a fresh start for my tank

[christyf5]

Well I'm hoping this will be a fresh start for me because if it isn't it will be a showy finish.

This picture is from March. You can see the caulerpa growing on most of the lower rocks and creeping upwards. I didn't take any pictures in April as the tank just went downhill from there as the dinoflagellates reemerged to coat everything in yellowy goo. You can see some of the green algae settling in on the back walls and the powerheads are starting to get covered in algae.



OK, I lied, I did find a couple of pics from April, just no tank shots. Imagine the first picture all over the lower half of the tank, and the second picture all over the top half. This was the state that pretty much the whole tank was in. The caulerpa had a big bloom and the dinos went crazy and grew on top of the caulerpa. And where there was no caulerpa the dinos were even happier, no competition!




BUT THEN...

After following a suggestion from Jack (with much apprehension), I powerwashed the rock with the generous loan of BCWolfens powerwasher (I was less timid after seeing how great it was!), I tore the tank down and restarted it with all new water, the powerwashed rock and no sandbed. Those dinos had better be long gone!

The rock was powerwashed 2 weeks ago and sat in rubbermaid tubs for a week and a half while I monitored the water parameters (there was no ammonia spike at all) . So far everything looks fantastic, I'm seeing zoos that haven't been so happy in ages. Polyps out on everybody and everyone is rebounding nicely. The tank has been up for 5 days and while its still early, I'm hoping this will be a great new beginning for me and my tank.

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