tank I am regaining control of

[ebosshard]

In the past 6-9 months we had our third child and I started a new business. As a result, my wonderful 220g tank took a back seat (and didn't fare too well). Over this timeframe i didnt change the water, and my calcium reactor broke. My skimmer also was off and on during this timeframe.

I am looking for some guidance on how to best regain control of this tank. I changed out 40g this weekend and am planning on a couple more of those.

I lost all my coral and clams, and my live rock is covered in brown/green algae. The fish all did fine (the blessings of 220g).

I am looking for guidance on exactly what to do to get this tank back into good shape.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

1) Remove any dead or dying animals
2) Get your skimmer back on-line and running wet
3) Get some b-ionic or get your calc-reactor back online
4) Continue with the water changes
5) Reduce your photo period. (fish don't need the lights)
6) hand remove algae where possible.

YMMV

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have sand? I would also consider removing/replacing a large portion of it if you do, in addition to the advice above.

Sand can really accumulate detritus in a neglected tank.

 

[ebosshard]

thanks for the comments. A couple of follow ups:
1-my skimmer is back up and running. looks like it has now caught up
2-i scraped and pulled out the algae from the glass and what i blew off my live rock
3-no more dead animals. dead coral skeletons are out (sad stuff).

Questions:
1-can i live without my ca reactor? i am trying to reduce needed maintainence on this tank. what is plan b with this (can live without ca needing corals for a few years until i have more time to spend with my tank)

2-what is b-ionic?

3-how do i get all the soft algae off my live rock?

4-how many water changes is enough?

5-i have a 25g fuge that is a bit of a mess, any thoughts with that (pull out most of the calerpa/etc in there)? have mud base in there

6-i havent aded sand to this tank (ever). getting pretty thin down there. have siphoned that out very good (that must be where the sand went). Should I add new sand?

7-what corall can i add that doesnt need calcium (good circ and pretty good mhalides) once life stabilizes in there

thanks for help on my road to recovery!

 

[bleedingthought]

Yes, you can definitely live without your Ca reactor. Matter of fact, you should be able to have a softie/polyp tank that you would probably be ok with just the calcium replenishment you get from water changes. If you decide to go with things that demand more calcium (LPS, SPS, clams, etc) then you'll have to do something about it.

B-Ionic is a 2 part calcium/bicarbonate supplement that basically does what your reactor was doing. You would have to dose it (liquid) according to how much is demanded by your tank. Here's a link: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=EV1115

You might want to consider taking your rock out and scrubbing it a bit in a bucket of the tank's water to get the algae off and placing it back in along with new saltwater.

Well, what are your parameters? You definitely want to have your ammonia and nitrites at 0 PPM. Your nitrates probably had gotten pretty high, so you want to bring them down to at least close to 0. When changing the water, you gotta make sure that your PH and temp match your tank as to not shock what's still in the tank. Space out the water changes also as to not cause a new cycle.

Your fuge could have caused some of your corals to die also. Caulerpa goes asexual as one of its cycles. You might want to pull a good bit of it out (don't tear it, pull it by fronds) since the nutrients will go out with it. But what is else is going on in the fuge?

Did you ever have sand? Do you have crushed coral? Or anything on the bottom? Do you want sand? If you don't have anything at the bottom it might help you now to be able to syphon yuck out. I like the sand look though, so if you do also, you can slowly add some. But I would wait and do it later. A lot of people these days also go with nothing on the bottom.

Mushrooms, zoas, xenia, leathers, GSP, gorgonians are all on the list of low calcium demand. There are some stonies that don't demand as much as others as well, but I'm not exactly sure which ones would be your best bet. They use up calcium to grow, so if you don't keep up with the calcium, they won't. But you've got plenty of options here! :wink:

 

[ebosshard]

First of all, thank you so much for the feedback. I obviously need the advice!!

I did take a closer look at the fuge tonite and it is a bit of a mess. caleurpa looks fine but i have some ugly flooating algae (like you would see in a lake). I am getting that at and will thin the calerupa (any reason not to dump all caleurpa and start over with a new batch from the lfs?)

i had 3-4" of sand when I launched the tank 3 years ago, but it is down to an average of around 1-2" after 2 1/2 years of siphoning. Is it ok to reload a bit of sand?

I will scrub the rock as you suggested, should do the job of getting that rotten algae out of there.

WIll look into the calcium dosing idea. Not ready to get back into the calciuum reactor idea.

Will wait for some time to pass before I get back into some easy not calcium requiring corals

Are water changes 1x/week ok for now (will watch the ph on the switches).

 

[bleedingthought]

Personally, I would dump the caulerpa and go with chaetomorpha for your fuge. Much easier to maintain/control. Won't go asexual, either! And maybe get some more flow in there.

Top off your sand a little at a time as to not burrow any critters left in there. I would do cupfulls every week until you get your desired depth. I personally like 2-3".

Continue with your 40g water changes weekly. But do test your tank for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, salinity, alkalinity, and calcium. Let us know what those numbers are. When everything is in check, you can space out the water changes further. And then, a couple of weeks after everything is stable, start stocking the tank with inverts/corals again.

Good luck!

 

[bleedingthought]

Also, I forgot to mention this. Make sure you match your salinity when doing water changes, also! Very important!

 

[bleedingthought]

Oh, I took the liberty to bring this back to life: http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... 60#1144660

 

[schwh01]

What does it mean when Caulerpa "goes asexual" and what's the impact? I've got this mental image of a macho plant having an identity crisis and swanning around in a dress with badly applied lipstick!... oh actually that's transexual isn't it!

 

[schwh01]

What does it mean when Caulerpa "goes asexual" and what's the impact? I've got this mental image of a macho plant having an identity crisis and swanning around in a dress with badly applied lipstick!... oh actually that's transexual isn't it!

 

[schwh01]

What does it mean when Caulerpa "goes asexual" and what's the impact? I've got this mental image of a macho plant having an identity crisis and swanning around in a dress with badly applied lipstick!... oh actually that's transexual isn't it!

 

[Anonymous]

The caulerpa releases all it's cells, to hopefully go off and start a new life somewhere.

This leaves the body of the plant looking like it has been sucked dry by some sort of vegetarian vampire, and it shortly decomposes. The cells released into the water can cloud it up and make your skimmer go crazy.

You can help prevent this from happening by regularly pruning and tossing out part of the caulerpa.

 

[bleedingthought]

What Laura said!
Sorry, I meant "go sexual" and not asexual. Read some more here:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/caulerpaalg.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/caulerparepro.htm

Hope that helps.