Help please!!! I was left with this tank!!

[Jman0121]

My ex left me with this tank... and it was stable for awhile but has since taken a turn... What do I need to do to get it clear and stable again?!?!

[Jman0121]

Just now, Jman0121 said:

My ex left me with this tank... and it was stable for awhile but has since taken a turn... What do I need to do to get it clear and stable again?!?!

It's about a 9G tank with a clown fish, some snails and a blue hermit crab. Some sort of purple mushroom also I think.. 

[Simulated Fish]

Water is way low, salinity is probably high due to this.

 

Honestly I would do a 50% water change right after scraping the glass and using a turkey blaster to blow all the gunk off. That way you can attempt to siphon out most of it with the water.

 

How long do you run the lights? 

 

Give us more details on what you have been doing to maintain the tank and we will help as much as possible to get it back up and running, remember those are all living creatures in there.

 

 

[seabass]

Being just a 9 gallon tank, it should be easy enough to fix.  If you plan to keep what you have, I'd probably:

• Have a bottle of Seachem Prime around before you start.
• Make a bunch of new saltwater (like 4 five gallon buckets), matching the specific gravity of the tank water.
• Heat one of the buckets to match the temperature of the tank.  If needed, clean the tank heater, then use it.  This bucket is for your fish, crab, and snails.
• Shut off and remove the heater(s).
• Start heating up another bucket of water to match the temperature of the tank water.  This bucket is for cleaned rock.
• With minimal disruption, capture the inhabitants and transfer them to the first heated bucket.  I assume the mushroom is attached to the rock (don't remove it from the rock).
• While still in the tank, scrub the rocks with a brush (a vegetable brush usually works pretty well).  Be careful not to damage the mushroom.  The water will become filthy.
• You're going to use the unheated buckets of water to rinse the rocks.  Start with the mushroom rock.  Give it a good rinse in one of the buckets.  Use a toothbrush to clean up the rest of the rock.  Then rinse the mushroom rock in the second unheated bucket of water before putting it in the second heated bucket (not the one with the fish).
• Clean and rinse the remaining rocks in the unheated buckets of water.  If there is room, place the cleaned rock in the same bucket as the mushroom rock.
• Empty one of the buckets of dirty water.  Siphon the water out of the tank into this bucket.  Discard the dirty water.  Repeat until the tank is drained, and just the sand remains.
• Now scoop out the sand into the empty bucket.  We'll get back to the sand later.
• Time to thoroughly clean the tank and any equipment.  Tap water is fine to use.
• Put the rocks back in the clean tank.  Pour the remaining water through some filter floss (to trap any loose debris) into the tank.
• Transfer the fish, crab, and snails into the tank.
• Carefully pour the water that your fish was in into the tank (until full).
• Your tank is bare bottomed at the moment.  We will leave it without a substrate until we can thoroughly rinse and cure it.

[seabass]

It's easier to use new sand; however, to clean and reuse the existing sand:

• Put a few inches of sand into an empty bucket.
• Use tap water to fill the bucket a couple of inches above the sand.  With your hand, vigorously stir up the sand.  Empty the dirty water and repeat until the water becomes only slightly cloudy when stirred.
• Put the clean sand in an empty bucket.
• Keep doing this until you have cleaned all of the sand.  Again, collecting the clean sand in a bucket.
• Now you want to add saltwater and a powerhead to the clean bucket of sand.  Let it cycle for a few days, then test for ammonia.  If it is ammonia free, you can return it to your tank (otherwise, continue to let it cycle until ammonia becomes undetectable).

[Clown79]

Everything @seabass said.

 

The only way to get that tank in a better condition is a complete overhall

[seabass]

After the tank has been cleaned, here are a few other suggestions:

• Maybe go lights out for a couple of days.  That will help prevent the photosynthetic mass from becoming reestablished.  I'm not sure what it is.  Lets just hope it's not dinos.
• Replace all your filter media.  My recommendation is filter floss and Seachem SeaGel (activated carbon mixed with Phosguard).
• Start doing larger weekly water changes.  Before water changes, scrape the glass and use a turkey baster to blow detritus off the rock.  I would make two gallons of water in a five gallon bucket.  Then siphon out two gallons of water (while suctioning out the debris) into another five gallon bucket.
• Change the filter floss after every water change.  And possibly one other time during the week.
• Monitor phosphate with a low range phosphate test kit so you know when to change it and when to discontinue SeaGel and just use activated carbon.  Your target range for phosphate is 0.01 to 0.03 ppm.  You don't want it too high, or too low.
• Cut back on your light cycle.  No more than 8 hours a day.

[seabass]

Your ex must have been mad at you (to leave you with this mess).

 

Another way to reboot this tank is to buy new live rock and sand,  and cycle it in a separate container.  Then just capture the inhabitants, putting them in a bucket of tank water.  Clean out the tank, then fill it with clean water, sand, and the newly cured rock.  Then match the tank temperature with the bucket containing your fish, and reintroduce your livestock into your clean tank, with fresh rock and substrate.

 

It's possible that you might resort to this even after cleaning out your tank (as that mass of algae, cyano, or protists might return).