cleaning up a 10 year established tank (algae and stuff...)

[phrawd]

I'm going to be taking over a ten year established reef tank from a friend. It will be moved to my house shortly (180 gallon) but I need to clean it up once it gets here (before it gets here?). This tank is super happy but super dirty. He doesn't even do water changes any more and never checks his water. There is no protein skimmer. There are a several blennies, a red fire shrimp, a starfish, lots of hermit crabs, and some other cleaning crew (I haven't inventoried it).

It's basically a complete eco system. Here are some pictures of the extensive algae growth on the tank. He usually scrapes it with a razor blade. I'm too lazy to do that so I'm going to check his nitrate levels and try to stabilize those (I assume they are high) and play with what has silicates. There is probably a ton of other stuff in this tank that needs to be cleaned up but this is my main concern. Keep in mind the lighting is 10K. There is a UV sterilizer that could use a new bulb (I'll do that). What else do you think I should do? He says its the lighting that is causing all of these problems and then when I upgrade the lights the algae will subside but that doesn't really make sense to me.

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I'd give it a good scraping, do some water changes, and gets some new lights and a skimmer.

 

[phrawd]

That algae will grow back in like 1-2 weeks and apparently a protein skimmer seems to have little effect which is why one hasn't been left in there. Any other ideas? The sand bed is small (doesn't like it b/c it traps gases) < 1" but there is like 350? lbs of live rock. I know lights are the way to go but dang are they expensive... I think I'll take one of the 6 fluorescent ballasts off and replace with a 250W 15 or 20K MH (if I can afford it).

 

[keethrax]

That algae will grow back in like 1-2 weeks and apparently a protein skimmer seems to have little effect which is why one hasn't been left in there. Any other ideas? The sand bed is small (doesn't like it b/c it traps gases) < 1" but there is like 600 lbs of live rock. I know lights are the way to go but dang are they expensive... I think I'll take one of the 6 fluorescent ballasts off and replace with a 250W 15 or 20K MH (if I can afford it).

First, if there is a skimmer, use it as has already been said. It will export various things, some of which the algae are using. It won't be the miracle soluiton, but it's a great start.

th elights may help, but there are plenty of lower light tanks taht handle algae. Nutrient management is much more economical tahn lighting modificaitons.

What's the feeding routine for the tank? THis is where most of the nutrients come form initially after all.

You can add more herbivores, but remember that much of the nutrients in teh algae they consume is released back into the water. Not all of it though, and I like watching hermits and snails anyhow. maybe that makes me wierd. (In fact, I'm contem[lating a small tank to keep just a few hermits in.)

Water changes, wateer changes, water changes. (though I imagine this will largely take care of itself as part of moving) This will provide yet another export mehtod for nutrients in the tank.

Anything you can remove by hand and get out of the tank is a good start. It will take time, but if the input of nutrients is reduced, and the export is increased by skimming and manual removel, it should shape up.

 

[myreeef]

Try using a skimmer... and clean it weekly! When skimate starts to line the bubble chamber, the skimmer is no longer working at maximum efficiency.

 

[Ben1]

600 lbs of live rock seems like a lot for a 180 gallon tank to me.

Why do you say the tank is so dirty, wat type of algae do you see growing?

Be aware that if the tank is really that nasty and has been high in p04 for along time this can bond to the sand and rock giving algae problems for years to come.

 

[mutley29]

That doesn't look like a 180 Gal tank, what are the dimensions?

I have about 225lbs of LR in my 180 and its more than in the pic

I think all of the suggestions so far will help remove the algal problems, how long does the guy have the lights on for per day?

Skimmer, less feeding and po4 removal will get it back on track

HTH

good luck with the project

 

[phrawd]

Tank is 6' x 2' x 2' You are the second person to say it doesn't look like a 180 gallon... the math says it is I haven't measured it but supposedly its 6x2x2 which is 180. There is a lot of rock in there especially wide pieces which are heavy. Thanks for all the advice. Also lights on are on 12 hours / day with sunrise/sunset timing.

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

First, do some testing to see what the water parameters are. I would assume the nitrates are high. Second, I have yet to see a tank that didn't have some algae growing in it. The key is to remove the nutrients that the algae feed on. Put the skimmer back on the tank to remove the scum that eventually feeds the algae.

You might also plumb in a refugium with some macro algaes. These will compete with the microalgae, and you can prune it for nutrient export.

Also, find out how old the bulbs are. fluorescents are notorious for going to the red spectrum when they get old. They may say 10k on them, but could be much lower if they are 6 months or older. It may be expensive, but that is one of the keys to keeping a stable tank, making sure the lighting is stable.

Good luck,

Scott.

 

[myreeef]

Something else you may want to try is shortening your photo period from 12 hours to 8 or less hours per day. But if you decide to try this, do it gradually over time.

If you decide to change the bulbs as srbayless suggested, do one bulb at a time and make sure that the new bulb is on for shorter periods. You don't want to give anything a bad sunburn!

How much money do you want to spend? Skimming, water movement, refugium with macro algae, lots of critters (worms, pods, snails,...) will all help with cleaning up this problem. There is no single silver bullet and it will take time. Good Luck.

 

[phrawd]

Something else you may want to try is shortening your photo period from 12 hours to 8 or less hours per day. But if you decide to try this, do it gradually over time.

If you decide to change the bulbs as srbayless suggested, do one bulb at a time and make sure that the new bulb is on for shorter periods. You don't want to give anything a bad sunburn!

I am going to upgrade to MH I think. I was going to remove an entire ballast (there are 6) and replace with a MH hood eventually. Are you suggesting I switch to a different type of bulb than 10k? Maybe a couple of 20k? Since I have to replace all of the bulbs which is expensive I was thinking of dropping that cash on a new VHO ballast that could absorb some of the cost for replacing all of the bulbs at once.

 

[myreeef]

I wasn't suggesting a change of color temperature. As bulbs age their color temp tends to shift. In order to get back to the desirable color temp, you need to replace the old bulbs. Six months to 1 year seems to be the general life expectency range of various bulbs.

Since you asked about color temp... IMO having bulbs of various color temps is more beneficial to the corals and I find it more pleasing to view. Based on a Steve Tyree presentation, I switched to this sort of setup. The idea behind it is: if you hit the corals with various color temp spikes (each color temp has it's own unique characteristics), the corals (pigments?) will react/fluoresce more vibrantly.

My tank has 6 MH, 2x 10K , 2x 14K and 2x20K. Each of the 3 sets are on seperate timers, so that for most of the day only 2 sets are on at a time.

But to each his own and you gotta stick to within your budget. I'm pretty sure that you can mix color temps with your VHO's. But I caution you not to change all of your lighting at once (VHO bulbs or switch to MHs), because you could sunburn everything, causing stress or death.