Deep cleaning a nano tank

[Nick Steele]

Okay so I’ve been having a bad battle with weird parametersino’s and now cyano and have been looking at doing a deep clean on the tank. But I have a few questions.

Tank is nuvo20 with 2 ai primes and 2 jebao sow4. 1yr old didn’t have issues until about the 8month mark and can’t get it under control. I’ve tried raising nutrients and just added a Uv last week. I have osteoporosis Dino’s.

1) I have a monti spongodes and a few zoas that are encrusted on my rocks that I don’t believe I could get off. Is it okay to just spray this area down around the corals with peroxide?

2) I can’t take all my rock apart to target certain zones but I can fit my whole aquascape into a container and wash/rinse it there is this okay?

3) Also I want to do away with my sand for a few months until I get things stable as I believe this is 90% of my issue. Is it okay to just ditch the sand and then wash and rinse new sand in a few months and add it?

@brandon429
Any and all input is appreciated!

I don’t have a full tank shot of it looking bad but here is a shot of a frag. Tank was 80% covered like this.

 

[brandon429]

So glad to have the work, a deep clean catches up nanos nicely vs waiting

I'm confident the results will shine. We need to assess how much live rock will be left upon sand removal

How many fish

Most reefs have enough live rock that pulling all sand doesn't matter. How many pounds of live rock is going back in

Yes can rinse it off as a connected structure

When it's all set back up the light intensity needs to down play white and way more blue, at 40 % reduction from current levels sustained for a couple weeks. Lighting needs to follow new cleanliness

You can easily put cleaned rock back in bb tank with new water, less light, increased feed and water changes to cpr it and you'll bring back the system nicely.


Can add rinsed sand back in anytime, this is indeed making use of surface area mechanics to the benefit of invasion control.

 

[Nick Steele]

There’s roughly 20lbs in the DT and maybe 2-3lbs rock in the return chambers.

2 black ice clowns
1 mandarin
3 sexy shrimp

I have copepods to feed mandarin once set back up as well.

 

[brandon429]

that is indeed enough live rock for the bioload


Im confident it’s fish and shrimp and corals out first, before clouding sets in by draining held in clean water elsewhere (half new half old is nice acclimation coming up) and then rock structure out of tank cleaned with light brushing and saltwater spraying or rinsing then put back. All new water low light and strong feed + water changes stepped up just two times after to guide will be perfect transition. Easy, low on work and can save sand for re use later, fully rinsed soaked in peroxide no dinos

two water changes a small %: one is two days after the rip clean re set up and the next is a few days after that. Up close after re assembly, two guiding changes is perfect cpr ordering. This timing is used to guide the system as we blatantly rob it of half it’s surface area

it’ll work though, the sand rinse thread is thirty pages of sandbed removals and rips because people are moving homes and we wanted a safe way, which is to move only clean reef portions. The fact you’re using the same method used to move homes but in place, to fight dinos, is very useful to observe for our work thread

tap rinsing is the same as sandbed swaps is the same as home moves or complete removal in that thread...same as cleaning a tank to try and beat dinos. Rocks after a cycle have all spaces used for bacteria, removing the surrounding area in sections won’t add more bacteria to the rocks. They’re either enough as stand alone or they’re not, independent from the sand. We haven’t seen a single reef emerge from bed work with too little live rock to carry the same bioload accustomed to the sand. The warning sign for trouble isnt a test kit it’s specifically fish hovering at the top excessively and cloudy water, at the same time.

clear water and fish eating, swimming normal means enough surface area and you’ll know within 24 hours of the first setup.

 

[Nick Steele]

I won’t have time to do this till next weekend but I will be sure to take some pictures and document to the best of my abilities the process. I will for sure have before and after pictures though.

Two last question though.

When I add all new water and tank is reset should I run my uv still?

Also would I be okay to start my lights out at 50% and ramp back to 100% in a week or would 2 weeks be better?

Light schedules ones above sps island and the other lps island.

 

[brandon429]

That’s excellent, let’s not just for a bit. I know the major bacteria are on surfaces but since it’s directly an antibacterial device let’s hold off and also to check target suppression by cleaning alone. That's a handy item to turn back on later if a couple target cells show or just as disease prevention, some use them to lessen fish disease prominence and I believe they indeed may help.

once the system has been running a few days and you have processed some feedings and done the water change then it’s ok to run it

 

[Nick Steele]

I went ahead and did my deep clean today. I didn’t scrub the rocks that well mainly because I’m doing this for Dino’s and not algae so I actually want the algae to out compete the Dino’s. I got a little puff of detritus etc when I put the rock back in and can clearly see some algae and bacteria films still on the rock. I believe all is fine as fish are acting normal and corals are open more now then before the clean. I removed the sandbed and did a 100% water change.

Tomorrow I might siphon some of the gunk out as I have extra water left over and I can clearly see it as I’m bare bottom and it won’t be a huge exchange of water.

Here are some before pictures (can clearly see cyano and Dino

After pics
Full tank shot (water slightly cloudy)

These rock flowers haven’t been opened wide in a good two month

This cap has been through hell with cyano and Dino’s but I hope it will bounce back.

This hammer is opened much more then usual but still not fully (might have too much flow for my euphyllia)

 

[brandon429]

Hey nice one, nice execution here

did you take everything out to remove the sand, or siphon it out as the corals sat in the tank

 

[Nick Steele]

Morning everything came out (glad I did as sand was filthy) rocks sat in my shower being misted with saltwater while I handled the rest. Fish/inverts in a bucket corals in another bucket and a few Tupperwares (I have too much coral lol). I peroxide the rocks but didn’t do a great job and I ran a good 4-5G of saltwater over them after to rinse.

Everyone is still acting normal. Clowns slept in their Xenia at the bottom of the tank. Sexy shrimp wandered off at lights out and my stomatella snail came out after light went off (I thought for sure he would die being a good two hours out of water but guess not).

 

[brandon429]

Thats just great surgery and you had a great idea on leaving some rock diversity to compete against dinos i would not have thought of that being the deep clean ripper that I am he he

thats a better idea considering the target mass I think this will work nicely can’t wait to see outcomes

 

[Aqua Man]

Clowns slept in their Xenia at the bottom of the tank.

My clown sleeps in Xenia too. Lol
Looks good now! Eventually coralline will cover the bottom.

 

[Nick Steele]

My clown sleeps in Xenia too. Lol
Looks good now! Eventually coralline will cover the bottom.

Tbh I’d rather ditch the Xenia but I can’t take their home away from them. Plus the wife likes it too so it stays for now.

Also I plan to add sand back into the system as I’m not a huge fan of bare bottom tanks. This is just a move to help me combat Dino’s.

 

[Aqua Man]

Are going to use new sand? I agree that not having sand will help get rid of Dinos.
IMO, I would run your UV now.

I have 2 tanks, one with sand and Dino have come back twice in the last year.

Other tank, bare bottom , kicked Dinos quickly and have never returned.

 

[Nick Steele]

Are going to use new sand? I agree that not having sand will help get rid of Dinos.
IMO, I would run your UV now.

I have 2 tanks, one with sand and Dino have come back twice in the last year.

Other tank, bare bottom , kicked Dinos quickly and have never returned.

As of now the plan is to use brand new sand in a couple months to restart. Rinsed really well so it’s doesn’t cloud at all of course.

I’m waiting for lights to come on today and I’ll determine if I’m turning it on or not. As of now I don’t see any Dino’s even in my floss where it will usually be bad before the lights come on.

 

[brandon429]

All the rules about water changes and dinos come from partial water change studies only, they don't include rip runs

This is how new procedures get discovered, someone breaks rules and it either works better or worse or neutral

 

[Nick Steele]

Today the tank is crystal clear and corals seem to be much happier. Frogspawn and hammer are opened much more but not fully. I don’t see Dino’s on any of the usual areas. Sps that have been covered for awhile don’t have any on them and polyps are out!!!

@brandon429 do you think it would be safe to do ahead and feed corals today?

 

[brandon429]

yes for sure for sure we like the circulating clean proteins in suspension to make up for the rippage that removed all the waste stores, this is pure nano reef cpr. darn nice job here.

 

[Nick Steele]

yes for sure for sure we like the circulating clean proteins in suspension to make up for the rippage that removed all the waste stores, this is pure nano reef cpr. darn nice job here.

Thanks! Was slightly nervous but now I will suggest this to people! It worked out well.

Also I did add in neonitro and neophos last night after the rip clean as well.

 

[Nick Steele]

4 days post clean and I’m very please with the results! Corals are super happy and I have been able to keep tank much more stable. Alk has been a constant 8.4 for the first time ever!!!

Also the main reason for the rip clean Dino’s has stayed away and tank is staying at .1 phos and 5-10 nitrate.

 

[Nick Steele]

Sad update

Stayed Dino free for over two weeks and the for some unknown reason they are creeping back in (still have detectable phos and nitrate). It’s mostly staying on the glass and I’m working on getting rid of it. But I believe the rip still helped in getting other algae and bacteria to gain a foot hold on my rocks as I haven’t been able to find Dino’s anywhere on rocks still.

For now I’m keeping phos and nitrates up and I have lowered my light intensity to 50% and took off all my white Channels