Severely neglected tank, how to restart?

[Kaludar]

Any suggestions on how to clean pumps/skimmers effectively? Just tap water and scrub? I figure I should break my main return pump down and clean it when I have the sump apart.

 

[fish farmer]

So to summarize, fix my sump. Rinse the crap out of my sand and manually remove as much algae as possible from my rock and return it to the tank. Do a lot of weekly water changes. This should remove most of the algae and keep beneficial bacteria that I have cultivated on my rock?

I have to ask since I don't think anyone has yet.

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels at?

You can go through all this rip cleaning, etc. etc. and later still see phosphate levels leaching from your rock. Your rock could have been sucking up excess phosphates during the passive maintenance times and you may need to employ a means to remove the excess phosphate.

 

[brandon429]

That line of testing and reaction brings dinos to all, plus none of the rip cleans had a bad outcome where we needed additional help


the logged rip clean works omit testing and sub in physical action for the win, accepting any examples of non win if there are some to link. It doesn’t do any good to test and react to waste parameters in a tank full of waste. Also, too many folks use a cheap vs expensive phosphate test to make the decision to add gfo, = dinos, gotta get past hesitation to win here we’ve got about 300 examples logged

doubt can’t be drawn from those examples and applied here without a precedent shown on a matching reef example

do any testing and reaction, or clean up crew addition, in the post rip clean tank not the pre rip mess.

 

[dk2nt9]

Any suggestions on how to clean pumps/skimmers effectively? Just tap water and scrub? I figure I should break my main return pump down and clean it when I have the sump apart.

Search for "how to clean protein skimmer" or the same for return water pump. Parts without metal get soaked in a white vinegar solution, pure vinegar works faster. For large surfaces spray it, or cover them by paper towels with vinegar and cover by plastic sheet to reduce smell and evaporation, then scrub with a brush. Rinse well.

For parts with metal, soaking and scrubbing with impeller brush and larger stiff brushes, finally some mild disinfection with weak hydrogen peroxide.

Now about main procedure, from my experience with resetting tanks:

You have fish there, I would gradually change situation without tearing tank up. Too high probability of breaking balance and getting ammonia and nitrites.

Compare alkalinity of your new saltwater with alkalinity in the tank. Drastic difference, 3-4 dKH, with tied to it increase in pH, at once, without acclimation, can noticeably affect tank inhabitants.

Small frequent cleanings with average water changes, not increasing alkalinity more than 2-3 dKH, should be safer. Rock can be removed, not all at once, plucked and scrubbed in the old saltwater, removed at water changes. Spraying it with peroxide also could be done, but for small parts of the rock, nit all at once, or you can get ammonia in the tank from the large amount of decaying organics.

In the time between water changes, keep filter socks clean, maintain alkalinity a bit closer to the alkalinity of a new saltwater by dosing. When doing water changes, siphon out with hose what you scrubbed from walls or rocks and accumulated detritus. After starting siphoning sand bed risk increases, do it in small parts and watch for ammonia spike after that, keep Seachem Prime ready for temporarily binding it. Change activated carbon frequently.

This way would be more work, but no agitated animals.

 

[shadow_k]

That’s why taking all the sand out at once rather then sections will prevent any discomfort with tank inhabitants.

 

[kabal2]

Hi, all tanks are different and I mean all of them, you can have 2 tanks and thread them the same and they both will be different, ok easy was to clean and fast rip everything out and clean it out, bad side of that is that you starting all over I personally do not like that, second option clean and scrub a little bit every day and yes your rocks might leach some stuff back into the water when you clean, so keep that in mind, to clean your pumps and filters use some citric acid , just soak them for a few hours get a few brushes of different sizes and go at it cleaning, good luck in your new restart.

 

[Kaludar]

Initiating rip clean this weekend. I think I will do as suggested and hold off on testing until I've cleaned and fully cycled the water fresh with water changes over a couple weeks. I want to try to stay away from extreme dosing and additives this time. I'm thinking protein skimmer, filter socks and maybe an algae scrubber when tank is established again if I feel like getting spendy.

I dosed carbon in the past and while I had an algae free tank my corals didn't like it much, I'm going to shoot for regular water changes and just let the tank do it's thing and see what happens.

(And not neglect maintenance this time)

 

[131696]

Dont start over buddy your ready now for sps just clean glass do a few water changes, maintenance the tank don't start over.

 

[Kaludar]

This makes sense too, I could just go slow and steady with the water changes get my parameters stable and start to build my cleanup crew again.

I have no idea what my params are right now but they gotta be sky high. Top priority is getting my sump back on line first.

Dont start over buddy your ready now for sps just clean glass do a few water changes, maintenance the tank don't start over.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

You can get an inexpensive protein skimmer that is still good and filter socks. Both of those are fairly small investments and will go a long ways. They really are a mainstay to and tank.

An algae scrubber is more expensive and not necessarily needed.

 

[LuizW13]

This makes sense too, I could just go slow and steady with the water changes get my parameters stable and start to build my cleanup crew again.

I have no idea what my params are right now but they gotta be sky high. Top priority is getting my sump back on line first.

They may not be as high as you think.

 

[Spare time]

Hi guys,

I have a 250L tank that has been neglected for about 8-9 months. I have two clown flish, a peppermint shrimp and 1 remaining living coral, some sort of green mushroom which I'm amazed is still alive. I am a bit ashamed to admit but I completely let the tank go to crap, its overrun with green algae and bubble algae, the sump is in horrible shape, it will need a complete tear down and cleaning.

Me and my wife have decided we want to give it another go, but set our expectations a bit lower this time. I actually had a decent tank going but I was unable to grow acropora and got really disheartened and kinda gave up. Anyway question is how should we go about doing this? I think we will probably give the livestock back to the local fish store while we do our clean up. How should we handle cleaning the rock? We have a moderate amount of coraline growth that we would like to not kill, but I also want to start fresh with no algae in the tank. Should we just remove all the rock and manually scrub them, should we do some sort of acid wash to get rid of all the algae?

If we tear the tank down and scrub the rock will we have to re-cycle the tank again?

How should we go about doing this reboot? Any advice is appreciated.

I would put the livestock in a bin with a heater, pump, and some rock since bringing them to the fish store risks bringing disease

 

[shadow_k]

This makes sense too, I could just go slow and steady with the water changes get my parameters stable and start to build my cleanup crew again.

I have no idea what my params are right now but they gotta be sky high. Top priority is getting my sump back on line first.

Since you have algae your po3&No3 are not gonna be accurate, but your alk,calc mag will give accurate readings

 

[tharbin]

I think that the rip clean method would definitely work and it is almost for sure quicker and more satisfying. What I worry about is six months from now. The take it slow, don't add chemicals, do regular water changes and cleaning method will be much slower--BUT--it will teach you how to maintain your tank, Chemicals (I'm not talking about QT here--I'm talking about algae/dino/diatom/phospate/carbon dosing/etc. control chemicals) should not be needed--at least not during the first year. Fix your protocols. Take all advice with a grain of salt, including mine. The really successful tank is the observed and maintained tank. The tank the owner putters at the little things and allows the natural systems in the tank to mature and prosper. Patience and slow methodical corrections keep things in balance.

I personally think all of the advice for this or that piece of equipment or chemical remedy is a dis-service to newer reefers. A tank can be successful with nothing more than some good flow, some good light and an under-gravel filter, oh, and some saltwater usually helps also. In many ways a reef tank is easier than a freshwater tank. All of the dosing, chemical controls, automation and specialized filtration media and devices can be useful once the reefer understands their system well enough to apply them with discretion to solve specific issues or to optimize specific portions of their tank.

Are your parameters out of whack? Probably but tests won't tell you because the system is so too far out of balance. It doesn't matter. A few 25% water changes will fix it. Too much algae? That's why you bring home the extra toothbrushes from the dentist. Clean the glass and vacuum the gunk out of your sump regularly. Use vinegar or citric acid to clean out your pumps. When it starts to look really clean, blast the rocks with a turkey baster every few days until the rocks look clear again. Look for dead spots in the sand and rocks and try to improve the flow in those areas.

Don't worry about buying gear. Have a good method of mechanical filtration in place, a filter sock or filter floss, it doesn't matter but clean it, at least once every three days. Check it daily and when it looks dirty, clean it or replace it. Your rocks and sand have plenty of biological filtration and chemical filtration should not be need at this stage.

The slow and methodical or the rip clean will both work. The bigger picture item is will you let this happen again? I guess I feel that teaching yourself the discipline needed to keep the tank running well is more important than how fast you clean it up.

Again, take this with a grain of salt. I'm just one of many voices.

Good luck. I don't think your tank is nearly as far gone as you think it is.