Need advice bringing back neglected tank

[mgmcaleer]

I need some advice recovering a neglected tank. Am I on the right track?
History: I was losing interest in my tank and I was going to sell it. The cleaner crew had died and not replaced. My wave powerhead died. I wasn't performing water changes. Red algae started to grow. Skimmer pump died. I wasn't vacuuming the waste in the sand. I discovered my RO/DI was putting out crap water so any ATO was just putting more junk in the tank. My Nitrates are over 100ppm. My salinity is 1.024.

I have a renewed interest and started to fix my issues. Here is what I have done so far.
Replaced the pump in my skimmer and it is working great now.
I cleaned the red algae.
Added a circulation pump.
Started to vacuum the sand.
Added some cleaner crew, getting more.
I ordered a new RO/DI from BRS, it came Saturday. Now I have 0 TDS and I performed 10 gallons of water change. I am doing another 10 gallon change today.
I started dosing BioFuel and MicroBacter7.

Am I on the right track? Anything else I should be doing?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[five.five-six]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Those nitrates won’t come down easy. If your phosphates are high as well, I’d start carbon dosing. I know sugar, vodka etc are a lot cheeper but I’d just use NoPox. $30 bucks and it takes all the thinking out of the equation, just fallow the directions.

 

[T Diddy]

You’re off to a good start. Not much will tolerate a nitrate level of 100 ppm though. I’d do a large water change to get that down. The bacteria additives will certainly help, but the new cleanup crew won’t last long with nitrates that high. I wish I could borrow some of your nitrates

Mine are undetectable, and corals are suffering as a result

 

[mgmcaleer]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Those nitrates won’t come down easy. If your phosphates are high as well, I’d start carbon dosing. I know sugar, vodka etc are a lot cheeper but I’d just use NoPox. $30 bucks and it takes all the thinking out of the equation, just fallow the directions.

Thanks. I'll measure those today and report back.

 

[mgmcaleer]

You’re off to a good start. Not much will tolerate a nitrate level of 100 ppm though. I’d do a large water change to get that down. The bacteria additives will certainly help, but the new cleanup crew won’t last long with nitrates that high. I wish I could borrow some of your nitrates

Mine are undetectable, and corals are suffering as a result

You are welcome to my Nitrates. I have a clown in the tank and wanted to put in a sea anemone. I won't do that until I get everything under control. I will do another 10 gallon change today and prepare another 10 gallons for tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[Reefing102]

I agree sounds like you’re on the right track.

How big is the tank? Since it’s pretty well cycled, may be worth it to store up water and do say a 75% water change. Your clown should be fine, as the bacteria in the rock should be able to handle any waste

 

[mgmcaleer]

I agree sounds like you’re on the right track.

How big is the tank? Since it’s pretty well cycled, may be worth it to store up water and do say a 75% water change. Your clown should be fine, as the bacteria in the rock should be able to handle any waste

It is a 25 gallon Nuvo tank.

 

[Reefing102]

It is a 25 gallon Nuvo tank.

So you’re currently going about 40% water changes. Honestly that should help knock down the nitrates pretty good, unless your rock is leaching them as well.

 

[mgmcaleer]

So you’re currently going about 40% water changes. Honestly that should help knock down the nitrates pretty good, unless your rock is leaching them as well.

I just performed another 10 gallon water change. My Nitrates are now below 100 ppm. I would say between 80-90. My salinity is 1.025. Making more water for another 10 gallon change tomorrow.

 

[Reefing102]

One thing that may help too is on your next water change, removing some of the rocks and swishing them in the old water change water to remove any loose detritus or other gunk that may be contributing to the nitrates.

 

[mgmcaleer]

One thing that may help too is on your next water change, removing some of the rocks and swishing them in the old water change water to remove any loose detritus or other gunk that may be contributing to the nitrates.

Thanks. I did that before the first water change and also vacuumed the sand underneath the rocks.

 

[mgmcaleer]

Looks like my Nitrates are getting close to 50 ppm now. I have another 12 gallons of salt water mixed for tomorrow.

 

[OrionN]

I would just do a 100% (as close to 100% as you can get). Clean the rock and sand and start over.
It is so easy to clean small tank.

 

[mgmcaleer]

I pulled all the rock out and rinsed it. I vacuum the sand as much as I could while pulling 12 gallons of water. I replaced everything, including 12 gallons of water, and these are my readings.
Nitrate 20
Phosphate 2
Ammonia .125
Salt 1.025.

 

[Reefing102]

If phosphate is indeed 2, you may consider running some GFO to lower it to around the .03-.1 mark. You don’t want to bottom it out though. Or you could let everything run for a bit and see where everything settles after a week or two and then retest.

 

[mgmcaleer]

I let the tank run. My nitrates were still high, over 3, so I attached a reactor with some PhosGuard I had. Let’s see what this does. My Nitrates are around 25 ppm. I’ll do another water change.

 

[griss]

Phosguard won’t lower nitrates.

 

[mgmcaleer]

Phosguard won’t lower nitrates.

Yes, I know. I am doing more water changes for the nitrates.

 

[griss]

Yes, I know. I am doing more water changes for the nitrates.

I may have misread your post

 

[mgmcaleer]

I may have misread your post

No problem. I thank you for pointing that out in case I wasn’t aware. Appreciate your comments.
I believe my continued high nitrates were caused by some dying mushrooms when I started to recover the tank. I don’t think they appreciated the continued water changes and clarity of the water. Things are starting to look really good now. I am doing another water change today. After that I will post the results. Hopefully the PhosGuard has started to bring down the phosphate levels.