Frag tank full of gross-ness, help!

[vaguelyreeflike]

So our frag tank is just filled with detritus, algae, hydroids etc. We failed to dip the original frags which was the downfall, new ones will be dipped in reef primer and lugols, but how can we clear the tank of all of this? It looks disgusting

struggling with phosphates, calcium and alk being too high so Im assuming it will start to decrease as params stabilize.
We have snails, lawnmower blenny, green coris wrasse and scopas tang for clean up crew. Going to be adding peppermint shrimp and possibly some hermits but we’ll need to modify the rack for the hermits.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

There dont seem to be a lot of frags - why not take em out and clean them off? Re frag em? Clean up the racks and start fresh. What re the parameters in the tank also?

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

There dont seem to be a lot of frags - why not take em out and clean them off? Re frag em? Clean up the racks and start fresh. What re the parameters in the tank also?

Its a 125gal with about 30 frags in total, I dont have enough time in a shift to refrag all of them, and the worst are the zoas which Im not sure how Id re-frag. Is there a dip that would clean them off though? That I could probably do. But honestly Im getting to the point where im ready to tear the entire tank apart and re start lol.

params are, as of a couple days ago:
Alk- 10.5
Cal- 565
Mag- 1500
Phos- 1.0-1.5
Nitrate- 0.5
Ph- 8.2-8.3
Temp- 75-78
Salinity- 1.025

Let me know if i forgot any lol.
We were using polyp lab 1 to up the alk which is why the calcium and mag is so dang high, it took it up to 11 alkilinity originally so we’ve gotten that down slowly. And then we realized the IO salt was also super high in mag, alk and cal so we’ve switched to red sea to bring it down.
Its been a learning curve for sure lol, but we’re getting there.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

There dont seem to be a lot of frags - why not take em out and clean them off? Re frag em? Clean up the racks and start fresh. What re the parameters in the tank also?

I could do it in sections though, there are 3 2ft long, 1.5ft wide racks on the bottom and 3 2x0.5 racks on the top, so I could pull one rack at a time, deep clean and move a few frags over or something. If you have any tips for tools that clean egg crate more efficiently/quicker than a bottle brush please let me know.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

I could do it in sections though, there are 3 2ft long, 1.5ft wide racks on the bottom and 3 2x0.5 racks on the top, so I could pull one rack at a time, deep clean and move a few frags over or something. If you have any tips for tools that clean egg crate more efficiently/quicker than a bottle brush please let me know.

We used a power washer when breaking down/reorganizing frag tables.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Its a 125gal with about 30 frags in total, I dont have enough time in a shift to refrag all of them, and the worst are the zoas which Im not sure how Id re-frag. Is there a dip that would clean them off though? That I could probably do. But honestly Im getting to the point where im ready to tear the entire tank apart and re start lol.

params are, as of a couple days ago:
Alk- 10.5
Cal- 565
Mag- 1500
Phos- 1.0-1.5
Nitrate- 0.5
Ph- 8.2-8.3
Temp- 75-78
Salinity- 1.025

Let me know if i forgot any lol.
We were using polyp lab 1 to up the alk which is why the calcium and mag is so dang high, it took it up to 11 alkilinity originally so we’ve gotten that down slowly. And then we realized the IO salt was also super high in mag, alk and cal so we’ve switched to red sea to bring it down.
Its been a learning curve for sure lol, but we’re getting there.

And yea for frags of zoas and pics alk is super high! At least it seems to me. Also check your phosphate and nitrates. Phosphate really 1.0? Nitrates 0.5?

 

[The_ReefB0y_FOX24]

So our frag tank is just filled with detritus, algae, hydroids etc. We failed to dip the original frags which was the downfall, new ones will be dipped in reef primer and lugols, but how can we clear the tank of all of this? It looks disgusting

struggling with phosphates, calcium and alk being too high so Im assuming it will start to decrease as params stabilize.
We have snails, lawnmower blenny, green coris wrasse and scopas tang for clean up crew. Going to be adding peppermint shrimp and possibly some hermits but we’ll need to modify the rack for the hermits.

Bristletooth tomini tang would be helpful

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Bristletooth tomini tang would be helpful

I was hoping the scopas would suffice but i am keeping an eye out on our order list for a tomini but they havent been available for a while

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

And yea for frags of zoas and pics alk is super high! At least it seems to me. Also check your phosphate and nitrates. Phosphate really 1.0? Nitrates 0.5?

Yup our params are whacked out at the moment because of the polyp lab, instant ocean and we dont have a reactor on the tank for the phosphates yet. We’ve been learning a lot lately lol.

we started with alk of 7, accidentally boosted to 11, and are now bringing down slowly, phosphates 5+ and nitrates off the charts.

the nitrates we think it was because we didnt have enough stock, only 3 small fish, so we added the scopas and it bumped it up from 0 to 0.5.

the phosphates we lowered from 5+ to 0, but without the reactor its been slowly rising back up to 0.5-1.0.

im going to test again tomorrow before my days off.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

A very quick diluted Hydrogen peroxide dip on the zoas could help but id personally would remove what you can by hand and refrag. I know that sounds like it sucks but thats how i would pursue this.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

A very quick diluted Hydrogen peroxide dip on the zoas could help but id personally would remove what you can by hand and refrag. I know that sounds like it sucks but thats how i would pursue this.

thank you for the help, it may come down to that at this point honestly lol

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

I mean you have 30 frags you said? Thats what id do. Connected to a sump i presume? Add some pods. We’d take them out (ours were sectioned kinda like you said your racks are) out back of shop and hose em with a power sprayer. Let em dry then back in. From time to time we’d get in with a toothbrush. But these tanks had been set up for almost a decade lol

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

I mean you have 30 frags you said? Thats what id do. Connected to a sump i presume? Add some pods. We’d take them out (ours were sectioned kinda like you said your racks are) out back of shop and hose em with a power sprayer. Let em dry then back in. From time to time we’d get in with a toothbrush. But these tanks had been set up for almost a decade lol

No sump actually, its on a canister lol. That I think was our first mistake. But no where to fit a sump now so. The power washer is a great idea ill see if someone can bring one to work for the day.