I just screwed my tank up!

lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/2998340
How much live rock do you have in your tank?
It might be time to get a UV on the tank if it still isn't getting better. And do a water change. If you are having ammonia problems.
I have 70lbs of fiji. I did see a UV that I was tempted to get but I wanted to give it more time.
I did a little water change last night and the ammonia went down and I added some ammonia detox just in case.
 
blazetamer

blazetamer

New Member
OK here is my 2 cents worth I kept freshwater fish for years (still do) and when I started my saltwater tank I was used to vacuming gravel (freshwater).
Before I started to understand deep sand beds I "stirred" my sand bed and guess what ... alomost the same thing happend to me the clouds, the green algee outbreak etc... Mine didnt get as bad as yours BUT it was going to. I believe... Anyway a friend that has had saltwater for YEARS said to vacum all of the sand that I could out of the tank and then do a 50% change of water..... let the tank run "bare bottom" for a couple days then another 50% change vacuming all the stuff off the bottom glass again (the det that falls out of your rockl) still with NO sand in the tank. Let the tank run for another few days and another water change 20%. If all is clear your good to go to put NEW LIVE SAND back in couple inches at a time letting it clear in between . (Lights were off for 3 days at first after the removal of all of the sand) After I had tried this the "clouds" were gone and so was most of the green blooms.
BTW: ALL of my fish and coral did super Afterwards.
Keep in mind my tank is a 180G and I caught it quick maybe not the same as yours BUT...
It worked for me Just a thought... could be a last ditch effort but it looks pretty grim at this point anyway.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by lil.guppy
http:///forum/post/2998730
But even if I use that sand that clams to be already cultured, wont it start a mini cycle again?
well you could cycle it again... Just like you do live rock... Just make sure to turn over you sand daily. In all honestly, I turn over my sand bed manually. Just to make sure I don't have any accumulation in the sand...
 
lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
I solved part of my tank problem!
Since i already started having an amonia problem even though I had not touched the tank I decided to vacume the front part of the tank and remove that fine sand and add a little of fresh cultured sand.
Within a couple hours of doing this the green in my tank is 100% GONE!!!!

When I was rinsing the fine sand out of my good sand I kept it in the water from the tank to keep the cultures.
It smelled sooooo bad. Its crazy because I was not feeding corals and I only fed my fish every 3 days so I was a little shocked at how much nastyness came out of the sand.
I know its probably going to cause a mini cycle but with the green gone I know Im off to some sort of start

Thanks for all your help ya'll. When it clears I will post a picture.
 
lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
Ya'll are not going to believe this!
Woke up this morning and did not even want to look at the tank.
I crossed my fingers, looked at it.................
..................CRYSTAL CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!! SIPHONING AND ADDING NEW SAND WORKED!
Thank you again for all ya'lls help I really appreciate it
 
lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
Well someone is borrowing my camera upload cord thing so I will have them tomorrow night.
Its such a great feeling. Weird thing is, my skimmer is picking up stuff like it used to. When this whole green thing was going on it was not picking anything up.
Its great to be able to see the coral and how big it has gotten in the back area.
Now I can take my new stuff and start glueing it.
I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON BIG TIME
DONT MESS WITH YOUR TANK UNLESS YOU HAVE TO
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Hey, messing with the tank is what the hobby is all about. Sometimnes we make it better, and sometimes we learn a lesson.
So now you know not to fool with a substrate and stir it up. Thanks to you sharing your problem, many people now know it too.
I can't wait to see those pictures with your new stuff in it too.
 
lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
I hate my camera because it never really shows the crispness of the water.
The water honestly is clearer then it has ever been!

The green pic is what it looked like hours before changing the sand out and the clear pick is what it looked like the next morning NO JOKE! it worked that fast!

 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I know how awful this whole ordeal has been for you. It looks GREAT! You hung in there, I don't know what I would have done besides cry.
I know your happy! I would print out those pictures of before and after. Don't trust a computer to save it for you. Wow, what a difference.
 
lil.guppy

lil.guppy

Active Member
Yea I am very very happy

I just cant believe it happened over night! I would think it would take a few days but it was like amazing!
 
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