Question on transfer to new tank

[ToddMcgraw]

Hi everyone,

New to this hobby and looking for some advice on my specific situation as I’m stumped. Here is the background info:

-got into the hobby by acquiring a 55 gallon with fish and live rock. (2 adult clowns, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 green chromis - now dead presumably due to stress from transfer) previous owner used well water. Tank had significant green hair algae - see photo. Also just running off a hob filter with protein skimmer.
- been attempting to clean this tank by doing weekly 40-50% water changes with rodi water and good sand vacuuming. Also removed the live rocks the first week and scrubbed them with bristled brushes to remove the overgrowth of gha. Been doing this for about a month and can’t seem to get the nitrates and phosphates to come down at all. Nitrates look to be at about 100 ppm (Salifert) and phosphates have been over .9 (Hanna) even after doing large water change.

I have a new tank that I want to transfer everything over to and make it a reef tank. It is a 40g with overflow and sump - see photos.

my question is: should I start over with new rock or can I transfer my live rock from 55 gal with new water? It seems something in the 55 gal is causing excessively high nitrates and phosphates and I’ve done so many water changes I am beginning to think it may be the live rock.

thanks for any and all input! I would like to start a solid reef tank in the 40g and am just trying to decide if I need a full restart to correct this water issue.

 

[Mikedawg]

Personally, I'd start with rock from another source; why continue the problem?

Good luck

 

[elorablue]

I would agree. That is some serious algae right there!
Just judging by your first pic there doesn't appear to be much "life" on those rocks anymore.
Save the fish and start fresh !

 

[ToddMcgraw]

Thank you for your input! I have some dry rock I will use to start over on the new tank. I guess I was just trying to avoid having to restart and wait for everything to cycle slowly.

 

[CoralClasher]

@brandon429 might want this for a work thread.

 

[brandon429]

there is no case Id change existing live rock for dry, that will cause massive problems but they're slow to emerge so at first it will seem like a good move. after the uglies and a two year wait it might stabilize

but moving existing live rocks is pure skip cycle, nice clean tank.


the right way to handle this is to fix the live rock by direction intervention as we did here below.

instead of setting up the same tank with all cleaned items, you'd move them clean into the new tank:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

notice how we handled sand there, we didnt move dirty sand.

 

[ToddMcgraw]

Thanks Jon and Brandon. This was more in line with how I was thinking that trying to save the live rock would be beneficial as it’s been in the water for many years. I am planning to go this route and will update as I go.

My plan of attack is as follows:

-rinse new sand and install in new tank using Brandon’s method
-mix all new water for new tank with different salt (switching from vibrant sea to reef crystals)
-remove and clean one rock at a time and install in new tank using Brandon’s method. May pressure wash lightly with electric pw because I already brushed these things and clogged them up and picking every single crevice sounds like an absolute nightmare
-transfer fish (2 clowns, 2 little green chromis, 1 lawnmower blenny, 2 blue hermit crab, 1 emerald crab)

One question:
Is too much live rock a bad thing for flow and such? My 55 gal seems to have a lot of rock and since I’m switching to a 40 gal I’m trying to decide how much to keep. I want a tidy look with some sort of cool structure in the middle.

Thanks!

 

[CoralClasher]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Using all new sand, water and rinsing rocks might want to add some Dr. Tim’s one and only or similar. Good oxygen from outside air through a wooden air stone and turn lights intensity down. Using 3% hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle works wonders on GHA. Let HP sit for about five minutes then swish in clean saltwater.