Massive tank do over.

[Scarletlace]

My 220+ gallon reef tank is a mess   Not only do I have several types of algae but I have tons of Aiptasia. I'm thinking I need to strip everything down and start over. My main question is,.. How can I clean my live rock. Should I dump my sand too? Will boiling kill Aiptasia and the algae or bleach? I'm going to try to save as much of my coral (and my few fish)as I can by putting it in my salt mixing tank and adding one of my MH lights. I hate to loose everything but I'm lost on what to do. Please give me ideas before I start the tear down **pouts**

[Boonjob]

I commented on your intro post, If you can post a little more info, we could assist a little better.

If you can post your tank perimeters, and any pics so we can get any idea of the current shape. We can see what may be the best approach...

If your aiptasia is way past controllable numbers then giving your rocks an acid bath may be the best solution, however if the aiptasia is within controllable amounts, there are several other ways to control them as opposed to tearing down the rock work and restarting....

If you have to tear down I would recommend cleaning your sand(messy job) or if funds are not an issue, Just scrap and replace sand all together.(but lets confirm this is what you need to do first.)

Don't Boil or Bleach your rock... Though they both will get rid of the nasties, they will leave behind the rotting material which will be a nutrient nightmare when you go to restart....(Power wash, Set in sun to dry out for a few days, Give a Muratic acid bath, Allow to sit in sun to dry, now you are resdy to resuse; but lets make sure you need to do this first)


If you tear down your tank, you may want to consider a rubber tub/stock tank to put your fish and coral in, unless you have another container to mix salt in for water changes, because they wont have nearly the beneficial bacterial filter as the main tank so your going to have to do water changes often....

[volcano]

I am sorry for your struggles.  We have all been there.  I have wanted to gut my dad's tank for a  year now.  His tank is over run by xenia.  It smothers everything, grows, on glass and all over the sand.  Then he has slime algae and his circulation pumps are just covered in sludge.  Plus, he runs bio-balls  and I have been trying to convince re-do his sump.  He even runs his lights starting at 5am and sometimes forgets to turn them off until midnight.   .  I told him to buy a controller or at least some cheap timers at the grocery store.  Problem is the guy can't do anything w/o me doing it for him and I do not have time.  After all, I have my own tanks to maintain.  If only he would listen to me. 

Either way, I commend you for acknowledging the problem and deciding to fix it.  If that were my tank, I would probably salvage the coral I could and put it in a frag tank.  QT all fish, then gut the tank.   I would use muratic acid on the rock, buy new sand and sterilize everything.  Basically, start completely over.  That is just me, of course!  I also, like to paint the back of the tanks ( outside / back)  with black rustoleum.  You can just roll it on for a nice streamlined appearance.  I like black over blue.  In 6 weeks your tank will be totally new!

[Neogenesis]

I totally agree with what was said before,  before you decide to tear it all down, please let us try to help.  Sometimes it can be as simple as your water source.  Sometimes it's a bit deeper.  I'm sure we can help you formulate a plan of attack.

[Twizted1]

Just wondering how things are going on your tank?

[Scarletlace]

My tank is doing well. Water chemistry is all correct. Corals are growing. Added a few new fish and lots of new corals. Bought lots at the Ohio Reef swap yesterday. Just need more elbow strength and longer arms to get the coraline off the front of the tank and it would look new!

[Scarletlace]

Photo of my tank without all the apitasia

[lazylivin]

It looks really good, how did you clean up your rock

[Twizted1]

O yea, that looks alot better.

[Scarletlace]

Since the rock was covered in Aiptasia/bubble algae/red slime, I removed all of the rocks from the tank. Put coral in refugium- (used Aiptasia X daily), and emptied about 50% of the tank water out. Added fresh salt water and started doing daily Chemistry. All the fish survived but I lost a few corals.

While I don't suggest anyone ever do this,.. I cleaned the rock with the Muratic Acid(10-15 min soak in large tubs), power washed it and then soaked it in salt water(2 days).  After it was rinsed, we reset up the tank. I think because I kept the sand it cycled fast and was back up and going in less than 2 weeks.

[lazylivin]

Thank you for sharing your method.

[The WuSue]

Kuddos!

[chromiumlux]

Looks great!

[volcano]

Great work.  Muratic acid works like a charm.