chris tissot
New Member
Hello,
I have a 48 gallon tank with 2 clowns, manderin goby, and a purple lobster. I also have some mushroom corals. I have a metal hylide light with two actinics. I have a good amount of live rock. I have 2 power heads and one small filter. I've had this tank for about 4 years, and it used to be beautiful. I was away for the last 2 years and just returned to see my girlfriend totally neglected the tank. The fish are still alive, and amazinally the corals are as well. The entire perimeter of the tank was covered in green, hair type algae. The live rock was covered as well. There is some purple coraline algae. I couldn't stand the site of the tank so I did a 50% water change (a water change hasnt been done in 2 yrs) and I also took all of the liverock out. I scrubbed most of the green hair algae off the tank and tried to clean the sand, however it is very dirty. I dont know if it is the algae I scrubbed off in the sand, or if it's just dirty for 2 yrs of neglect. I placed all of the live rock back in, and the tank looks better, however there is still some green hair algae on the glass in the back of the tank, and the sand is still filthy. I noticed I only had about 2 snails and crabs left, so I purchased some blue-legged crabs and turbo snails to help clean. My question is, what do I need to do to get this tank back in order, will the sand clear up? Will my cleaning crew I just bought clean the algae on the glass and sand? Or will it get better because I'm actually caring for the tank now ie (water changes, etc)?
thanks,
chris
I have a 48 gallon tank with 2 clowns, manderin goby, and a purple lobster. I also have some mushroom corals. I have a metal hylide light with two actinics. I have a good amount of live rock. I have 2 power heads and one small filter. I've had this tank for about 4 years, and it used to be beautiful. I was away for the last 2 years and just returned to see my girlfriend totally neglected the tank. The fish are still alive, and amazinally the corals are as well. The entire perimeter of the tank was covered in green, hair type algae. The live rock was covered as well. There is some purple coraline algae. I couldn't stand the site of the tank so I did a 50% water change (a water change hasnt been done in 2 yrs) and I also took all of the liverock out. I scrubbed most of the green hair algae off the tank and tried to clean the sand, however it is very dirty. I dont know if it is the algae I scrubbed off in the sand, or if it's just dirty for 2 yrs of neglect. I placed all of the live rock back in, and the tank looks better, however there is still some green hair algae on the glass in the back of the tank, and the sand is still filthy. I noticed I only had about 2 snails and crabs left, so I purchased some blue-legged crabs and turbo snails to help clean. My question is, what do I need to do to get this tank back in order, will the sand clear up? Will my cleaning crew I just bought clean the algae on the glass and sand? Or will it get better because I'm actually caring for the tank now ie (water changes, etc)?
thanks,
chris
