tank crashed... recovery steps up for discussion

[goby1kenobi]

The tank crashed. I have knee issues, so lately have not been able to go downstairs where the tank has to be per the landlady. My husband feeds Random and told me the tank didn't look good, but I had no clue it was that bad. We spent over 3 hours last night dealing with stuff enough so that we could get Random into a 10g with a new filter.

We've got phosphates in our source water and I just read that the Brute can we've been using for mixing water may also be leaching phosphates. I haven't tested that yet.

I ordered a pair of media reactors from Bulk Reef Supply and will be setting one up w/ Seachem's phosphate remover and the other up with... probably carbon. That will probably not happen for a few days; we need to get a Gorm shelf from IKEA and set that up next to the tank so we can mount the media reactors on it somehow. We can't mount anything directly on the walls. Suggestions for just how to mount the reactors on the shelves would be welcome.

I'm considering setting up an algae scrubber tank, also, but haven't picked out a particular set of instructions for doing so. This would also be on the Gorm shelf unit, since I know from experience that it can hold the weight.

Random is eating well and growing nicely, so I'll be working on getting his tank's s.g. up to the point where I can put the BakPak skimmer on it. (I got it years ago when I bought some other stuff from a guy who was moving. It likely needs a new pump.)

My quandry is this: I'm thinking of completely nuking the main tank (55g) due to the incredible quantity of algae that built up. I will definitely be nuking the decor and trashing the sand.

Do I nuke the bio-wheels and biofiltration on the tank, in an effort to eradicate the algae?

And is there a bio-spira or equivalent that can be used to quick-cycle a tank at 1.006 s.g.?

[marksrush]

It might help if we knew what led to the tank crash. If you can't identify it, then you likely will not be able to prevent it from happening again sometime in the future.

If the only thing wrong was an overabundance of algae, well, I'm the wrong person to ask about that because I tend to not be bothered by algae growth. I scrape it off the front glass, and that's about it. I'm not saying you should take this approach, or at least to the extent that I do, because often rampant algae growth suggests that there is something going on with your water, such as an overabundance of nutrients or other compounds...so you might want to investigate this and see what's in your water.

In my opinion, tearing down the tank is not the approach to take, precisely because when you do this, all your BB will be wiped out and you'll have to go through the cycle process all over again. However, if you keep the filter and its filter pads and biowheels (they will need to be kept moist in water from the tank where the filter was), it would greatly shorten the cycle. But it's your choice.

There is no instant-cycle product for brackish tanks, or at least none that I've ever heard of either online or in the trade. If you have plenty of money and don't mind possibly wasting it, just get a bottle each of Tetra SafeStart and Bio-Spira and dump them in there and hope for the best. Might work, might not work, I don't know. Maybe someone else does.

Good luck!

[Pufferpunk]

I'm assuming this is a marine tank? I'll move it to the proper forum. Please post your most recent water parameters. What size tank, filtration (biological/mechanical/chemical), inhabitants, how much liverock/sand & any other pertinent info we can use.

[goby1kenobi]

Why is this thread now in the marine forum? In the last line I specifically said 1.006 s.g.

FWIW, the tank is a 55g, current filter is a Penguin 350, I've got two MaxiJet 900s on opposite ends of the tank, and Random is the only swimming thing in the tank. The rocks are the stripey drilled strawberry rock; I guess they might've housed some bacteria. The sand was live only with algae.

I know what caused the crash: too much phosphate in the source water, too much nitrate from me being unable to get downstairs to do a water change. DH is okay with topping off the tank, but water changes intimidate him for some unknown reason. Given the quantity of algae in the tank, I'd suspect that taking phosphate and nitrate readings would give misleading results -- they'd read lower than anticipated precisely because of the algae, which has presumably been feasting on it.

I've had the rocks in bleachy water, but they're still full of the algae, which means it's the type that needs to be scrubbed off. I'm not looking forward to that.

[Pufferpunk]

Why is this thread now in the marine forum? In the last line I specifically said 1.006 s.g.

Oops, sorry, I missed that. Did you know, adding pure, buffered vitamin C to your system, does the same as an algae scrubber, phosphate remover & nitrate remover?

[SammyDee]

can you get "pure buffered vitamin c" at a LFS? and itll help with algae,phospates and nitrate? what about those nitrate removing pouches an experience with those? seems like the vitamin c is a multi tasker.

[Pufferpunk]

See the sticky in the Marine Tanks forum.

[goby1kenobi]

Phosphate levels today:

Water-mixing bucket: around 0.5, with filter sock of anti-phosphate media in it
Source water: over 1.0
Main tank: around 0.5, presumably due to algae eating the phosphate

{edit} BTW, ordered the vitamin C. (And a couple of samples of stuff while I was at it.)

[flash.dan]

can you get "pure buffered vitamin c" at a LFS? and itll help with algae,phospates and nitrate? what about those nitrate removing pouches an experience with those? seems like the vitamin c is a multi tasker.

i have some pure Vit C ordered in from america sea chem make it. i soak food in it every month ofr so and every few feeks a few drops in the tank

[SammyDee]

Great, thank you I will get some soon.