Clean up help!

Hey guys. I agreed to help a friend clean up his tank that has gotten way out of hand with algae. There is a nearly solid layer of algae on the back of the tank and a good amount on the rocks and sand bed. He has about 5 or 6 live fish in the tank and the water checks out to be pretty good except for phosphate which he got some phosban for to try to turn this around.

How should we go about cleaning the glass/rocks/sand? Is it safer to remove the fish first? I'm afraid that cleaning this much algae is going to cloud up the water with algae debris everywhere. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

 

I'd remove the fish and rocks first. Then I'd take the layer of algae off the sand, and scrub the algae off the walls. As for the rocks, I think all you can do is put them in a separate container with all new saltwater with no light for a few weeks, and the algae should die. I'd do a 50% water change on the tank after scrubbing it, but leave the fish in their temporary home, until the tank has time to balance out. Lastly, put the fish back in the tank, keep the lights off for a week or so (If possible), and don't feed as much. That's how I'd take care of it.

 

First question is what kind of algae?

I've had great success with Spiny Star Astraea Snails against hair algae.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497 526 2844&pcatid=2844

Or use a combo of mechanical cleaning with a filter sock or other filter floss and a good CUC. If it gets bad I scrape from the bottom up pulling out and cleaning the scraper on each stroke. Like scooping out a pumpkin for a jackolantern.

 

Cleaning the tank is only half the answer. The other part is what is causing it? What kind of regular cleaning & maintenance is being done? What kinda tank & what kind of filtration set up? What kinds of lighting and lighting cycle, and how old are the bulbs? What kind of live stock is there, how often is it being fed, and what kind of cleaning crew is there?

As far as cleaning I would suggest a piece at a time cleaning. A complete over haul of the tank can result in a sudden cycle that can hurt or kill tank occupant. If the rocks are that bad a take them out & boil them approach might be needed, but that will also kill the bacteria in the rock. So maybe a section at a time.

On a side note if its that bad check the reefcleaners section, and post a picture to his needs help tank contest. lol.

 

- The tank is a 46 gallon Bow front with two 1050 gph power heads
- red sea protein skimmer (could probably use an upgrade here?)
- Coralife Lunar Aqualight Compact Fluorescent Fixture, 2X96 Watt, 36 inch (new bulbs)
- lights are on 9 hours each day
- Has 60 lbs live rock
- C220 Marineland canister filter
- just bought some Phoslock to add to the canister filter to try to remove some phosphates
- Have about 60 assorted snails, 10-15 hermit crabs, a few peppermint and cleaner shrimp
- Contains 2 clowns, 2 damsels, and a pajama clownfish that I feed about once every other day
- Maintenance consists of a 15% water change (with RODI water) every 2-3 weeks

Any suggestions would be great. I know I could use some upgrades here and there, but I am not sure why my algae is so bad. I am at a loss and my only thoughts are that my phosphates or my nitrites/nitrates must be too high, although they do not read excessively high when tested.

 

I had someone do this with my tank recently. He scraped off the walls first. Then he removed all the coral, clams, rocks and equipment. He scrubbed all the rocks and equipment in a separate bucket of salt water. He was able to get the rocks really clean - they look almost new. While the rocks were out of the tank he cleaned the sand bed. Then he did a water change and put the rocks back in.

It's been a week and the tank is doing fine and fish are great!

Make sure your friend replaces bulbs if they are old and keeps up with the filter media (if he has any) and water changes and hopefully the tank will stay clean!

 

Just got finished up. Took about 3-4 hours to clean and probably could have done a little more. It looks much better now.

A few before pictures!









I'll put some after pictures up when things get settled in a few days!

 

i would enter these in the "ugly tank contest".

 

Exactly what I was going to suggest! I think this would be a good candidate to win a CuC to help!

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-cleaners/time-ugly-tank-contest-4-a-125589.html