Time to fight back!

Hi guys and gals...
I'm starting a thread to document the cleanup process in my tank. Unfortunately, I let things get away from me and now it's time to set things straight.

I'm embarrassed I let things go this far, but instead of hiding the mess I've made, I'll be updating with pics, Hopefully that will keep me motivated and give you a chance to provide some input.

I'm pretty sure I know where I went wrong, but I'll give you a little background.

Here's how the tank looked in July:




I moved into an apartment in late August and took my 75g tank with me, but I suffered a few casualties. I lost an sps, a crocea, a coral beauty, and all of my clean up crew.

I also re-used the original sand which stirred up a lot of detritus.

The spot I selected for my tank has a limited number of outlets. I managed to get things sorted so all my pieces of equipment will run, save one... my protein skimmer. As soon as I plug it in, it trips my GFCI outlet.

Also, soon after the move, all the chaeto from the sump died out. Not sure why. My main theory so far is that the algae growing in the tank ate up all the nutrients. Could also be something to do with the bulb getting older.

Here's the tank today:









On monday, I needed more RO water, and my local fish store was having a 50% off livestock sale. I've been living on unemployment and money's been been tight, which is why I hadn't replenished my cuc until now. It seemed like a good time to try and set things straight, so I picked up few little guys. Probably not enough for this size tank and this size mess, but we'll see what they can do. Here's what I got:
6 turbos
6 cerith
6 teeny tiny blue leg hermits

I've got my new batch of saltwater mixing right now. My plan for tomorrow is to do a water change and try and remove as much cyano/algae as I can manually.
I'm also going to see if I can get the protein skimmer working again.
After that, I'll take some more pictures and we'll see if the new cuc can keep things at bay.

Wish me luck!

 

Hrrm.. not feeling a lot of excitement from you guys, but I'll keep plugging away regardless. Maybe this will help someone in the future.

Here's what it's looking like now



The cyano kept breaking apart, and I wasn't really able to siphon all of it out. I also have a leafy brown macroalgae that is pretty well rooted to a couple of rocks. I tried to tear off what I could, but it didn't seem very effective. Anybody dealt with this stuff before? I think you can see some in the last picture of the previous post.

Also, I'm having zero luck with my protein skimmer. It keeps tripping the GFCI outlet even when there's nothing else plugged in. I'm fearing the worst; that there might actually be something wrong with the pump.

I could plug it straight into a regular outlet, but don't want to do that if it's not grounded properly. I have a multimeter.. is there anything I can do to check it first?

Anyway.. hope some people are finding this useful. I'll post some more pictures once things settle down and clear up a bit.

 

Sometimes, as I have found, the forum goes cold on a given thread. I applaud you for coming forward and cleaning up the mess (which was substantial by the way) you allowed the tank to fall into. It is looking 50% better already. I will suggest a product called Marine-Clean by Tropical Science. It will eat up the sludge and "junk" in the tank to help you along. I use it and do see results.

 

nice, K+ for the clean up

 

K+ for having the guts to make this thread. I'll bet it could help others out a great deal. And there may be some reefers who could give you some good tips.
Ever think of getting an urchin? It could help munch a lot of the algae.
Try Reef Cleaners for a super cheap ultra effective Clean up crew. You wouldn't regret it.
If the Protein skimmer has a Rio pump, they are in famous for pooping out and producing stray volts (Which would be why the circuit trips) and actually catching on fire!

 

Hrrm... not sure who makes the pump. The skimmer is an octopus nw150. The pump has octopus written all over it, but it could be a rebranded rio.

My return pump is a Rio, but I haven't had any problems with that.

edit: Well, the pump is also tripping the outlet in my bathroom... time to look and see if this thing has a warranty. I assume it's still a bad idea to plug it into a regular outlet.

 

All I can say is good luck

 

Can't find any warranty info for the skimmer, so I've sent an email to the website I ordered it from.

Looks like a replacement pump will run me about $50

 

Here's another pic now that it's cleared up somewhat... I know there are still patches of cyano, but I'll have to tackle those later. I'd already siphoned out a lot of water, and didn't have enough fresh stuff to keep going.



I've got tons more flow in there now that I cleaned out the powerheads too...

 

MUCH better looking now. Almost there man....