trouble in paradise

[FishyFarr]

my 55 gallon has been up for almost a year now
everything was running fine.
Then I went on vacation for one week leaving it in my daughters and fathers care.
Daughter knows freshwater and agreed to feed them on schedule.

I come home and I have 3 issues.
1. my clownfish have decided that digging a cave in my DSB right near the anemone would be fun and dug a very deep cave underneath a piece of live rock. (getting ready to lay eggs I hope)

2. my skimmer decided to quit foaming and just started throwing water out the top.

3. my nitrates were off the chart. 40

I did a 10% water change the day before I left a little ahead of schedule but figured it would not hurt.

I have done water changes every other day for almost a week now and the nitrates will not go down? I change between 10-20 gallons.

my only stony coral is bleaching out I swear one day it gains color and the next it loses it.
My kenya tree is not opening all way.
The rest of the corals look fine.

I have not bought any more clean up crew in a long while
I have many mature larger hermits (red, blue, zebra)
I still have a lot of snails but I do not see the large amount of stomatellas each night I used to see?

could all this just be because my clowns disturbed the DSB there cave is pretty big and I can see the color difference in the sand bed where they dug it up?

I was also wondering if anyone cleans out their sumps once a year or so ?
I have a carbon chamber and then live rock and return chamber.
I clean the carbon out (probably not enough)
but what about the live rock rubble area.

 

[boehm742]

Stirring up the sand bed is defiantly causing the skimmer to erupt and also may have dumped its contents back into the tank. As for the sump i vac mine with each waterchange to get any random debris off the return and input ends of the sump bottom glass. The Fuge i just kinda let be.

 

[Diamondsinthereef]

I agree with what boehm742 said. The sand bed is what made your skimmer go nuts and thats dumping back into your tank. The disruption in the water could be causing your tree coral to keep closed as well. It should return to normal after everything settles out. You might try adding some carbon as well just in case something else is in your water.

 

[chaostactics]

A perfect example of why its a good idea to have a good sand sifting crew as part of your CUC, you just need to tune your skimmer. Your clowns behavior is normal and imo awesome

 

[Rukis]

lower you light cycle, +1 on the mag rise 1500+, and make sure your temp stays below 78

 

[FishyFarr]

Cuc

I have many hermits and some nasarrius snails.
what else do you suggest for clean up crew.
I do not want a sand sifting star as many people say they kill way to many helpful critters

should I let the hermits die off and go with a cucumber

also should I just stir up all the sand real good.

 

[boehm742]

I would not strip up the sand bed. That will lead to an abundance of problems for you.

 

[_Alex_]

I have a cucumber and my hermits have not bothered him

 

[FishyFarr]

cucumber it is

so I should get a cucumber for my upgrade to 120

I am wondering about when I disturb the sand.
should I just stir it up and leave it alone for a day or two.
then sift it out and dump whats left into the 120

should I buy all new sand?
I mean I have a lot of little critters in the sand bed by now
why waste all that just cause I am moving up to a 120