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- Sep 8, 2014
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Hey guys! So when I recently moved from
My 55 gallon reef to my 72 bow front I also upgraded the sump from 13G to 29G. I still need to add sump dividers and a better skimmer but it was really become a cyano/algae tank and I was at the point of just selling the tank. But I knew if I quit at the hobby I would be disappointed in myself and I would be doing just that, giving up.
So I decided I needed to do a serious overhaul and I am replacing all of the sand which is very fine and gets everywhere and isn't live with all brand new live sand. I'm thinking maybe the special grade stuff I've heard a lot about. How many bags is appropriate for a 72G bow front?
Also my rocks were a nightmare and covered in cyano. This new place has a lot of windows but I keep the shades down. Another problem I have is my light schedule is 5pm to about midnight so I think between all the daylight sun that filters in I need to adjust to 11am to 7pm so that at night the tank is dark. I think I'm creating a light cycle that is way too long inadvertently. So I kept the 3 least corroded pieces of lives rock in the tank. I may even clean these and buy fresh live rock to seed my cleaned rock but we all know the hitchhikers that can come from that.
Will the live sand seed my dry rock?
So back to my original point. I tried boiling one rock and yes I used proper ventilation incase of any poisonous residue but even that didn't do the trick. So I saw a post online about Muriatic acid which I had never heard of and thought why not. So I tried it on 3 rocks and I was amazed at the results. I was left with clean dry rock that I can restart with. I after let them soak for three days in a heavy mixture of baking soda and water to neutralize and acid.
I then let hem soak for two days in just water and rinsed them heavily. Let them dry, and rinsed them again.
They look good as new and other people that have done it have had no ill after effects. I also think the acid helped to create more pores in the rocks giving more surface area for beneficial bacteria.
I'm hoping maybe Randy Holmes-Farley can chirp in with the excellent brain of his but I know we have plenty of great other minds and people who may have done this before. As much as I didn't want to effectively start over I was fighting a losing battle and sometimes you've got to regroup and then march forward!
I lost one fish in the move and one container of corals I forgot in the car. The cyano was absolutely thriving. Is there any benefit to this stuff because I could be a really good cyano farmer
Here's to building a bigger and better reef as I enter year two of the hobby. It feels like I've been doing it for years but I know I have a lot to learn and I do feel I have a lot of knowledge to impart on others and isn't that what great forums like CTARS are all about. By the way I posted a picture below of the finished rock. I really wish I took a before because you couldn't even recognize these rocks.
My 55 gallon reef to my 72 bow front I also upgraded the sump from 13G to 29G. I still need to add sump dividers and a better skimmer but it was really become a cyano/algae tank and I was at the point of just selling the tank. But I knew if I quit at the hobby I would be disappointed in myself and I would be doing just that, giving up.
So I decided I needed to do a serious overhaul and I am replacing all of the sand which is very fine and gets everywhere and isn't live with all brand new live sand. I'm thinking maybe the special grade stuff I've heard a lot about. How many bags is appropriate for a 72G bow front?
Also my rocks were a nightmare and covered in cyano. This new place has a lot of windows but I keep the shades down. Another problem I have is my light schedule is 5pm to about midnight so I think between all the daylight sun that filters in I need to adjust to 11am to 7pm so that at night the tank is dark. I think I'm creating a light cycle that is way too long inadvertently. So I kept the 3 least corroded pieces of lives rock in the tank. I may even clean these and buy fresh live rock to seed my cleaned rock but we all know the hitchhikers that can come from that.
Will the live sand seed my dry rock?
So back to my original point. I tried boiling one rock and yes I used proper ventilation incase of any poisonous residue but even that didn't do the trick. So I saw a post online about Muriatic acid which I had never heard of and thought why not. So I tried it on 3 rocks and I was amazed at the results. I was left with clean dry rock that I can restart with. I after let them soak for three days in a heavy mixture of baking soda and water to neutralize and acid.
I then let hem soak for two days in just water and rinsed them heavily. Let them dry, and rinsed them again.
They look good as new and other people that have done it have had no ill after effects. I also think the acid helped to create more pores in the rocks giving more surface area for beneficial bacteria.
I'm hoping maybe Randy Holmes-Farley can chirp in with the excellent brain of his but I know we have plenty of great other minds and people who may have done this before. As much as I didn't want to effectively start over I was fighting a losing battle and sometimes you've got to regroup and then march forward!
I lost one fish in the move and one container of corals I forgot in the car. The cyano was absolutely thriving. Is there any benefit to this stuff because I could be a really good cyano farmer
Here's to building a bigger and better reef as I enter year two of the hobby. It feels like I've been doing it for years but I know I have a lot to learn and I do feel I have a lot of knowledge to impart on others and isn't that what great forums like CTARS are all about. By the way I posted a picture below of the finished rock. I really wish I took a before because you couldn't even recognize these rocks.
