I want to rip clean my 300 gallon tank

Miami Reef

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I’m struggling with diatoms, hair algae, red Cyanobacteria, and other types of algae.

My sand bed is really cloudy and I want to redo my rock structure.

How do I clean my rocks?

is it worth rip cleaning? What are the benefits of rip cleaning vs letting algae take its course?

Won’t algae just come back after rip cleaning?
 

Jekyl

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I wouldn't rip it apart.
 

Jekyl

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I'd start by vacuuming the sand bed getting a third of it weekly. Use a toothbrush and your vacuum and scrub/siphon the algae you can. Add in a good amount of CuC and see where it gets you.
 

Jekyl

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I use crushed coral and when disturbed will make a mess. I bought a pistol shrimp to do the job for me and use a HoB filter to help clear it up.
 

Jekyl

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Before a big water change use a turkey baister and blow your rocks off. Lot of detritus gets trapped over time
 

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there is a thread around here some where from the guy with a long running vase pico from Mexico I think his name is Brandon?
try to find that thread and I am sure he will chime in.

my experience with a rip clean. I had a few fish in my nano for a bit longer that I should have do to moving things around. anyway I got a pretty bad case of cyano I did Rx of chemi clean. got rid of the cyano then the GHA came , I guess the cyano was using all the nutrients. I need to move the tank for the new couch and was planning to do a RIP clean any. took out a ton of GHA been dosing viberint for a month + WC slowly getting it back.

so I did kinda a harsh treatment with the rip and chemi. the RIp clean process went well. was nice to get a very clean tank. but for a 300 its gonna tank many hours i would have all your system in place and ready to go before.
 

KrisReef

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@brandon429

I know how to clean the sand bed...but how do I unclog the rock pores? My rocks are filled with detritus and the sand bed is worse!
Pull the rock and shake it vigorously in a bucket of old water for starters. If you have a lot of crud that is attached you attended to it with a tooth brush or other small brush
 

brandon429

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Agreed the rip clean removes deposits and water dosers compound the waste

Check this recent big deep clean

 
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Question:
When it’s time to redo the rock structure, do I have time to silicone the rocks?

do I redo the rock work while it’s under water?

Its a big tank and a lot of rocks.
 

brandon429

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We should skip siliconing rocks altogether


what cook did was isolate his rocks in holding tanks. He could then lift up each rock, scrape off algae outside of the holding tank and then spray peroxide on the cleaned parts after scraping, working around corals so you don’t contact them but only the algae. Rinse off with saltwater when done, set back cleaned in holding tank
 

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Also recommended since the tank is so large: do a few test rocks back to clean only, set them back in the tank among the others, and chart their course over a week or two after cleaning to see how they fare, you can spot growback issues early on this way and know what to expect

rip cleaning isn’t a one off event, it’s evacuating spaces from pores that are clogged, if we keep using sand moving forward then it clogs up again one day and that waste feeds algae. See this thread to note how some folks prevent impaction, after the tank is made cloudless then they stick stir to keep incursions low in the system, this alone is a marked change from how the system current runs if its all pent up with waste:


the reason we rip clean is so that future expected access to the system to garden out algae won’t cause a huge waste upwelling event
 

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I’m struggling with diatoms, hair algae, red Cyanobacteria, and other types of algae.

My sand bed is really cloudy and I want to redo my rock structure.

How do I clean my rocks?

is it worth rip cleaning? What are the benefits of rip cleaning vs letting algae take its course?

Won’t algae just come back after rip cleaning?
You got a photo? Is it really that bad?
 
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