Need expert advice!!!!!!

[Tri0 #3]

This is my tank. It has been running for about a year now. Its a cadlights 22gal tank LED with built in refugium. As you can see I am fighting a algae problem and massive amount of aptasia. They are even in the refugium. Recently my pump broke. I ordered a new one already. I need some serious help on fixing this tank. Im not sure what to do. Heres what livestock I have

Purple Firefish
2 mated clowns
yellow clown goby
Paired pistol and goby
Lots of snails, they multiplied cant count now.
1 favia coral
and 4 polyps of zoas

The rest of my corals were killed by the aptasias that took over. I really got lazy on this tank working crazy overtime at my job and going to school full-time. I really want to get this thing back running. I want to be able to be successful and not have a crappy looking tank. Im looking to invest but not a crazy amount. I am a student strapped on cash. I am running this tank completely stock. I only have filter floss in 1st chamber and rock rubble in the bottom. THATS IT!! I know thats my problem but what are suggestions. Here is my plan to keep this tank maintained.

PLAN!!

-submerge all live rock into RO water to kill all aptasia
-ditch sand and get new
-keep filter floss in 1st chamber
-keep 2 week water changes on check (dont get lazy this time)
-get mini protein skimmer 115 (what chamber works best?)
-keep rock rubble
-run media purigen and chemi pure elite (what size media bags and how often should I change) (should I run activated carbon or will chemi pure eite do the job? ive heard different theories?)
-2nd chamber use cheato
-maybe a GFO?!? is there something small enough and will it hurt my pocket to much?

I want a setup that lets me slack off a little. I dont want to be completely lazy. you must understand Im working 50hr weeks, attending part-time school, and I have a family to care for. It has not been easy. I just want to be able to procrastinate a water change 3 to 4 days if that is possible. One of my main concerns is how do I start over?!?! I really dont want to get rid of my fish. I want to keep them and I see no way of that happening if I decide to start the tank over ( and I think I really need to theres about 30 aptasia in the back compartments). I am stumped. I appreciate any advice. Thanks alot guys

[Hawkeye]

I'm going to be in the minority here but my 2 cents - if i were strapped for time and cash i would seriously consider breaking down, sell. Pouring more investments into it when you are strapped for time is not going to end well. Lacking money is not too bad because everyone here will help out (e..g frags, borrow equipment whatever). Lacking time is more problematic because you have to maintain it.

Either you are not changing the water enough, there's too much food going in...that's what is fueling the algae/aiptasia. Removing those items will not help unless you act on the root cause. Root cause appears to be a lack of time to do water changes...it's really a circular situation here.

So let's say we start over. Go to petco, i think they have a $ per gallon sale now. Pick up a 10 gallon, sponge filter, hob filter whatever - should fit all your fish and inverts. Or borrow a tank. Then i'd leave the rock out in the sun, soak it, wash it, soak it again, wash it because that stuff is going to be loaded with nitrates/death. The tank would get a vinegar bath. Then start over.

p.s. i use chemipure elite but a cheaper way is just get use carbon/gfo and put it in a bag (basically the equivalent).


maybe other folks here can chime in to provide some encouragement!

[NikkiT]

Step one: get some new live rock, and some new sand. As Phil said, temporarily relocate the livestock to another home (tank, brute container, you get the picture).
Step two: Empty the tank and vinegar everything. E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.
Once the tank is clean and scrubbed, step three: add new sand bed and rock. I would suggest using fully cycled live rock; you may want to consider real reef.
Step four: put live stock back in, add instant cycle product if you want to help add additional bacteria to the tank.

Mike and me have a 12g tank that we run without a skimmer. We use chemipute elite, filter floss, and we do water changes. We tried rubble in our fuge, it just trapped detritus. We change the filter floss every week, do a water change of at least 10 percent per week, and change chemipure once a month.

Nanos are tough, once one thing gets out of wack, it can be difficult to get everything back on track. I really think removing the rock and sand, vinegaring the tank, giving it a good scrub, and starting over with new sand and rock will help you. You can also consider some more ornamental maco algaes; we have a couple in our tank, to me, they are not unattrsctive, and they are soaking up excess nutrients and are easy to "prune".

Just as a point of reference, at least once a year the 12g seems to get ripped apart completely, the rock coral and fish relocated to a salt bucket, and scoured top to bottom. I find that it needs the deep cleaning, or it gets out of wack due to the detritus that gets trapped.

[mnat]

Ok so at this point the good news is you have a small tank and you don't have a ton of corals. If this were my tank this is what I would do:

Get rid of the liverock, that much algae and aiptasia is going to be a constant battle. If you just dip it in RO you are going to kill the beneficial bacteria on the live rock rendering it pointless and probably start another cycle in your tank. It would actually work against you to do that. Now if you can't buy more live rock (I would look at the fake stuff so you are not bringing in any pests and you are starting over) I would setup a small (maybe 5g) tank and put all your live stock in there while you pull all the rock out and scrub and cook the heck out of it. Aipstaia is a PIA and it takes a lot to kill it and keep it from spreading.

Sand bed: You only need like 1-2 inches so you don't need that much. Pulling it out may help and it will also get the detritus down.

Water changes: This is really the most critical part. You can do everything else with this tank but if you don't do water changes it won't matter. 10% every week. That is 2 gallons a week and it will save you massive massive headaches. Nanos are so hard to balance that it why small consistent water changes are so important. I had three nanos running for 18 months (30g, 20g and 12g) and I made the effort every Sunday to spend the hour to do the water changes. I did not even have an RO and drove to Trop to buy water every week. Without the weekly changes especially when you have a nutrient issue (Your algae shows that) you will always be fighting an uphill battle.

Carbon and chemipure run together will help you out so you can buy the half units of chemipure and I always like the bagged carbon from JBJ for the back of their nano systems.

Not sure about the skimmer you mentioned, just be careful and read a ton of reviews before you purchase. Nano skimmers for a long time where just a rip off. If you can find a good one I would use it as that will help you out tremendously.

I would pick a day when you have a bunch of time and just tackle the tank. Drain it completely, put the live stock in a holding container, ditch the LR and sand, clean the tank, put in the new sand, new LR, all new water, and basically just hit the reset button. I would be worried with that amount of algae and aipstaia that if you did not do a full reset you would just be fighting and uphill battle and never be happy.

Again you are lucky you have a small tank and only 2 coral frags so you can do all that without great headaches. I understand what Hawk is saying, this hobby takes time and if you can't carve out an hour a week your tank is never going to look pristine.

[Jcurry@wesketch]

you may want to consider running a small canister filter filled with carbon after you get the tanked cleaned up.

[Tri0 #3]

All great advice. I understand about the water changes. Last semester I was taking 5 classes and working at least 55 hours a week, including weekends. So i was leaving home 4:30 and coming back at 11pm to start all over. It was because I wanted to finish my degree. This time around ill be taking 3 classes and not working weekends so I feel confident in performing weekly water changes this time. I promise to keep it consistent. I really want to find a way to keep my rock. It will cost about $150 to get new LR. I want to kill everything on the rock even vital bacteria. Then ill start a new cycle even if it takes longer I can put some extra live pieces but it will be cheaper. So my question is how long can my fish live in a bucket with a pumP and heater? And should i fill the whole tank in vinegar and let it sit over night?

[mnat]

The fish can survive for a long time in a 5g bucket if you throw a heater and a HOB filter on there and perform water changes and what not. You can keep your LR you are just going to have to essentially make it dead rock and restart your cycle. I would give it some though as aipstaia can be nasty and come back from almost nothing, same with some macro algaes. Just be prepared to leave the fish tank up for maybe several months depending on how you can get it all cleaned out and redo a cycle. Now you can cut some time down with some quick cycle stuff like Dr. Tims but again my main concern is you spend all the time and energy cleaning your rocks only to pop them back in and have it all come back. Even with pristine water conditions, aipstaia can come back and continue to spread.