cleanup crew for "Old Tank" syndrome (1 Viewer)

[curtisandrachel]

After entering into an "Ugly Tank Contest" sponsored by ReefCleaners (and nearly winning), I decided to let the experts help and I would get a custom cleanup crew. I was skeptical about letting a company design a clean-up crew, because I figured they would sell me too much stuff and it would only marginally address my problems. However after having a plague of hair algae being covered by a carpet of cyno, I felt it was time to try something else. John at ReefCleaners told me that it seemed like I had old tank syndrome. So he put together a crew of snails, crabs and two chitons. I just want to see if having a "custom" clean-up crew (along with the regular maintenance and husbandry) will actually clear up my problem of massive hair algae and tons of red slime.

I have be a member for a while and most of the time I just read the forum, but I am hoping to get your help as I try to fix this problem. If you have any ideas or help, please feel free to shoot them my way. I will keep this updated as I see progress until I finally get control of the tank again.

Here are a few pics to show what I am starting with. These will embarrass my wife.

 

[deepsea43]

More flow and Chemi-Clean! What do you use for flow? As for hair algea get a sea hare.

 

[curtisandrachel]

Thanks for the chemi-clean tip. I have been unsure about what would be safe in my tank.
As far as flow I have two MJ1200 modified. I forgot the name of the mod, but you can see it in the second pic.

 

[crvz]

Well my thoughts, the clean up crew may help slightly, but often they only result in more bioload in a tank that far gone, and may be more of a problem than solution.

Any algae issues are a result of excess nutrients in the tank, and for what you've got going on, I'd expect that your substrate (sand and rock) is the source of the problem. Bound phosphates and other issues continue feeding the algae, these originating from years of nutrient import/export problems from over-feeding, improper water change schedule, inadequate filtration, or any combination of these. The quickest solution, though troublesome, would be to wipe the tank out and start fresh. New sand bed with rock either "cooked" or given an acid bath will be the best way to then eliminate the nutrient problem in the substrate, and then a new approach at tank keeping is a good idea. I can sneak you a few links on reading if you'd like, but you may not like this response so far. Good luck!

 

[Guest]

this is what I would do if that was my tank. I am not saying this is the best or only way to tackle your situation.

I would get a couple of tubs from walmart take out the rock and put it into a tubb. take each piece of rock and scrubb it in the bath tub then place it into the 2nd tubb. Both tubbs will need to have salt water ready in them, by the way. no lights .

while doing this, clean the glass off into the water, drain water and take out as much of the red slime as possible. replace tank with fresh salt water, no lights again keep your flow going.

step three is to add back your rock once the tank is clean. the rock will be fine in the tubb with flow and or skimmer or water change.

I would not put chemicals in and I would not spend more money to subject animals to that harsh environment.

so to recap I do not care about spelling, I already have my degree, second this is not the end all to solving your problems, only what I would do.

Good luck. post some pics of the progress as this could also be put into the articles section on how to recover from "old tank syndrone". I mean uuugly.

 

[CBBSteve]

Hi, Curt.
When I read your post, my first thought was "sand bed problem". Then crvz said the same thing...

This is obviously the 75G. How old is it? What kind of sand and how deep is it? How many fish and what kind? Corals?

Here's one way to think about clean up crews.
When an animal eats, 3 things happen to the food.
- some of it turns into energy that the animal burns up
- some of it is stored as tissue
- the rest of it is excreted as waste

So, consider snails, hermits, and chitons. Seen any really energetic snails that move real fast and grow real fast? IMO, it would take lots and lots of snails to convert enough nutrients to energy or tissue to make a difference. Hermits may be a little better, they do seem to move and grow faster. Chitons, well, they hardly move at all...Clean up crews are great and necessary to help keep things under control. Like crvz said, they might not help too much when things are really out of control.

A couple of things to consider, Boyd's Chemi-Clean does work on cyano and Marine SAT does work on hair algae. But if you want to save your rocks, you'll need to get very very agressive with your nutrient export. Optimize your skimming, limit your feeding, frequent water changes, lots of flow hitting your rocks. Running carbon and GFO - phosban or rowaphos - will help. You might also consider the Prodibio products to boost your bacterial population.

good luck,
Steve

 

[SnMan]

I would start by making sure that any water that is added does not have silicates. If you do this then the cyano will disappear. You can also use Kent's phoshate sponge whch will remove the phosphates first and once they are gone it will remove the silicates. At least then you will be able to see better in the tank. While you undertake this restoration I would perfect your husbandry skills in order to prevent the root cause of the problem(s). I also agree with the approach presented by CRVZ but you might not appreciate the prevention techniques as much though. Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do.

 

[curtisandrachel]

Awesome advice!! Thank you so much.
I have considered removing and replacing the sand, its not very deep and the MJ's push it around.
I also considered cooking the rocks, but so many of them have mushrooms, zoa's, or galaxia attached. I'm sure if it comes down to it, I can find a way to relocate them.... Interestingly enough, my softies, and LPS have not only survived, but they have all continued to grow and propagate.

Cruz,I would like a link on how to cook rocks. Thanks

Steve to answer your questions. This is the 75 gal. I have had the tank and rocks for about 3 1/2 years, but I got everything from Marsh members. So I don't know how OLD everything is. The sand is large particle sand with broken shells in it, not very deep (3/4 - 1 inch). It probably needs to go. any suggestions for replacement?

As far as inhabitants, the clean-up crew, 4 fish (sailfin tang, maroon clown, damsel, chromis); red serpent star, tux urchin, CB shrimp.
corals: several mushroom, zoa's, galaxia, acan, monticap, candy cane and trumpet corals, oh yeah and more Kenya tree than I will ever need or want.

I know I could just start over, but that seems like the easy way out. So far the clean-up crew and the new macro algae seem to be doing well.

 

[Timanator]

I think your in alot better shape than you think. If Cyano is your worst problem then your pretty luck!

 

[curtisandrachel]

just a quick update.. I wanted to see if the clean-up crew was worth the investment, so I haven't changed much else. Things are starting to look much better. The hair algae is greatly reduced and the cyno is starting to back off. It is grows throughout the day, but it isn't covering everything any more. I am still doing a 20 gal H2O change each week, and the regular maintenance. I'll post pics later to show the progress.

 

[crvz]

crVz,I would like a link on how to cook rocks. Thanks

Here's a pretty standard thread about it.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f164/how-to-cook-your-rock-66551.html

 

[Guest]

good to hear, it all turning around.

 

[curtisandrachel]

here is a shot from this morning. You can see that the reoc is completely covered anymore. The cyno is still around, but it is getting where I can suck large chunks out when I change the water. Its nice to see progress. Thanks for the help and the link, crvz. I'll update again next weekend to see if there is any change.