Joel's 175 Gallon Re-build

[jkapit]

Hi,

I recently joined the forum and attended the last two meetings. I must say, after seeing Herb's and Mike's tanks I am getting inspired to try my hand at reefing again. I've had. 175 gallon reef tank for ten years however with minimal success at keeping corals. Ultimately Sandy wiped my tank out and I lost interest in the hobby. My tank got overgrown with Dino, aptaisia and probably every other pest you can name so I am starting over.

Here is my tank one week ago with one inhabitant, a beautiful Powder Blue Tang. Planning on cooking the rocks, replace the sand beds and sterilize the tank.

 

[jkapit]

1. got the QT tank set up so I can move the Tang in there...

 

[jkapit]

started bleaching my live rock, one batch clean and ready for rinsing another batch ready to be bleached...



After bleaching for two days..

 

[jkapit]

Here is the sump-Refugium setup, a bit of a mess at the moment. I have some changes in mind during the down time.

 

[myrjon]

everything looks good joel

 

[jose7878]

Sounds great Joel. It's always inspirational when you see a tanks as good as Herbs And Mikes. To keep yourself motivated to keep going. Good luck

 

[kschweer]

Welcome back! Looking good so far! Best of luck

 

[jkapit]

The last of the rock is soaking in bleach. Will do the Muriatic bath in a couple weeks. Next step is to put the tang in the QT. Remove the sand from the display and Refugium. Then sterilize the tank and sumps with bleach. Lots of work, but it will be worth it.

 

[myrjon]

bleach is a bit harsh . is there a reason . i only use vinegar

 

[saltkreep88]

I agree, for tank and equipment cleaning use vinegar. Will clean much better and bleach can hurt the tank seams and equipment.

 

[jkapit]

Actually, I was going to use both. first rodi with vinegar to help dissolve the coralline algae and make it easier to clean the glass and the overflow area which are pretty ca ked up.

Then I'll use rodi with bleach to make sure the tank is free of any living organisms left. I have had Dino, aptaisia, and some other algae the inverts and fish would not eat so trying everything I can to sterilize the tank, sump, and plumbing as best I can.

 

[jkapit]

OK, Happy New Year NJ Reefers, I wish everyone a fantastic 2016.

By way of progress, all the rock has been bleached and rinsed in RODI water. Next step is to start the Muriatic acid bath. I'll get to that over the next couple weeks.

I'll sort the rock in buckets by density since I understand the more porous rocks need less time in the muriatic bath. To make sure I don't over do it I will do one or two smaller treatments and test out where in the 1-3 hour soaking range I want to use for certain batches of rocks.

After the Muriatic bath. I'll rinse in RODI and soak in fresh salt water. Then I'll test for any phosphate bleaching. If phosphate is detected I'll treat with Lathanium Chloride until no phosphate is detect. Then the rock is ready to go into the tank.

 

[myrjon]

of too a good start .slow and steady. rinse everything good,as (i tend to over rinse ).

 

[jkapit]

Finally getting around to acid washing my first batch of rock. Just put the acid in and going to wait 3 hours.

 

[jkapit]

Day two of Muriatic bath. One more batch after these and ready for the next step.

Seems to work pretty good. The rock I took out yesterday looks good. Soaking the first batch in RO-DI water and will check for phosphates before I set them aside for use in the tank.

 

[jkapit]

While I test the restored rock for phosphates, took the sand bed out of the display and sump. I used a net with a long handle and scooped the sand up. Was pretty easy. Next step is to drain the tank, then refill with RO-DI and vinegar to dissolve the caked up coroline algae and further kill any pest algae spores.

 

[Trio91]

Clean slate.....i like it

 

[jkapit]

An interesting issue I came across. I put the cleaned rock in RO-DI to test for phosphates. I have about 15 gallons of water in each container. The PHOS reading has been around .15ppm so I added 1ml of Aget Green, Lanthanum Chloride to wipe out that amount of phosphate. Based on the instructions it should have reduced the PHOS to zero. Sure enough, after putting in four doses, the PHOS level did not budge so I did some reading. It turns out the water needs to have calcium in it in order for the Agent Green to work. So I added some liquid calcium into the water and I'll retest in the morning. I assume you don't need a lot of calcium, I put about 60ml of liquid calcium in each bucket and will retest in the morning.

If anyone has any advice on testing if your rock is leeching phosphate it would be appreciated. I'm trying not to cut any corners and wanted to make sure my rock is usable for my re-build and phosphate free.

 

[art13]

If I'm not mistaken lanthanum chloride binds the phosphate and you need a skimmer to pull it out, unless I'm thinking of another chemical. I believe most people put it in either by the skimmer intake or in a filter sock so the sock catches it.

 

[jkapit]

Today I soaked the last of the rock in Muriatic acid. Now just soaking in RODI water, will chech for phosphates, then done treating all the rock.

Now that all the sand is out of the display and sump, next step is going to drain and dissinfect the tank and sump and clean all the pumps and standpipes. Getting there.