I thought this story might be useful to some.
A buddy of mine was planning on a trip to Florida for a month and asked me if I could watch his stuff while he was gone. I was more than happy to help. I went by his place to evaluate the situation before he left and I was appalled lol There was so much green algae on the glass that I could barely see in. I never saw his tank before in person. It was a 150 gallon, lit by 2 chinese LED fixtures, and a 40 gallon refugium/sump.
I told him we need major renovations to make things work. Only problem was getting this guy to spend money was like pulling teeth! I convinced him to spend the money on a skimmer, lots of salt, and enough phosban to strip the hudson of phosphate. I contacted the skimmer guru (Rick) and asked what's the best skimmer for a $300 budget. He lead me to the bubble magnus line. I ordered a Bubble Magnus NAC8.
The first day of care, I once again could not see in the tank because the green algae grew so fast. After cleaning the glass I saw a bunch of shriveled up kenya trees, cabbage leather, hammers clinging to life, a few yellow polyps, and xenia or anthelia (I'm still not sure). The water was extremely discolored. I didn't have any supplies yet other than salt so I did a 100 gallon water change
3 days later I came back and the supplies were there. Now I could do some work. The glass was solid green already. I tested the water. Salifert nitrate was as high as it could read. I checked po4 with a red sea kit and that was at the highest reading .6
I took the fuge off line and removed everything. I removed all the sand, macros, and rock. The amount of detritus in there was staggering. I put the sump back in place with only the skimmer, a reactor for carbon, and a BRS dual reactor both filled with GFO. Also started using filter socks.
The skimmer, GFO, and carbon ran for the week. I even performed another 100gal water change. Nitrates came down to 40ppm but po4 was still around .5. I decided to use a carbon source to speed things up. I began dosing the tank with 5ml of vodka per day for a week. This was the turning point. By the end of the week po4 was down to 1.4 and nitrates were around 5.
After changing another 60 gallons and replacing all the media, the tank is down to .06 po4 and undetectable nitrates. This change took place in about 3 weeks. the corals are opening and growing. I even stuck a small piece of birdsnest in there and it's alive for the last week
I can only hope my buddy doesn't let the tank go downhill again :banghead:
I didn't take many pics. Here is the tank after the first big water change. Water quality was still horrible here but at least the glass was clean
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_3904_zps364ebf7f.jpg
I forgot to add that at some point I changed the aquascape. I removed 50lbs of the biggest, most dense, ugly rock. The tank looked so much better! Here's a pic from tonight.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_4078_zpsf2bd717e.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_4079_zps66d6b7ef.jpg
A buddy of mine was planning on a trip to Florida for a month and asked me if I could watch his stuff while he was gone. I was more than happy to help. I went by his place to evaluate the situation before he left and I was appalled lol There was so much green algae on the glass that I could barely see in. I never saw his tank before in person. It was a 150 gallon, lit by 2 chinese LED fixtures, and a 40 gallon refugium/sump.
I told him we need major renovations to make things work. Only problem was getting this guy to spend money was like pulling teeth! I convinced him to spend the money on a skimmer, lots of salt, and enough phosban to strip the hudson of phosphate. I contacted the skimmer guru (Rick) and asked what's the best skimmer for a $300 budget. He lead me to the bubble magnus line. I ordered a Bubble Magnus NAC8.
The first day of care, I once again could not see in the tank because the green algae grew so fast. After cleaning the glass I saw a bunch of shriveled up kenya trees, cabbage leather, hammers clinging to life, a few yellow polyps, and xenia or anthelia (I'm still not sure). The water was extremely discolored. I didn't have any supplies yet other than salt so I did a 100 gallon water change
3 days later I came back and the supplies were there. Now I could do some work. The glass was solid green already. I tested the water. Salifert nitrate was as high as it could read. I checked po4 with a red sea kit and that was at the highest reading .6
I took the fuge off line and removed everything. I removed all the sand, macros, and rock. The amount of detritus in there was staggering. I put the sump back in place with only the skimmer, a reactor for carbon, and a BRS dual reactor both filled with GFO. Also started using filter socks.
The skimmer, GFO, and carbon ran for the week. I even performed another 100gal water change. Nitrates came down to 40ppm but po4 was still around .5. I decided to use a carbon source to speed things up. I began dosing the tank with 5ml of vodka per day for a week. This was the turning point. By the end of the week po4 was down to 1.4 and nitrates were around 5.
After changing another 60 gallons and replacing all the media, the tank is down to .06 po4 and undetectable nitrates. This change took place in about 3 weeks. the corals are opening and growing. I even stuck a small piece of birdsnest in there and it's alive for the last week
I can only hope my buddy doesn't let the tank go downhill again :banghead:I didn't take many pics. Here is the tank after the first big water change. Water quality was still horrible here but at least the glass was clean
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_3904_zps364ebf7f.jpg
I forgot to add that at some point I changed the aquascape. I removed 50lbs of the biggest, most dense, ugly rock. The tank looked so much better! Here's a pic from tonight.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_4078_zpsf2bd717e.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/jackson6745/****/IMG_4079_zps66d6b7ef.jpg
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