Tank Re-Aquascape Advice (Long Post)

[Marc Weaver]

Hi all-

 

I would like to totally re-aquascape my tank and remove all of the sand and go bare-bottom. It's a 220 gallon with 90% SPS corals, no HUGE colonies, but several of them are getting large. Currently, my rockwork is a huge pile stacked up against the back of the tank which I don't like. I am getting cyano all over the place with 4 Tunze 6105's (around 50-55X turnover) because the rocks are stacked in a way that there are many stagnant areas. No matter how I angle the Tunzes, I cannot get good flow everywhere. I would also like to remove a few large fish and a nuisance crab if I can find it. My sandbed is terribly covered with cyano and I can only get virtually no flow over the sand or a sandstorm to happen. I have been sucking sand out with each water change preparing for this, so hopefully the biological filter shock will be manageable. I sat my live rock on top of the sand, not on the bottom of the tank, so I can't take any more out without a rockslide.

 

I only moved a large tank one time before, during an emergency where my old 150 gallon cracked a seam and water was leaking out. It was a nearly total coral loss, despite my best efforts. I had all my SPS colonies in tubs with circulation and heat for around 12 hours and got the tank running again. Over the next week it was RTN city until almost all was lost. This scares me and almost makes me not want to re-aquascape.

 

My plans are as follows:

 

1. Mix and aerate 60 or 90 gallons of new salt water and match SG, temp, alk, etc.

2. Break off all coral and relocate them temporarily to the frag tank that I have plumbed into my main system. Some may not fit and will have to go into the sump, but it will not be for very long.

3. Turn off main return pump and allow all water to drain down into the sump.

4. Block off main tank drains and circulate water only through the sump and frag tank.

5. Drain some main tank water into a large tub for temporary fish holding.

6. Drain rest of tank water into tubs for rock cleaning. I will swish and brush as much detritus off the rocks as I can and replace this water with new.

7. Shop-vac all sand from bottom of main tank and perform a thorough cleaning.

8. Redo rockwork. I am trying to achieve a more minimalistic approach with 2 islands and an arch or something like that.

9. Replace all water in main tank.

10. Add the main tank back into circulation as soon as most of the dust settles.

 

My hopes are that everything will be OK because the coral is never going to be switched out into tubs. It will stay in the same system with all heaters, etc so no temperature drop should occur. I always found it difficult to keep temp stable in a tub for some reason, even with powerheads blowing over a heater for circulation.

 

I know I will probably lose a few SPS, and I am prepared for that. I would like to keep my losses to a minimum. I believe that in the end this new rock arrangement and bare bottom tank will allow a better environment that is more condusive to SPS coral growth.

 

Current levels:

Nitrates 0.25

Phosphates .01-.03

Alk 8.5

Calcium 420

 

 

Some pics (older, tank looks WAY worse now despite constantly low nutrient levels. Not much hair algae, but tons of cyano.

[surf&turf]

Marc, just out of curiosity, your not using Red Sea Coral Pro salt are you?

 

I like your rock work.

[trockafella]

I like your rock work too.. I like your tank, corals and fish.. Very nice. I will say I wasnt all that happy with the minimalist approach. You start losing lots of places for corals. Yes, it will open things up and could add better flow, but I think it may give a minimalist amount of corals or places to put those nice big healthy corals.

 

I think your plan is good though. I think you should plan for some extra storage space and extra water though. Something always happens (like a spill or something silly). Chance favors the prepared mind. Good luck with the project.

[Steve175]

I would try to avoid snapping off corals where possible (more stress) and instead incorporate current encrusted rock into new scape as last addition. Also agree that I would mix at leastv150G of fresh SW if possible. Otherwise solid plan/Please keep us posted.

 

 

"How did 1500G of saltwater cost THAT much?"

[Marc Weaver]

Frank-

 

I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef. I switched to it after RSCP and never looked back.

 

I took another long look at the aquascape and realized I like it too. It took us a long time to lay it out. Plus, I have to remove the whole lighting fixture, which is heavy and lagged to the wall.

 

I think I am going to try GFO again. I used to use it, but NOPOX has kept my nitrates below 1 and my phosphates below .04 for a year now. But, I have red turf algae and cyano all over the place. I used chemi-clean once, and the cyano was wiped out for 2 months, but it eventually came back. No matter how much I siphon out, it always comes back. Maybe I'm getting a low phosphate reading because of the cyano and turf algae. I thought it was all related to not enough flow over the rocks and sand, but in spots I can see the cyano is being pounded with flow and it still remains. A turkey baster will take it off, though. When I stopped dosing NOPOX to see what would happen, my nitrates climbed by 1/2 to 1 ppm a day until I started again, but the cyano stopped spreading and SPS turned brown and green in a few weeks which took a month to reverse.

 

I was always told that if your coral stops growing, the most likely culprit in an otherwise stable tank is phosphates. Here is a screen shot of my test results since August.

 

[surf&turf]

The reason I ask is I was having the same issue after switching to RSCP I started using Reef Crystals it is slowly going away.

 

I also use this

 

 

[zygote2k]

I used to have a cyano problem in my home tank and had similar issues with flow. I couldn't increase the flow because I have big fluffy LPS that don't like being buffeted by water currents. I tried bio pellets and manual removal but it just wouldn't go away. I decided to try the natural approach- 500 mixed hermits and 200 mixed snails in the 120g tank. Within 1 week, there wasn't any trace of cyano or other nuisance algaes. It hasn't grown back either, but I do maintain a 100 or so population of hermits and 100 or so mixed snails.

Maybe you should try this method first?

[AlanM]

Rob, I see lots of people advising no crabs in a reef aquarium. Normally because they eat the shrimps and snails (and maybe small fish?) and they eventually start picking on that one coral you wish they didn't. Do you just like them and feel the good outweighs the bad or view their predation as a natural balance or just haven't had any of those problems?

 

Also, Quantum Reefs has on their new stocklist a conch that they say is a cyano buster. Have you ever tried one of those?

 

Marc, I think your reef looks great. The dunes are cool. The rocks look **** and span to me in those pics you posted. The back and overflows and powerheads are the grungy parts and you could clean those without taking out all your hard work and risking huge loss. 8)

[Marc Weaver]

Man, those pics are older than I thought. There is no algae on the overflows or back anymore. Everything is covered in coralline now with some cyano growing around the upper slots. I have around 30 hermits and 10 snails (huge snails) that help. Maybe I'll try one of those conches before spending $300 on hermits and snails LOL.

 

Here are some pics from today, sorry about the glare.

[surf&turf]

I think it looks great. Do you vacuum those areas that area getting the cyano when you do your water changes?

[Marc Weaver]

Sometime I vacuum the areas. They eventually come back so I have been a little lazy with that lately. I cut my NOPOX dose in half and will monitor the tank and see what happens over the next week or so before I decide whether to use GFO or not. I just want to rule out excess carbon in the system before I use GFO again.

[Marc Weaver]

Duh!! I forgot about the 24V jumpers for the Tunzes. There is much more flow now and corals are definitely responding in a good way.

[zygote2k]

Rob, I see lots of people advising no crabs in a reef aquarium. Normally because they eat the shrimps and snails (and maybe small fish?) and they eventually start picking on that one coral you wish they didn't. Do you just like them and feel the good outweighs the bad or view their predation as a natural balance or just haven't had any of those problems?

 

I hear many people say that, but in my experience, a tank without crabs is a tank full of detritus and waste build up. The crabs I like to use are tiny 1/4-1/2" that generally don't prey on fish, shrimps, or snails simply because they are so small. They are constantly crawling over every available surface, grazing on anything that resembles algae or cyano.

I put massive hordes of these tiny crabs in all of the tanks that I service and don't have any issues with them.

The Fighting Conchs do eat cyano, but only on the sand. Tuxedo Urchins will also eat cyano.

[ctenophore]

I think those large tangs might be contributing to the cyano problem. You may have good filtration but they eat a lot, and contribute heavily to the nutrient load. I see an empty nori clip too. That's a lot of additional nutrient input if the tangs get nori in addition to the regular food. You might consider increasing the turnover through your filtration. Also, try adding two tunzes (or other powerheads) to the bottom back areas under your rock. I would put two pumps facing each other in the bottom back corners, behind/under the rock. You should be able to magnet mount a pair of tunzes to the overflow walls, below the loc-lines near the bottom.

 

I don't think removing the sand is going to make a big difference long-term, and it will cause chaos in the short term. You do need better water flow behind the rocks though, whether you have sand or not. That will help keep anything like uneaten nori or fish poop from settling back there.

[Jan]

Why dont you try pointing those two whatever thye're called that brings water back into the tank down behind your aquascape so you have flow in the back? That made a huge difference for me. Also consider using chemiclean along with increasing water changes with adjusting your flow. It all works. I've had cyano twice. Adjusting flow, increasing water change and using chemi clean cleared it up. I've not had an issue since. I have one small half dollar size patch on a rock that gets no flow, but that's not an issue. I need t move hose rocks.

 

Love you aquascape. Your tank looks great!