Here's a task that needed doing for some time, but I really didn't want to do it. Finally tonight, I'd had enough. Because my sump is so wide (36" front to back), reaching into the refugium section in the rear is a real back breaker.
For the past month, cyano bacteria in that compartment has been out of control. It has coated the surface thoroughly, and was on the walls, on the macro, on the rock.... I was sick of it. Fortunately, it wasn't in the rest of the tank so I don't have that battle to content with.
Still, it was an eye sore, and I had a feeling the detritus collected in the refugium over the past year was fueling it. Nothing else makes much sense. So, I carefully removed the macro that was alive, and put that in a bucket. All the LR, rubble, and dead SPS twigs were cautiously removed, and I still got stabbed by the urchin. (Members - let me know if you want it. Posted in the appropriate forum)
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All the LR filled up this garbage can lid.
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All the sand was scooped out with a clean dustpan, placed in a few buckets for washing out. A cucumber was discovered and placed in the prop section for now. The urchin was removed as well, as seen above.
The water was siphoned out and thrown away. I still had to figure out how to clean the refugium well, and get the last of the sediment laden water out. I decided to use a garden hose, and blast it clean with tap water. That was a strange feeling. Red slime peeled off the acrylic walls, and the detritus was disturbed to get it in suspension. I used a MaxiJet 1200 and some tubing to suck out all I could, but it still didn't get enough out. Finally I added more tap water, then clamped a filtersock in that zone. The maxijet was used again, this time sending its discharge tubing into the sock to trap all detritus and sand it sucked up. Once the compartment was clean, the sock was removed and the last of the water pumped out.
The sand was another challenge. I had about 5"-6" in sand in each of three buckets. I used the garden hose again, turning it on full to throughly work the water through the sand to get all the detritus (which is lighter) into suspension. The first bucket took the longest because I waited for the water to look clear before I stopped pumping water into the sand. Doing this in the driveway was easy, as the excess water overflows the bucket and washes away the brown silt.
With the second and third bucket, I washed it a bit differently, and it took less time. A few inches of tap water was gushed into the sand, and the muck was poured off the top of the sand carefully. I did this three times, then went back to the process of letting the bucket overflow as I worked the hose through the sand for a few minutes.
Each time I drained the bucket, I tried to pour out whatever was on the surface of the sand, including bits of macroalgae, bits of urchin needles, etc.. Add a little more water, swish and pour out more stuff. Once the sand was nice and clean, it was poured back into the clean refugium at last.
alt="">
For the past month, cyano bacteria in that compartment has been out of control. It has coated the surface thoroughly, and was on the walls, on the macro, on the rock.... I was sick of it. Fortunately, it wasn't in the rest of the tank so I don't have that battle to content with.
Still, it was an eye sore, and I had a feeling the detritus collected in the refugium over the past year was fueling it. Nothing else makes much sense. So, I carefully removed the macro that was alive, and put that in a bucket. All the LR, rubble, and dead SPS twigs were cautiously removed, and I still got stabbed by the urchin. (Members - let me know if you want it. Posted in the appropriate forum)
All the LR filled up this garbage can lid.
All the sand was scooped out with a clean dustpan, placed in a few buckets for washing out. A cucumber was discovered and placed in the prop section for now. The urchin was removed as well, as seen above.
The water was siphoned out and thrown away. I still had to figure out how to clean the refugium well, and get the last of the sediment laden water out. I decided to use a garden hose, and blast it clean with tap water. That was a strange feeling. Red slime peeled off the acrylic walls, and the detritus was disturbed to get it in suspension. I used a MaxiJet 1200 and some tubing to suck out all I could, but it still didn't get enough out. Finally I added more tap water, then clamped a filtersock in that zone. The maxijet was used again, this time sending its discharge tubing into the sock to trap all detritus and sand it sucked up. Once the compartment was clean, the sock was removed and the last of the water pumped out.
The sand was another challenge. I had about 5"-6" in sand in each of three buckets. I used the garden hose again, turning it on full to throughly work the water through the sand to get all the detritus (which is lighter) into suspension. The first bucket took the longest because I waited for the water to look clear before I stopped pumping water into the sand. Doing this in the driveway was easy, as the excess water overflows the bucket and washes away the brown silt.
With the second and third bucket, I washed it a bit differently, and it took less time. A few inches of tap water was gushed into the sand, and the muck was poured off the top of the sand carefully. I did this three times, then went back to the process of letting the bucket overflow as I worked the hose through the sand for a few minutes.
Each time I drained the bucket, I tried to pour out whatever was on the surface of the sand, including bits of macroalgae, bits of urchin needles, etc.. Add a little more water, swish and pour out more stuff. Once the sand was nice and clean, it was poured back into the clean refugium at last.
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