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Tank Teardown!

C

concept3

Yes, it is 4:20 in the morning. I finally had it with the hair algae. Months of watching the wavy green stuff and plucking every week for the past 4 months due to a bad batch of salt, snails dying, corals getting choked, I tore the tank down today after getting out bed still fighting mild flu like symptoms. I had it.

Here is a pic of the tank last month before another explosion of algae I didn't even want to take a picture of today:
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The rocks and some frags choked with algae.
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All my live rock after a hard scrub in HOT water, yes. Hot water~
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The emptied tank:
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The fish seeking refuge in a sponge thingy found under the rocks (**sigh** see all that algae?!?!)
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The corals in a tub:
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C

concept3

So basically, after hours of scrubbing, I decided to pull my rock structure to make more open caverns and lessen the rock. I was able to remove another 15-20 lbs of liverock out of my already sparse setup. I'm gonna keep the extra in the sump then eventually remove it, or use it for frag rocks.

The structure- hmmm the camera focused on the background instead, lol.
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PVC and zipties- two amazing manventions for the reef tank!
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The pillars that I removed and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed..... I had to take one of the efflos out with a drill since it was attached to the top~
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AND, HERE IT IS ALL BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaayyy! Now I need to find homes for all the new frags that were "mistakenly" made!!!
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Note to self: Check your water parameters!
 
R

Rbu1

Looks good. Do you run Carbon 24/7? Do you have a small micron rated filter sock? do you run GFO? Do you take a powerhead to the rock every couple weeks to make sure they stay free of crap? How much do you feed? Just trying to figure out what could have been causing your nutrient issue. I would hate to see the algae come back after you did all that work.
 
J

JerseyWendy

OMG Merv, how long did all that take you? Aren't you exhausted, especially since you're having flu-like symptoms? So sorry to hear about your troubles with HA. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a thing of the past.

Your rockscaping looks fantastic.
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
concept3 said:
Now I need to find homes for all the new frags that were "mistakenly" made!!!
Click to expand...

just in time for the big frag swap day...
;)

concept3 said:
Note to self: Check your water parameters!
Click to expand...

what is that?
::)

good luck on the tank...
you frags always looks excellent!
 
blange3

blange3

Jack Daniels or Quaaludes could have prevented this! 8)

The response, not the hair algae itself.

All will be well, Merv. You are the Reefmeister.
 
C

concept3

Rbu1 said:
Looks good. Do you run Carbon 24/7? Do you have a small micron rated filter sock? do you run GFO? Do you take a powerhead to the rock every couple weeks to make sure they stay free of crap? How much do you feed? Just trying to figure out what could have been causing your nutrient issue. I would hate to see the algae come back after you did all that work.
Click to expand...

yes, Carbon 24-7 (couldn't tell you when I changed it :D )

No filter socks (current plumbing does not allow it)

Very little GFO (ran out, although I never really used it in the past)

No powerhead to the rocks for a while (I think it's stored away in a bin in the attic somewheres)

My current food mix has a little too much frozen squid (which I have eliminated)

The algae issue was enhanced with lack of maintenance on my part and a bunch of snails dying behind the rock structure.

I know, I know. It's all back to good husbandry; but I noticed that since I went with less rock, there has been more maintenance involved. i mean, when I had my old 75 gallon tank which was packed with your traditional "wall" of rock, I did a lot less maintenance than i do now. Note to self: stop procrastinating; and um... change my bulbs soon as it's been a year......

Here's my old 75: and BOY do I miss it! (Jan 07)
jan-007.jpg
 
S

steve68

looks better Merv good luck.
IME with my tank problems if i did not change the carbon out in 2 to 3 weeks
it would all leach back in the tank, i went back to basics heavy skimming & water changes every 2 weeks.
keep the faith brother.
 
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