huge problem

[whazzup101]

so, i started my salt water tank since august and haven't done a single water change or any maintanence. everything in the tank is alive except my snails that died a long time ago. salinity seems to be the same as long time ago, but i dont know about pH. problems i'm having are orange-reddish, some bubbly and some slimy algae on parts of my sand, glass, and powerhead. other problems are blackish-green fuzzy, hairy algae covering a lot of my live rock. and some of my live rock turned dark green or has a stain of algae to it. what do i need to do to re-birth this tank?

thanks.

[virginiadiver69]

Sell it someone that will take care of it.

[stuccodude]

agreed, these tanks are alot of work at first and spendy, i spent 1 to 2 hours almost daily at first, now im cruzing but it took time and money, whatever you do good luck

[scowiii]

Wow. Sorry about the other two posters. But in reality you do need to be commited to the tank on upkeep even if its 15-30 minutes a day. Sometimes you can let a tank go a day or two but other than that its not a fresh water tank that can be on its own for a long time. There are many issues that you want to avoid with a slat water tank since its less stable than others.

But to go over your problems. Alot of it is based on you not changing the water. You need to get on a schedule to do water changes on your tank. The main reason for this is to prevent the buildup of nutrients in the tank that causes the bad algae to grow out of control. This will elimante 80-90% of your problems.

[marioensf]

Saltwater, freshwater, cats, dogs, birds = COMMITMENT, right?
I spent not enough time everyday on my little ocean and my wife still gets mad (when I mention to part out with the tank she's like "No way Jose")
If you feel not to get involved in so much work (commitment) then think the possibility of selling or donating to someone who will and on the other hand if you say "I do", then do it.
I
The day I have no time for my tank I will considering a humane option for the inhabitants, not the toilet.

Good luck

[Psychojam]

To re-birth the tank, first you need to make sure that everything was set up properly to begin with. (ie. Is your tank cycled? What are your water parameters? Do you have a protein skimmer? Do you have the right amount of live rock? Is your tank appropriately stocked?)

If this is the case, you need to get on a routine maintanence schedule. You need to start doing water changes. Might suggest being aggressive at first ie. 20 to 30 percent a few times per week. You also need to check the water parameters regularly so you can track your progess. Also, start manually removing the hair algae.

To have a successful saltwater tank, you have to be committed to doing this!

[whazzup101]

okay, thanks for the input. i guess i'll start my christmas morning with a water change. should i try and scrub off the algae and then do a 30% water change?

[Psychojam]

That sounds like a good place to start. Make sure the change water is the right temp and salinity.

[MrSquid]

And make water changes your New Years resolution. It's not fair to the critters in your tank to nab them from your natural habitat and then neglect them.

You'll get much more enjoyment out of your tank if you put more effort into it - it'll be a source of enjoyment instead of a source of headache.

Good luck!

[NYIntensity]

Scrub what you can with vinegar, and rinse well; with the bubble algae, pick it out of the tank with tweezers, taking care not to burst the bubbles (it will spread spores and make it increasingly difficult to rid the tank of it).

I agree with the first couple posters though; you need to be committed, or give up until you know for sure you have the time to take care of the tank.

[uscharalph]

A 20 gallon sw tank needs regular maintenance.

[stuccodude]

thought i would be the only one on christmas doing a water change, gotta love it

[fahadahmed]

don't mean to segway the topic; I have a 125 FOWLR and I have always done complete water change 20% with sand siphon every 4 weeks. On daily basis I keep on eye on the temp, salinity, skimmer and visual and odor check. Weekly basis I wash out the filter pad, skimmer and wipe the tank internal and external. I don't have anything that is super sensetive.

Is this good enough? What is ideal?

[ricks]

You get out of it, what you put in it.....

Merry Christmas

[allenpantino]

you cannot neglect your tank everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it will go to s hit as you see but if i were you i would start allllllllllllllllll over again or get out of the hobby.. buy a test kit and about $1000000000 on a clean up crew that should do the trick

[papagimp]

careful on the profanity there.

I do agree in part with allenpantino's comments, either get out of the hobby if you cannot devote enough time, or plan on starting over, which is basically what you'll be doing here. Only the cycle should be alot smaller if at all.

Psychojam had some good comments too.

If you continue the whole "hope for the best" attitude without actually maintaining the tank, expect to spend alot of wasted money replacing livestock often.

I'd start by getting yourself all the appropriate test kits and testing your tank (after the water change of course) and then post those results for further assistance and direction on what to do next.

[scotmc]

I think you need to see if this hobby is for you. It takes time, effort and money. If your not willing to commit, just get out.

[allenpantino]

i'm sure i'm not the only one when i say this. ive been through hell and back getting into this hobby but i stuck with it learned alot by asking alot of ????????????????'s and blogging a lot online but the main way to learn is to just get in there and do it yes it may be expensive to experiment but who ever said reef keeping in itself wasnt a life savings hobby to get into (at least with my pay checks...lol) just a thought.