everything is brown...

[brandon429]

It gets harder the more gallons but the biology scales the same in any tank.

a mere ten years ago and 100% would have claimed the process harmful. It’s ok to run on old or new reefs because in the end all we do is strip out waste mud from the system while the filter bacteria remain locked in place. That’s why the systems never die after the ordered cleaning steps, it never was harmful to deep clean if we do it right. its at the expense of a lot of work but the tank always shines bright after.


the goal should be such great tank design that no rip clean is ever needed. Not sure how to design such a reef, this is our fallback until shown otherwise

 

[Karen00]

So 3/4 hours hard work yesterday doing the ripclean and the tank looks incredible today. Photos really dont do it justice.
The question is how has it affected all the bacteria I'd built up through the cylcing period. Looking forward to finding out over the next few weeks...

Wow!! What a difference! Looks fantastic!

 

[JamieB]

How are we looking here

have you kept the clean condition with little follow up cleanings

Yes looking fantastic.
I was going to water change and post ammonia reading tomorrow.
So every day I clean all glass just with a cloth, clean the filter nozzle, thermometer etc and rake the top few millimetres of sand around to stir it up a bit.
This takes less than 10 mins and every time has taken it back to spotlessly clean.

Interestingly as I was going to be out all day I did my clean this morning instead of in the evening.
When I got back the glass and sand already had a brown colour again.

So in the space of 10 hours it had gone from sparking clean to brown glass.

I will keep up the 10 mins clean daily, hopefully that’ll stay on top of things.

One question though please:
How do you recommend daily / weekly cleaning of sand? I tried using vaccum. This works on my planted freshwater tank as it’s soil, and cleans it nicely. But with sand it just all seems to get stuck in the tube.
I am currently just stiring the sand up and catching anything that floats up with a net.

 

[brandon429]

siphon out a little water plus sand, pour off the water and then rinse that little bit and put back.
a primary reason you rip cleaned sand first round was for cloudless access. If we were doing partial sandbed cleaning in the cloudy condition, it casts waste all over, your rocks would be heavy coated.


it stinks to have to garden it I know, but once it’s matured that lessens. try dropping overall light intensity there isn’t a need for full production level it drives those growths. One side effect of choosing manually cleaned vs the uglies phase is everyone who sees the tank remarks positively. The best the hobby could give us was make excuses for how it looks for six months.

 

[JamieB]

siphon out a little water plus sand, pour off the water and then rinse that little bit and put back.
a primary reason you rip cleaned sand first round was for cloudless access. If we were doing partial sandbed cleaning in the cloudy condition, it casts waste all over, your rocks would be heavy coated.


it stinks to have to garden it I know, but once it’s matured that lessens. try dropping overall light intensity there isn’t a need for full production level it drives those growths. One side effect of choosing manually cleaned vs the uglies phase is everyone who sees the tank remarks positively. The best the hobby could give us was make excuses for how it looks for six months.

Ok great I’ll try that, thanks
Yes I absolutely think the clean was the best solution.

 

[brandon429]

can we see an updated tank shot here

we have been using your thread to show people what personal resolve looks like, the ability to command a different after pic by choice alone. we like how having an uninvaded tank isn't a matter of skill or luck or ideal biological balance

preventing the invasion is that

but fixing the invasion is simply making it gone, to me that's the ultimate responsibility shift in reefing.

I showed this thread to many who were having similar new tank invasions



most chose to keep the invasion, this is amazing psychology. we post for assistance, are shown the outcome ahead of time, and still take the invasion anyway, thats fascinating when someone keeps the invasion anyway...its like there's a required period in reefing you have to make excuses for how it looks

not so

Someone always posts in the help threads that a pill or doser will kill their algae, that's what most opt for

they leave the clouding, and that has a price...


another reason you helped your tank by ridding it of organic fuel waste: now you have room to mess up on fish feeding a little, without a total growth explosion.

prior, every slight feeding every day was converting into waste compounded, fueling the matted invasions. the slightest overfeed would tip the balance into massive invasion.

but all of it is now back to reef condition. it stinks to have to do the cleaning work, but you just caused something called oligotrophic shift whereas eutrophic shift was the prior condition that nobody wants in reefing, even as an uglies phase.


a second benefit: you are keeping the way cleared for coralline algae growth by manually removing competition. cover all areas in coralline, and it starts to reject other invasions from anchoring but you have to guide for months to earn cruise control. im on cruise control. my hard work years were 2006-about 2010 with algae

since 2010, 0% invasion all coralline.

 

[JamieB]

can we see an updated tank shot here

we have been using your thread to show people what personal resolve looks like, the ability to command a different after pic by choice alone. we like how having an uninvaded tank isn't a matter of skill or luck or ideal biological balance

preventing the invasion is that

but fixing the invasion is simply making it gone, to me that's the ultimate responsibility shift in reefing.

I showed this thread to many who were having similar new tank invasions



most chose to keep the invasion, this is amazing psychology. we post for assistance, are shown the outcome ahead of time, and still take the invasion anyway, thats fascinating when someone keeps the invasion anyway...its like there's a required period in reefing you have to make excuses for how it looks

not so

Someone always posts in the help threads that a pill or doser will kill their algae, that's what most opt for

they leave the clouding, and that has a price...


another reason you helped your tank by ridding it of organic fuel waste: now you have room to mess up on fish feeding a little, without a total growth explosion.

prior, every slight feeding every day was converting into waste compounded, fueling the matted invasions. the slightest overfeed would tip the balance into massive invasion.

but all of it is now back to reef condition. it stinks to have to do the cleaning work, but you just caused something called oligotrophic shift whereas eutrophic shift was the prior condition that nobody wants in reefing, even as an uglies phase.


a second benefit: you are keeping the way cleared for coralline algae growth by manually removing competition. cover all areas in coralline, and it starts to reject other invasions from anchoring but you have to guide for months to earn cruise control. im on cruise control. my hard work years were 2006-about 2010 with algae

since 2010, 0% invasion all coralline.

Hi Brandon, yes ofcourse

Every night I wipe the glass with a cloth and stir the sand up a but to tackle the brown sand.
Then once sand has settled it is sparking clean like the first day after rip clean.

However within literally 4/5 hours I can see a brown film back on glass and sand.
It’s astonishing how quickly it comes back.

I would say the best approach For new setup is clean it every day and avoid it getting into the state mine was originally in.

Pics below are 24 hours after it’s daily clean, right before I clean again which I am about to do.

 

[JamieB]

Hi Brandon, yes ofcourse

Every night I wipe the glass with a cloth and stir the sand up a but to tackle the brown sand.
Then once sand has settled it is sparking clean like the first day after rip clean.

However within literally 4/5 hours I can see a brown film back on glass and sand.
It’s astonishing how quickly it comes back.

I would say the best approach For new setup is clean it every day and avoid it getting into the state mine was originally in.

can we see an updated tank shot here

we have been using your thread to show people what personal resolve looks like, the ability to command a different after pic by choice alone. we like how having an uninvaded tank isn't a matter of skill or luck or ideal biological balance

preventing the invasion is that

but fixing the invasion is simply making it gone, to me that's the ultimate responsibility shift in reefing.

I showed this thread to many who were having similar new tank invasions



most chose to keep the invasion, this is amazing psychology. we post for assistance, are shown the outcome ahead of time, and still take the invasion anyway, thats fascinating when someone keeps the invasion anyway...its like there's a required period in reefing you have to make excuses for how it looks

not so

Someone always posts in the help threads that a pill or doser will kill their algae, that's what most opt for

they leave the clouding, and that has a price...


another reason you helped your tank by ridding it of organic fuel waste: now you have room to mess up on fish feeding a little, without a total growth explosion.

prior, every slight feeding every day was converting into waste compounded, fueling the matted invasions. the slightest overfeed would tip the balance into massive invasion.

but all of it is now back to reef condition. it stinks to have to do the cleaning work, but you just caused something called oligotrophic shift whereas eutrophic shift was the prior condition that nobody wants in reefing, even as an uglies phase.


a second benefit: you are keeping the way cleared for coralline algae growth by manually removing competition. cover all areas in coralline, and it starts to reject other invasions from anchoring but you have to guide for months to earn cruise control. im on cruise control. my hard work years were 2006-about 2010 with algae

since 2010, 0% invasion all coralline.

This is after the daily cleaning...

 

[JamieB]

Hello All

Just a final update and comment on this.
So just over 2 weeks after breaking down my horrible brown mess of an aquarium, and all undesired elements have cleared.

Every day I spent less than 10 mins wiping glass and tank fixtures.
Initially it was astonishing how fast the brown film returned to every surface after it was cleaned.
A thick film was back within 5/6 hours.

Now though when I clean it daily its still 95% as clean as when I did it the day before.

The take away from all this is that as Brandon pointed out - conventional knowledge is wrong.
You can break a tank down, wash everything thoroughly - in tap water!- and it doesn't hurt the bacterial filter at all.

 

[brandon429]

Jamie if you could update on this

this was so well done, great documentation and you've been active lately which is great

 

[JamieB]

Jamie if you could update on this

this was so well done, great documentation and you've been active lately which is great

Hey Brandon, Unfortunately I cant update as I've shut this tank down. I will be completely honest and say i didnt keep up with water changes (I didnt have RO system so was driving to shop every week) plus I wasn't running a skimmer as the aqua one skimmer that came with my tank looked like it would spray water everywhere the moment I took my eyes off it! This meant the tank got worse and worse - hair algae, cyano etc

I am hopelessly hooked on the hobby though. I have a red sea 300XL 90% wired up in my lounge ready for water in the next day or 2, have a skimmer & an RO system in my house also. The plan is take it slow do it properly be religious with water changes this time! I've been binging BRS tv so know so much more now

 

[brandon429]

you still made a wonderful work thread that helps others, nicely done