Bringing a tank back from the brink

[SwampFox]

To make a long story short, I have been using treated tap water for the last year in my tank. When I had been keeping up on water changes, algae was always present (mostly red slime and diatoms on the sand) but somewhat manageable. After several months I had basically given up on eradicating it and generally lost interest in the tank. After all, who wants to stare at dirt-brown sand and red slimy rocks?

 

Well, I decided that's not fair to my pair of clownfish. I wouldn't like to live in that, so why would they? I just purchased and installed an RO/DI unit. The current state of my tank is basically disastrous as far as algae is concerned. The clowns seem perfectly happy, but my coral not so much.

 

Current livestock:

2 Occy Clownfish

1 Sinularia (I think) softie

1 Kryptonite Candy Cane LPS

1 Toadstool

1 Colt Coral

 

Current water params:

Salinity: 1.027

pH: 8.5

Temp: 78-80F

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0-5ppm (I don't trust my eyes for the shades on the test kit)

Nitrate: Off the scale

Phosphate: No test kit

 

I'm willing to bet that my phosphate levels are through the roof, just like my nitrates. Right now my tank is absolutely covered in red slime and bubble algae. The sand is red and the rocks are green. I just did a 50% water change with my new RO water and pulled/scraped as much as I could but there is still quite a bit in there. I plan on doing a 50% change daily for the next week to purge as much nitrate and phosphate as possible, as well as going lights out for at least 3 days. I'd like to avoid drastic stuff like H2O2 dosing if I can help it.

 

Am I on the right track, would you do more/less? I don't have an easy way to share a pic of it, but it's pretty bad. I'm a bit embarrassed I let it get to this point, but as long as I don't lose the clownfish I'll be happy. I've gotten attached to the little buggers. It's a Biocube 14 with a Kessil LED pendant if it matters.

 

[shaner014]

If it's as bad as it sounds, why not start over? Just put the fish and coral and algae rock in a ten gallon while you cycle new rock and sand.

 

Probably not the cheapest route, but quicker, and easier.

[HarryPotter]

^ I agree.

 

Sounds like it just has not gone well from the non-RODI and you have a lot of pest algae.

 

I would buy new rock and live sand, hopefully under $60 and start over. You can store your critters at the LFS or a $10 10 gallon aquarium while you get the tank rebooted as the other poster suggested.

Clean the tank outside, make it like new so you can have a perfect 2nd try without cutting corners