10/08/2025
Fixing Old Tank Syndrome: A 25-Year-Old Reef Tank Overhaul
This 25-year-old reef tank has been a staple in this family, but when one of the owners became disabled, it was up to the wife to keep it going. Despite the water parameters seeming fine, something was wrong. Corals and fish were dying, and a persistent green hair algae breakout was taking over the tank.
After doing a good clean of the hair algae, getting that under control, there was still something wrong. We did a deep dive, sending water samples for scientific testing, and we uncovered that the 25-year-old sandbed was no longer viable and was possibly harming the tank. This is considered "old tank syndrome". I stepped in to perform a complete overhaul. I scrubbed the rocks, deep cleaned the tank and overflows, and replaced the old, contaminated sand with new live sand to bring the beneficial bacteria back.
This was a big project, but seeing this amazing tank come back to life is worth it.
