Starting Over - Questions about tank cleaning

Hey there,

I really had a rough start with my first SW tank:

75 Gallons
I had a live sand substrate
wet/dry filter w/ bioballs
3 powerheads
about 45 lbs of live rock
T-5 48" 8 Bulb light with 1/2 white and 1/2 blue bulbs (just replaced all the white)
I have a protein skimmer
PH was always around 8.2 - 8.4
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
just perceptible Nitrates (towards the end)
Yellow tang
Blue tang
6 lined Wraisse
One clown
RO/DI 4 phase

In any case, since I started I was fighting one algea bloom after another and the sand was turning purple and black on the surface. I was just never getting ahead of the algea and the tank always just looked terrible.

This weekend, I gave the fish to my neighbor who has a beautiful tank... so they are in a better place now

In any case, back to the drawing board for me... but I want to ensure I have decontaminated all of my equipment. I have heard both yes and no on using a 90/10 water to bleach mixture to soak equipment bio balls etc in to kill off any unwated living stuff... and then start all over just like a new tank...

Respect you're opinions... what can I wash... and what should I just throw away (like bio balls??):-[

 

This was taken from Otty's blog, so this is not my recipe.

Recipe I was taught for nuking (cleaning) Live Rock
1. Soak rock in 50/50 Bleach and water solution for 3 days.
2. Soak rock for next 3 days in RO water if possible but tap is ok
3. Soak rock in RO/DI water and Baking soda for 3 days to neutralize the bleach. For a 30g trash can I use 4 lbs. of Baking soda.
4. Let rock sit outside in sun for 2 weeks turning the rock to make sure all water is out of holes. If cold out side I have put in my garage with a fan on the rock...

That will kill off everything (good or bad) on the rock. All Green Hair Algae and other algaes will be removed. If you don't have a problem with GHA or Bubble Algae, you may not want to go through that process. It's up to you.

I would recommend getting rid of the bio-balls since they require you to keep them very clean if you want to not have a problem with Nitrates.

What is the TDS of your RO/DI water? IF it's not zero, that could be helping to fuel the algae problem.

Also, what was your Phosphate level? Even with low Nitrates you will get major algae blooms if you have Phosphates in your tank water.

 

Thanks... that helps... I am going to check my TDS... I thought it was zero... but worth checking again...

Phosphates were nearly zero - I was in the habit of using phosban if I felt like they could be creeping up... I also fed my fish pretty sparingly.

Another question I have is... would you go to a crushed coral substrate? I think the sand was actually causing some of the issue (it looked unhealthy)

 

Buck Aye

I would not go CC substrate as with it being very large particles it means waste, uneaten food etc can drop down into it and thus create nitrate issues down the road

a fine grain sand is a better option IME as nothing falls between it and it provides a better enviroment for certain fish species (certain wrasse species bury themselves in it at night)

Steve

 

Hey Steve... thanks for the advice... I guess like others here... I probably caused this whole mess by being impatient at the beginning. I also think I may have put too much sand in the first time too which allowed some nasty stuff to develop below the surface...