for $125 each or whatever they are going for these days. i would hawk that skimmer and any other junk from your sump on craigslist. No need for anything but live rock and a place to grow some algae in that sump.

Pull all that rock out, suck all that sand out.

Scrub half the rock really well with a hard bristle brush to get the nuisance algae off. Clean and rinse it in salt water of course to keep all the bacteria alive. After all we don't want to go through the cycle process all over again.

Bleach the other half of the rock you didnt clean and go buy some expanding pond foam or some hydraulic cement and start making some awesome rock structures. Search through the aquascape forums here for ideas.

Put all that sand in a few buckets and run the garden hose through it until it's totally clear of all that nasty waste. Don't worry about killing the sand bed as thouands of gorgeous bare bottom tanks are evidence it's not necessay at all.

Get a couple tangs for algae control (im sure you know they will be fine in a 90 for many years if you get the small and dont over feed).

Then relax and kick your feet up and crack a cold one while you admire your awesome new tank. Can also have me over for dinner and drinks while you thank me for drastically changing your reefing life for the better.

If you can follow all that advice, build a nice rock scape, commit to monthly water changes, and do a good job of documenting all the progress here on a build thread; as an attempt to pay it forward like all the guys did for me many years ago, ill send you a 15 frag coral reef restart pack for free as long as you pay for shipping.

Picture of my skimmerless, filterless tank mixed with tap water under the cheap black box leds:

That tank looks fantastic. I do wonder why we use rodi water these days when people only used to use tap water. I don’t use a skimmer but I do use a canister filter full of bio media, some carbon and a single sponge that just traps the muck at the bottom of the filter to be emptied out.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

You should have a good look around this forum at build threads and get some inspiration. No one has actually suggested getting rid of the sand completely. Plenty of us who have bare bottom tanks these days.

 

[92Miata]

I'm sure there are several of us who can completely relate to your situation. I have a 125g tank sitting rather disgustingly empty, mainly due to the time required to tear it down. A little over a year ago I set up a little 14 gallon cube nano to just do clowns, gobies, and anemones, and while there is some long hair algae to fight off, it is a lot of fun since it sure takes a lot less time. And the ability to change 80% of the water in under an hour gives you great control over Nitrates and Phosphates, almost like an instant reset.

Its funny - every time we have one of those "What tank size should I, newbie, get" people always respond with "biggest you can afford" and seem to pooh-pooh the idea that bigger tanks are way more work.


But, yeah, its real.

 

[ApoIsland]

That tank looks fantastic. I do wonder why we use rodi water these days when people only used to use tap water. I don’t use a skimmer but I do use a canister filter full of bio media, some carbon and a single sponge that just traps the muck at the bottom of the filter to be emptied out.

For some rodi is a necessity (copper or sky high tds) but i think for most its just a luxury.

There is no doubt tap water in the vast majority of places we live (maybe everywhere) will contribute to more nuisance algae issues. If you have the right system setup with either livestock or mechanical filtration to handle it though you can definitely have a beautiful tank with tap water.

As you pointed out - there were great looking tanks back in the day with tap water. Although I'm not sure what the water quality is like today compared to 30 years ago.

 

[snakejv]

Wow, there are a few more replies here since I last checked. I decided to keep going. While I started to move some things around I noticed that my cabinet was starting to rot under the wet and dry filter. So I decided to build a cabinet which really helped get me back into it. I finished it and now just need to stain and seal it.
Today I removed all the rock and put it in a tote with a power head and a heater. I forgot how much rock I have (easily over 100 pounds). It's going to stay there for a few weeks while I work on the rest.
I have a few questions.

I do want to keep sand; however, the one I have is 10 years old. Should I get new sand or clean the one I have?

I agree that my rock scape was very dense. I think I want to have less rock and have more of an open scape with more of the sand bed showing, but I'm concerned that having less rock will affect my natural filtration. I was going to put a lot of rock in the refigium, which I intend to make. I'm thinking of putting in a 20 tank as a refugium, but I don't know how much room I will have because of everything that have to go in the refugium.

Any suggestions?

 

[Ls7corvete]

Wow, there are a few more replies here since I last checked. I decided to keep going. While I started to move some things around I noticed that my cabinet was starting to rot under the wet and dry filter. So I decided to build a cabinet which really helped get me back into it. I finished it and now just need to stain and seal it.
Today I removed all the rock and put it in a tote with a power head and a heater. I forgot how much rock I have (easily over 100 pounds). It's going to stay there for a few weeks while I work on the rest.
I have a few questions.

I do want to keep sand; however, the one I have is 10 years old. Should I get new sand or clean the one I have?

I agree that my rock scape was very dense. I think I want to have less rock and have more of an open scape with more of the sand bed showing, but I'm concerned that having less rock will affect my natural filtration. I was going to put a lot of rock in the refigium, which I intend to make. I'm thinking of putting in a 20 tank as a refugium, but I don't know how much room I will have because of everything that have to go in the refugium.

Any suggestions?

I am just a newbie, so hopefully some others chime in. But, I bet you could sell some of the rock, get a couple blocks of marine pure ceramic media, and be just fine. The rock looks nice and with that much age its probably got a great bacterial flora. Start slow with fish and feeding.