The Reboot - Aka The Cleanup
Ok for those that haven't read my first Journal entry, my tank is in a bad place. But pictures speak a 1000's words so here we go, unedited, in all it's glory. The lights are off as I can't seem to get a shot that shows the full extent of the RHA growth under the LED's.
Before Christmas:
Now:
So tonight began the cleanup with step one to bring the parameters under control. I borrowed 20L of salt water off friend to perform a last minute water change before I get down to Reeflections this weekend. I pruned back a bit more RHA, blasted off the rock work and siphoned out another 25% of the sand. If I can scab another drum off him in the morning I will attempt to remove the last chunk of sand ready for the new larger sized sand.
The Tunze 9002 is slowly started to break in and produce some decent skimmate but I need to topoff twice a day to keep the water level right for it. Water parameters after a 20L change:
SG: 1.026
Nitrate: 6.1 ppm
Phosphates: 1.6 ppm
Yeah not my finest moment...
So from here, I will try and change around 50% a week until the nitrates drop to <2ppm and the phosphates <1 ppm. I am short a few snails but I don't want to be putting any more livestock into the tank as I reckon the change from shop water to mine would be drastic even if drip acclimated.
gtrxu1 mentioned an Algae Mower Vac as a solution for removing the RHA and it doesn't sound like a bad investment at all, especially since it is probably a better idea than buying Urchins/snails specifically for a problem. That said, Urchins have also been mentioned as a solution for shorter RHA and as a way of stopping it from regrowing, so I am of two minds as to whether to go down this path in place of a couple snails.
I will keep this Journal up to date with results over the duration of the tidy up, but feel free to comment and offer suggestions. I will try and be honest no matter how bad it looks :p
Before Christmas:
Now:
So tonight began the cleanup with step one to bring the parameters under control. I borrowed 20L of salt water off friend to perform a last minute water change before I get down to Reeflections this weekend. I pruned back a bit more RHA, blasted off the rock work and siphoned out another 25% of the sand. If I can scab another drum off him in the morning I will attempt to remove the last chunk of sand ready for the new larger sized sand.
The Tunze 9002 is slowly started to break in and produce some decent skimmate but I need to topoff twice a day to keep the water level right for it. Water parameters after a 20L change:
SG: 1.026
Nitrate: 6.1 ppm
Phosphates: 1.6 ppm
Yeah not my finest moment...
So from here, I will try and change around 50% a week until the nitrates drop to <2ppm and the phosphates <1 ppm. I am short a few snails but I don't want to be putting any more livestock into the tank as I reckon the change from shop water to mine would be drastic even if drip acclimated.
gtrxu1 mentioned an Algae Mower Vac as a solution for removing the RHA and it doesn't sound like a bad investment at all, especially since it is probably a better idea than buying Urchins/snails specifically for a problem. That said, Urchins have also been mentioned as a solution for shorter RHA and as a way of stopping it from regrowing, so I am of two minds as to whether to go down this path in place of a couple snails.
I will keep this Journal up to date with results over the duration of the tidy up, but feel free to comment and offer suggestions. I will try and be honest no matter how bad it looks :p