Im back Sorta need advice

[jabo]

I had a major crash and never understood or determined what caused it or how to stop it. Everything is gone except a few polyps and a zoa or two. The fish and clams are ok too but I will be moving them. I am done grieving and cussing so I guess i am ready to start over. The tank is a mess algae everywhere, looks awful. I was having issues with phosphates and I can do a large water change and 2 days later huge algae bloom again. I have tried it all Filters, lights, filters again, Phosban, ETC ETC. :headwallblue:

Questions.....

Does anyone know where to start? I know the easy answer here, so I guess what i am asking is take it all the way down and even go with new sand etc?

What is the best way to kill off the rock? Vinegar water or "baking" works best from what I have read. Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

Jason

 

[Rendos]

Can you describe your setup? Lights, what type and what your photoperiod is, and how old the bulbs are. Also filtration, type, skimmer???, how much circulation, what temperature the tank stays around? Anything you can list would help. pH, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate levels, etc

 

[jabo]

Its a 110 cube 36x30x18 50 gallon sump. SWC 160 Skimmer, Blueline external pump (790 GPH I think) Mp 40. Light is odysea 250 MH with 98 watt actinic and small led moon lights. 8 am actinics come on until noon. MH 12-6pm. Actinic 4-8pm, led moon 7-9pm. 9pm everything off. Led over the sump that runs from 8pm-8am. Nitrate undetected Nitrite undetected. Phosphates were .033 last time I had them checked at Memfish. I have not tested them in a month or so to be honest I have given up. Ph has not been checked in a while either, it hovered in the high 8s low 9s before this all went down. The temp varies 78 in the morning to 81 late evening.

 

[jabo]

All bulbs less than 6 months old.

 

[Rudolph]

Hey Jason. Welcome back. I cry when I get a few patches of algae and I am ready to turn it into a goldfish tank, so congrats on hanging in there. Have you tried AlgaeFix? I know chemicals are last resort, but it sounds like it may be time to give it a shot?

I had some red wiry turf alage that came in on a couple of corals a while back that decided to take off. It was between a couple of zoa frags and there was no way to pick it all out. I read about hydrogen peroxide (cheap 3% at any drugstore) and gave it a shot. It worked perfect to my surprise. It killed the algae and not the coral (softies). But, you might want to read about that as an alternative to try on your rocks.

Good luck. I don't know anything about cooking the rocks.

 

[jabo]

Kerry please don't say that AlgaeFix word!!! That is how my troubles started. I had a little red slime algae and few small spots of something brown. I was reading on here one night and someone mentioned this stuff worked great so I thought why not give it a shot. I had not used chemicals in a long time. WHAM, forgot to take out my chaeto and it whipped it all out, I had so much in the sump I had to throw it away bi-weekly. Two days later there was clear dead chaeto blowing all over the tank. I tried the water changes etc etc. Then the phosphates spiked and all was done.

I had my old 70 tall running for 2 years and no issues except a little slime algae here and there. I upgraded to the cube and mainly focused on SPS. I even got some prized frags from Chris VIA Jay. All looked great and were growing awesome until this. I put all the white colonies by the front door in the flower bed as a grim reminder.

Anyway, that is the story I am ready to start over. Any help greatly appreciated!!

 

[Rudolph]

Good to know. I have never tried it. I figured it was a last resort alternative.

If you want to decide to keep the sand or not, can you take all the rock out (put in a seperate tub for a while) and let the tank run for a while without it and see if everything levels out. If so, it would seem it would be okay. If the algae comes back, toss it......

 

[VitalApparatus]

I also would like to know how to clean rock. I have some really choice pieces from my old setup that have been in the garage but I would like to add them back to my new reef.

BtW Jay your old 70 tall just sold for 450.00 last Saturday morning! Good luck with the rebuild.

 

[jabo]

I liked that tank would have made a great fowler.. Awesome light.

Holding its value well!!!

 

[Larson]

Really the best way IMO to clean rock is bleach it. Let is soak for a hour, rinse it with water a bit with either some prime or erase-cl for a good 30 mins , then let it air dry. Somewhere nothing can get on it, foreign chemical's etc. Bleach is just chlorine and chloro-mines, which is a gas, it will gas out if you let dry. The prime and erase-cl detoxify bleach though. Then it's good to go.

If it's still alive rock, then 'cook' it. a tub you can put a near secure lid on with a skimmer in the dark and let the stuff die on it, and regularly check the skimmer. And water changes every once in awhile, nothing major.

 

[jabo]

I am in the middle of an acid soak right now. 9 parts water to one part muratic acid. After researching I thought I would give it a try. Man is it working! I will post some pics when I get time.