Purchased an already established tank, want to make the rock/sand prettier...

[CMcTay]

So, on Sunday I purchased a 55g setup that has been going strong for three years. The biofilter is well established and everything is happy and clean in it. Now that it is mine, though, I am hoping to figure out how to make it... prettier. This is my second salt tank, and the first one (that I started about four months ago, so still very new to the hobby) had no problem spreading beautiful coralline algae all over the rocks over the course of a month or two, which pops against the white sandbed. I didn't really have to put much effort into it, it just kinda happened.

This tank looks more like a riverbed than an ocean to me. The rocks are brown and covered in snail eggs and green algae, and the sand bed is extremely coarse (more like a pebble bed). Also filled with bristle worms, but I could take or leave those guys since they're so helpful with cleanup.

I'm looking for some tips on how to do a couple things, hopefully without killing the biofilter. First I want to kill off all the green algae. Then, I want to get some coralline growing and get these rocks all nice and purple/pink. And finally I want to replace the sand bed, or at least mix it with some finer sand. I don't want my little 3 inch sand sifting goby to choke on this stuff!

All the livestock is moving out soon, I'm in the process of selling off all the fish that came with it, so I won't have to worry about hurting any fishies in the process, but I do want to keep the bacteria thriving if I can. Tips? Advice? I'm open to it taking a long time if it needs to, I'm taking it slow with this tank in general and don't anticipate adding any fish to it for months, so I'm open to whatever you guys know and can share with me thanks so much!

Oh, and here are some pictures of the tank, so you can see what I'm working with:

http://i.imgur.com/rpeDgWh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/9RDzxF3.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iYr5HVV.jpg

 

[Jerzey]

Buy a massive clean up crew n let them go to work!

 

[Sk8r]

Looks pretty good, actually. If you have green algae, run GFO. DOn't know what the substrate is---hoping it's aragonite. Having it that coarse means it doesn't kick up and kill corals, and jawfish can build in it. Mostly just keep the parameters in my sig line and don't overfeed, and learn to love the bristleworms. Their numbers always match the nutrients in the tank.

 

[CMcTay]

Having it that coarse means it doesn't kick up and kill corals

Oh, that's an interesting tidbit... free floating sand can kill corals?

 

[Sk8r]

Yep. I went to great pains to install sugar sand in a thriving reef and lost a batch of corals that sat low in the tank: high flow and fish action had it constantly moving about, and kicking up enough to irritate sand-based and lower rock tier corals. I was so upset I spent the next couple of years slowly netting it out and replacing it with medium grade grains, which stay put. The corals that survived went on to grow very nicely.

 

[Mythicalelf]

The substrate to me looks like crushed coral when I zoom in. I had that in my first fowlr and as time went on I hated it. It was hard to clean and I'm not sure if you can add a cuc with the trigger in there. That's what was suggested to me years ago and he just slowly ate them.

 

[CMcTay]

Luckily I'm getting rid of the trigger, he has no business in a 55g anyway :/ he just came with the tank. Fine sand irritating corals is VERY good to know... I'm hoping for an inbetween though. I don't need sugar sand but this stuff is so thick and chunky my diamond goby won't be able to turn it over. I either want to mix it or replace it entirely, and I'm not sure how to go about that without destroying the bio goodness it provides.

 

[Tsancho82]

Looks like you have hydroid's on the rock on the top right in the first picture. I'd get those off of there as soon as possible, they spread like wild fire and have a pretty nasty sting. Pull that rock before you go any further and super glue the ends of the tubes, should do the trick.

 

[CMcTay]

Oh man, thank you so much for pointing that out to me. Guy that sold these to me said they were some kind of tubeworms, I didn't think to look into it further. I will try the superglue trick. Thanks!