I am planning on performing a "rip clean" this weekend on my red sea reefer 300xl 65 gallon tank with a 15 gallon sump.
I think I understand majority of the idea of it but I had a few questions.
Here is what im planning on doing:
Please @brandon429 and @KrisReef if you notice any mistakes here please let me know I am really nervous and am worried the fish will die. I am willing to do the work needed and hopefully ill be done this weekend or early next week. I will keep you all updated when I start
If I missed anything tell me please
Thank you all and sorry for asking so many questions
I think I understand majority of the idea of it but I had a few questions.
Here is what im planning on doing:
- 1: siphon out the old tank water from the main tank into a large trash can
- 2: halfway through, I will attempt to remove all the fish, shrimp, crabs, and snails in the tank and put them in a 5 gallon bucket for a day or two with a heater and powerhead in place.
- 3: with all animals out of the tank I will now remove all the rocks and put them in the large trash can I had in place with my old tank water. I will shake them around in there one by one, shaking off any loose detritus and will then take the rock out and put on a towel on the counter, and use a knife tip to scratch and scrape off any roots of the algae.
- 4: then I will use 3% hydrogen peroxide and dribble it all over the rock, let it soak up dry on the counter for 15 minutes, then put the rock into a different 5 gallon bucket with some old tank water in it.
- 5: I will continue this with all of my rocks
- 6: Now with all rocks clean I will remove my sand with a scooper, put it in another 5 gallon bucket, and either go outside and use a hose with the shower spray feature or use an indoor faucet sink, and rinse and dump out the water repeatedly for hours until the water is clear. I will also mix with my hands. Once its clear I will do one last rinse by dumping the sand into a separate 5 gallon bucket full of RO/DI water and mix it there one last time
- 7: Now I will also drain the water in my sump, and use vinegar or something to clean off the bottom and sides of the sump and tank.
- 8: I will clean the skimmer, and other hardware in the sump with vinegar as well
- 9: Using pre-made new water from another large trash can (with the same temperature and salinity as old tank water) I will refill the sump and put back the cleaned hardware.
- 10: Now I will put the cleaned rocks that were soaking in old tank water this whole time back into the tank after rinsing them off with RO/DI water.
- 11: Now I will pour back the cleaned sand into the tank
- 12: Now I will slowly siphon in the new tank water (with matching salinity and temperature as the old tank water)
- 13: Now that the entire tank is cleaned I will get my fish from the bucket of old tank water, and acclimate them and pour them back into the tank.
- 14: I will do the same with the other animals that were there
- 15: I will keep the lights on low, and keep black construction paper on the sides of the tank for a few days. After a week I will have the lights fully back
- 16: Done?
Please @brandon429 and @KrisReef if you notice any mistakes here please let me know I am really nervous and am worried the fish will die. I am willing to do the work needed and hopefully ill be done this weekend or early next week. I will keep you all updated when I start
If I missed anything tell me please
Thank you all and sorry for asking so many questions