Help me fix my tank after months of neglect.

[stanleo]

Sounds bad I know but hear me out. I got into this hobby when my husband and I started living together. He loved having a reef tank but didn't like taking care of one. So instead of having this ugly thing in our house (you know how ugly a neglected tank can be), I taught myself how to take care of one and in the process I learned to love it but it was mostly because of him.

Fast forward 15 years and a few different tanks and homes I currently have a 120 gallon reef with a 55 gallon sump. It was running flawless because I kept up with the maintenance for four years. He died in June of 2023 and honestly a lot of my passion for this hobby died with him. I very infrequently did water changes (months would go between them) I fed very sporadically, never tested anything and in the process, let my RO filter go woefully out of date and my doser stopped working I don't know how long ago, algea went crazy, my chaeto stopped growing, dinos are rampant, I lost all of my clean up crew, my hammer coral started dying, my GSP actually withered to just a few polyps that stopped opening. My BTA is still taking over the tank and thankfully I didn't lose any of my fish, even my manderin that is going on 5 years old survived. Oh and I used to have a thriving stock of Mysis shrimp but I can't find a single one now. Thankfully, the tank still teams with copepods, amphipods and ostracods. I have a microscope.

I am trying to find my love for it and taking care of it again. I started by getting a completely new RO/DI filter from Amazon for $100 that I cannot recommend more. It took ten minutes to set up and came with a shut off float valve and you just twist off the old canisters and twist in new ones. It's awesome. I will include a pic if anyone is interested. I have cleaned my entire mixing station, the ATO bucket and the skimmer. I brushed off all the exposed rock I could reach and I have done a 20 gallon water change every day for four days, the last being yesterday. I also did a little rearranging of the aquascape to make the flow better. Immediate results are the GSP and hammer frags that survived are opening up again, the dinos aren't growing as fast. After a day of not touching the sand its still pretty white. I did some tests with all new test kits today and they are:
Salinity 35 New and calibrated refractometer
pH 8.4 Apex
DKH 8.1 Red Sea
Cal 470 Red Sea
Mg 1280 Red Sea
Phosphate 1.5 Seacham
Nitrate 0 API
I will do them again to see how much the tank is currently using.

I am going to the LFS in Charlotte tomorrow to spend some serious money. I am getting a DOS doser for Apex, I might get a Trident as well (we'll see if I want to spend THAT much money). I am also going to get a cleanup crew of 12 astrea snails, 12 hermits, a tiger conch, 6 nassarius snails, and a couple emerald crabs.

Here are my questions,
Should I get some new chaeto? Like I stated, it stopped growing but what is in there still looks quite green.
Should I get a new grow light? What I'm using now is about 5 years old.
Should I get a new skimmer? Mine is 6 years old but still seems to be working.
Is there anything I am not thinking about as far as clean up crew or replacing other equipment?

Thank you.

 

[cilyjr]

Should I get some new chaeto? Like I stated, it stopped growing but what is in there still looks quite green.
Should I get a new grow light? What I'm using now is about 5 years old.
Should I get a new skimmer? Mine is 6 years old but still seems to be working.
Is there anything I am not thinking about as far as clean up crew or replacing other equipment?

Why would you get a new skimmer if the one you have is properly working? Don't spend money just to spend money.

If you have chaetomorpha in your tank and it is not growing. Adding more won't do anything. Perhaps which you have is not getting the nutrients it requires.

I can't make a recommendation on whether or not the grow light should be replaced. Is this for algae production?

You should look closely at that ro unit and make sure it has a deionization canister. Most of those sold on Amazon are for drinking water and do not typically include di as a final stage. As you would typically not use deionization for drinking water.

 

[ColorMeGone]

tank looks good but You need to get your N03 up from 0 for sure.
I don't think your filter is a RODI since I don't see the resin filter attached.
Make sure you have 0 TDS coming out.

 

[stanleo]

Why would you get a new skimmer if the one you have is properly working? Don't spend money just to spend money.

If you have chaetomorpha in your tank and it is not growing. Adding more won't do anything. Perhaps which you have is not getting the nutrients it requires.

I can't make a recommendation on whether or not the grow light should be replaced. Is this for algae production?

You should look closely at that ro unit and make sure it has a deionization canister. Most of those sold on Amazon are for drinking water and do not typically include di as a final stage. As you would typically not use deionization for drinking water.

Thank you, I was thinking that with the skimmer as well.

And it does have a DI canister it just isn't in the picture. That one on the right is for flushing the other canisters only. After I did that, I replaced the short canister with a DI one. I should have mentioned that.

With the grow light, I was thinking that might be why the chaeto wasn't growing? And I was thinking of replacing the chaeto I have for the new chaeto.

 

[stanleo]

tank looks good but You need to get your N03 up from 0 for sure.
I don't think your filter is a RODI since I don't see the resin filter attached.
Make sure you have 0 TDS coming out.

Thank you, I will look into raising my nitrates. I had tested that a month ago just out of curiosity and they were still 0 so I don't know how to raise it.

It does have a DI canister it just isn't in the picture. That one on the right is for flushing the other canisters only. After I did that, I replaced the short canister with a DI one. I should have mentioned that. The TDS is 0. I bought a new meter as well.

 

[Idech]

You should look closely at that ro unit and make sure it has a deionization canister. Most of those sold on Amazon are for drinking water and do not typically include di as a final stage. As you would typically not use deionization for drinking water.

That rodi filter is made for aquariums, that’s what I have also and lots of refers use it.

I’m sorry for your loss. I’m glad you’re getting back to the hobby and your tank looks really nice. I think you should just go back on a regular WC schedule and not replace anything if it’s working. Take your time and you’ll see what needs changed in the next few weeks.

How old are your pajama cardinals ? They are huge !

 

[jabberwock]

Feed more to raise nitrates. Hang in there! Following...

 

[stanleo]

That rodi filter is made for aquariums, that’s what I have also and lots of refers use it.

I’m sorry for your loss. I’m glad you’re getting back to the hobby and your tank looks really nice. I think you should just go back on a regular WC schedule and not replace anything if it’s working. Take your time and you’ll see what needs changed in the next few weeks.

How old are your pajama cardinals ? They are huge !

Thank you. Those cardinals are as old as tank so about 6 years.

Yeah I think I will just start with a doser, try to get my nitrates up and a small cleanup crew. Thanks for the advice

 

[ColorMeGone]

Thank you, I will look into raising my nitrates. I had tested that a month ago just out of curiosity and they were still 0 so I don't know how to raise it.

It does have a DI canister it just isn't in the picture. That one on the right is for flushing the other canisters only. After I did that, I replaced the short canister with a DI one. I should have mentioned that. The TDS is 0. I bought a new meter as well.

TDS 0 is good. I would start dosing Ammonium to help get your N03 up. It's very cheap to make and for me it works well. Your chaeto will like it too since that's probably what's eating into you N03.