Looking To Reboot My Tank, I Could Use Some Advise

O

Onion

New Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2015
Location
windsor
Hello all,

I'll start with a little background on my tank. Just over a year ago my wife and I picked up a used and established 30 gallon nano reef tank. We didn't know much about reef tanks but had a lot of experience with fresh water and wanted to make the jump. Everything was going great until around January, life got real busy and admittedly we got a little lazy and our parameters went wild. With in a week we were covered in a hair/turf algae, our phosphates over 1, Nitrates around 100ppm, the Ph dropped to 7.6 and Calcium was as low as 320mg/l.



The good news is that we have the phosphates to an untraceable amount, the Nitrates are around 2 ppm the ph and Calcium are still low but much better (7.9 and 360 -380). My KH has suddenly shot up to 220 - 280. All my coral and invertebrates have died and my substrate is covered in brown algae. So we have decided to start fresh and reboot the tank.



We have a new batch of live rock and I'm looking into a new substrate. I am a little concerned about the algae re appearing after we pull everything out. Has anyone had a similar experience that can offer advice?
 
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T

TORX

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Location
Blenheim, Ontario
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Looks like our old friend Dr BlueThumb has started his own forum in Windsor.

When it comes to smaller tanks, sometimes a reboot is the way to go. Especially when you, for lack of better words, have nothing else to loose. I will say what I say to everyone. Stop what you are doing, take a step back and remember...nothing in this hobby is done quickly, except a crash. Think about what you want to keep, then look at equipment required to keep it. Take one step at a time and remember, a lot of this is science, chemistry and patience. Also, feel free to post almost anything here. We have members with 1 week to decades of experience. We have all 'been there done that'.

Different Algaes are part of new tank syndrome. I would be more concerned if you do not get it. Most get dinos and cyno in the beginning, that is part of your tank becoming mature and stable. That is where patience comes in handy because it looks like ass.
 
O

Onion

New Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2015
Location
windsor
Whats your opinion on keeping the substrate? I was planning on adding to my existing substrate (crushed coral) with more of the same or maybe live sand, or would you recommend getting rid of the existing substrate all together?
 
T

TORX

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First decide what substrate you want and if it works with your vision. SPS takes lots of flow, so fine sand may blow around. Using existing substrate is okay, just rinse extremely well

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reef keeper

reef keeper

Super Active Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Location
Hamilton, Ontario
If you didn't have any major algae issues, like Gelidium, bubble etc, the. Rinse the substrate. I did have that, and opted to replace the whole substrate. I used reef flakes my tropic Marin. Doesn't blow around.

I wouldn't bother with live sand. It will become live. I've read horror stories about live sand, and most say to just avoid it.

I have no opinion on live rock. I started mine totally dead.
 
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