Neglected Tank

[jacobcoral]

no insult but water changes seem to be the knee jerk reaction here. Think about it how much can you export doing water changes . Everything is in the substrate and on the rocks just like the good bacteria. you don't delete that doing water changes, I could tell you how to get rid of the Algae but took me 6 months every day that advise from a customer of mine from years ago. The problem is you have coral. I just scrubbed the rock clean every day never got algae again, I don't believe in chemical warfare either there are dozens of disasters on here about that . Just take your time and I believe in doing one thing at a time that way if you have a problem you know what caused it. I put in a clean up crew after 4 years. Glad I did, Just snails really cheap. Will even clean you Coral have a before and after pic if you would like to see them. Bumble Bee, Trochus, and Nassarius . The Trochus are the best. Never stop all over the rock

I would like to see if you wouldn’t mind. I just need to clean it lol like you said.

 

[Freenow54]

Oh one more thing. Ever consider a UV light? It alters the DNA and things cant reproduce. If you go on AI it will set you up with everything you need, You do have to ask questions though

 

[jacobcoral]

Oh one more thing. Ever consider a UV light? It alters the DNA and things cant reproduce. If you go on AI it will set you up with everything you need, You do have to ask questions though

I actually one set up, and it’s always on I’m not sure if it’s defective or something

 

[jacobcoral]

D

I would like to see if you wouldn’t mind. I just need to clean it lol like you said.

do you or anyone else reccomend I dip my corals to clean them? Which ever ones I can

 

[JumboShrimp]

Sure might help.

 

[Freenow54]

here you are Trochus

 

[jacobcoral]

here you are Trochus

Sweet

 

[jacobcoral]

Sure might help.

Should I do a standard dip or do hydronic peroxide dip?

 

[Freenow54]

I actually one set up, and it’s always on I’m not sure if it’s defective or something

Ok so what I found while searching was that a lot of people don't set them up right. You need a correct light UV-C the usable wavelength is 35% of stated input the flow has to be between 472-788 gpd for algae, and 74-131 for parasites. The AI will guide you through it all even tell you how to plumb it. Apparently you cannot expect to get rid of the algae and parasites both at the slower flow, but that makes no sense to me.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

@ShakeyGizzard, this product is "specifically designed to target and clean surfaces of live rock, coral decorations and tank walls, removing stains, loosening and softening debris for easy vacuuming and providing a cleaner, more pristine environment. It will outcompete unwanted substances and loosen the grip of ugly accumulations and coatings making their removal by scraping or vacuuming easy." (Etc., etc.)

How much they pay you to say that....lol

 

[LafondReef]

Simply put:

Time + Consistent Effort + Addressing Problems Promptly = Good tank.

Start with water changes. Your tank is only 13.5 gallons. Change out 2.5 gallons a week. If you get it set up right, that should only take 5-10 minutes.

Next, conquer the algae. What you need there is a good CUC to keep it in check, and steady work from yourself to get it pared down to something your CUC can handle. If it's just the green hairy stuff, you can simply rip it from the rock. If it looks like snot with bubbles coming off of it, you might actually have dinos rather than algae, which is a completely separate issue.

As far as CUC, I would suggest something along these lines:

1-2 emerald or pitho crabs
3-5 scarlet reef, blue-leg or blue-knuckle hermit crabs
5-10 Astrea or Trochus snails
2-3 nassarius snails (smaller types, don't get the jumbo ones)
1 Mexican turbo snail
3-4 cerith snails
10-20 dwarf cerith snails
1 strawberry conch

If you already have any CUC in there, just subtract whatever you already have from that list.

The idea being, you want the excess nutrients in your tank to be directed towards making your CUC grow rather than making algae grow.

I also included a borrowed small sea hair and it did an amazing job on all the alge. Just make sure you slow acclimate and have good water parameters first... once the alge is cleared have to remove the seahair or it will starve...

 

[Backtolifemassage]

what about coral snow?

 

[Maacc]

I have a 13.5 fuel starter kit that hasn’t had pretty much anything done to it since it’s been started about a year ago. It’s a healthy ecosystem with Zoe’s thriving and some mushrooms but anything else pretty much dies my Duncan hasn’t been open for about two months now, but they always seem to be doing just fine probably due to the dirty water. I have an insane amount of algae and noticed bubble algae as I was trying to scrub it.

Anyways, what I’m getting at is I need a recommendation on what to do to get the tank back to looking amazing again. Should I hard reset or how would I clean? I definitely have some parasites in the rocks as well. I tried to pick them out when I see them, but the rocks are covered in algae and I’m not sure how to completely clean them. If anyone has any recommendations I would extremely appreciate it. I have a lot of expensive zoas in here.

2 clowns that have been in here since the start and I want to make the tank clean and look good. I can test anything with Hana checkers I’m in the military and got busy so the tank started to have a bunch of issues.

@Lasse has multiple threads on deep cleans for nano tanks and they are very helpful.
Basically take the rocks into buckets of clean salt water scrub them and blow them out.
Also clean the substrate as all kimds of nasty stuff settles in there, either really good siphoning or bucket with pouring off the effluent works

 

[jacobcoral]

I would like to see if you wouldn’t mind. I just need to clean it lol like you said.

Update, cleaned sand and all equipment, added a new cuc. Already notice a difference in the water with the cleaned filter and protein skimmer.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Update, cleaned sand and all equipment, added a new cuc. Already notice a difference in the water with the cleaned filter and protein skimmer.

Glad you are noticing a difference!