90g Re-Boot

[Dolfan]

OK, well I'm back and spending time on my much neglected 90g tank that has been up and running for about 10 years. Would like a little guidance as I get this back on track

Just busy and got behind on maintenance, had a few fish die over the years, probably due to nitrate levels.

System
90g DT
55g sump
Approximately 65# of live rock
10 refugium area
Kent EX skimmer
ATO system
RO/DI system

Conditions
Down to 2 clowns and 1 chromis. No corals, lost years ago, live rock much of it with algae growth. Tested nitrates and was off the charts at least > 160, not sure how my fish have been making it.

First Step

• Pulled out the fish into a QT and stocked it with some liverock and mix of existing and new water.
• Pulled all liverock into a rubbermaid with tank water and circulation but no direct lighting
• Pulled out the fuax bottom and then began to remove water and "gunk" siphoning from the bottom. Did about a 70% water change over the course of 3 days.
• Replaced faux bottom going back to aragonite and crushed coral grave

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Updated Equipment

• Added a reactor and began a very small dose of biopellets based on feed back of LFS and others as a method to help control nitrates
• I've been so frustrated with PC light bulbs I bit the bullet and switched to a Current LED fixture. Should be fine for some coral and fish, I plan to augment this later if I get back to more and more corals.

Cleaning

• Cleaned out the sump as much as possible of any debris
• Cleaned all powerheads and pumps
• Scrubbed and scraped liverock as mush as possible to remove algea and unwanted growth, while flushing original water with new salt water to remove debris, nitrates, etc.

Rebuild

• Added a PVC tray with eggcrate to suspend liverock of gravel, just barely contacting gravel level.
• stacked cleaned liverock on tray in DT
• Soaked and scrubbed a few liverock pieces with a dash of bleach, rinsed in tap water for 24 hours several time (not yet in tank)
• Rebuilt canopy door and made rig to hold LED light bar

Status

• Nitrates are level now about 30-40, probably the lowest in years!!! :eek1:
• Nitrates in QT are about 50, fish are fine and eating well
• DT is cloudy but I think this is due to reactor plumbing, need the output into the skimmer input

Questions

• What else should be done with liverock that was in bleach? How long before putting into DT?
• Cloudy water from biopellets, I can replumb and hope that helps with it directed at the skimmer, anything else to do there?
• Planning 1 more smaller water change, maybe 6-8 gallons. At this point considering placing fish back to main tank, temps and nitrate levels are close and all better than ever. Yes/No?
• Remaining liverock from QT about 12-15# has lots of algea and debris, with having about 40# of cleaned but not bleached rock what action should I take to clean this. I'm fine to return this to more of a base rock condition and then let the tank build this back if needed?

 

[oscarinw]

What else should be done with liverock that was in bleach? How long before putting into DT?
Leave 2 days in non-chlorinated water, then rinse again and cycle with dechlorinator/conditioner

Cloudy water from biopellets, I can replumb and hope that helps with it directed at the skimmer, anything else to do there?
Not sure that would do anything. It should clear on its own in time

Planning 1 more smaller water change, maybe 6-8 gallons. At this point considering placing fish back to main tank, temps and nitrate levels are close and all better than ever. Yes/No?
1. I wouldn't put the damsel back. They can be a terror if you are planning other more peaceful species down the road.
2. Don't rush the return of the fish. I would wait and see if your nitrate/phosphate levels start creeping up before starting to stock again.

Remaining liverock from QT about 12-15# has lots of algea and debris, with having about 40# of cleaned but not bleached rock what action should I take to clean this. I'm fine to return this to more of a base rock condition and then let the tank build this back if needed?
I would leave it alone. Algae is your natural phos/trate sponge. If at some point down the road you want to use that rock, I would suggest a muriatic bath and restart. If you need to 'beautify' your quarantine tank and that's why you are considering cleaning without completely restarting the rock, then a good scrub/rinse and then perhaps a quick dunk in 50/50 tank water, hydrogen peroxide to burn the algae. Worms and crustaceans will likely die in that process as well though.

 

[Dolfan]

Remaining liverock from QT about 12-15# has lots of algea and debris, with having about 40# of cleaned but not bleached rock what action should I take to clean this. I'm fine to return this to more of a base rock condition and then let the tank build this back if needed?
I would leave it alone. Algae is your natural phos/trate sponge. If at some point down the road you want to use that rock, I would suggest a muriatic bath and restart. If you need to 'beautify' your quarantine tank and that's why you are considering cleaning without completely restarting the rock, then a good scrub/rinse and then perhaps a quick dunk in 50/50 tank water, hydrogen peroxide to burn the algae. Worms and crustaceans will likely die in that process as well though.

I was thinking as I put the fish back to the DT I could also just scrub and rinse the rock from the QT and drop them into the sump. There would be no light here though and not sure if that would be a good or bad thing for both the tank or the rock?

 

[Dolfan]

I did re-route the plumping of the reactor so that the output is feeding directly into the intake tube on the skimmer. Should at least help reduce an cloudiness from reaching the DT.

 

[Dolfan]

Well, tested the nitrates tonight in the DT and they have kept up. Up to about 60 from 30 in 3-4 days. No inhabitants only gravel and live rock. I'm a bit surprised by the rise but I assume it is related to all the changed to the liverock. Most of the live rock had been in a tub and scrubbed pretty well. The reactor with biopellets has only been going about 8 days and I purposely put in a very light amount for the first time around.

Skimmer is mostly pulling very wet light tea skimate but has been running constantly. I did make one change tonight I had always kept about 8-10 bio-balls in the old chamber for wet/dry, I figured it was a safety net of sorts. But now I pulled them all except 3, just thinking they are just feeding this system nitrites to be processed? I should probably just pull them all with having this much liverock.

 

[fishresponse]

Agree - pull the bio balls if you have live rock. The bio balls are nitrate factories. You can pull them in increments not to shock your system with removing any beneficial bacteria.

 

[Dolfan]

OK, Took longer than I was expecting but with more water changes I got the nitrates down to about 20-30, a huge improvement and after over 10 days with the rock back in and 3 days with just my 3 fish all is well and level have not moved. PH is right on. Temp is more level without the heat of the PC lights.

A shot of the tank with new aragonite substrate and cleaned rock with better aquascaping. Left side is on a PVC and eggcrate tray so rock is not on the gravel. Right side I created a tunnel piece from thin acrylic and have added a few more rocks so it looks even more natural. I need to get to the back and remove the backing and clean the salt creep that makes the backdrop look bad.

I also don't miss my clunky lighting tray that rolled in and out of the canopy with all the PC lights, loving the LED lighting upgrade at this point!

Excited to get things dialed in and make sure things are steady to introduce some new inhabitants.