New Start...breakdown and rebuild..advice suggestions

swclown · 02/15/2017, 01:15 PM

So after 30 years in this hobby I'm done with regular LR and all of its problems. Back in the day there seemed to only be bristle worms to worry about. With this tank (up for 2 1/2 years), it started with a proliferation of Mermaid's wine glass macro which took over and I had to constantly battle but never won, then stupid yellow banana-like sponges, and now aiptasia, which started slow but then exploded.

So I spent all last weekend pulling rocks and sand. Tank is a 240 so this took some time. All rock was bleached, acid washed in muriatic acid, bleached again, soaked in RO and then dried. I did the same for all of the sand but it's still in bleach. I plan to rinse the heck out of it and re-use.
I also pulled all of my fish and one frogspawn coral (haven't bought any new corals in ages due to the issues I was having. All live stock is currently doing well in an old 155 gallon tank.

The plan this weekend and leading up to it is to aquascape with the old rock. I'll purchase some "real reef" rock from my LFS to seed without the usual hitchhikers. I also have some live sand on its way to help seed the old now-sterile sand. I also have some bacteria on its way to speed things along.

Does this sound like an ok plan? How soon can I move the fish back to the new tank? 2 chomis, 2 clowns, 1 foxface and 1 red hawkfish. I'm thinking move the two clowns, watch for a day or two and then add one by one.

Suggestions critiques advice are more than welcome..

thanks

scooter31707 · 02/15/2017, 01:21 PM

I would use new sand if it was me.

02/15/2017, 01:15 PM	#1
swclown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 507	New Start...breakdown and rebuild..advice suggestions So after 30 years in this hobby I'm done with regular LR and all of its problems. Back in the day there seemed to only be bristle worms to worry about. With this tank (up for 2 1/2 years), it started with a proliferation of Mermaid's wine glass macro which took over and I had to constantly battle but never won, then stupid yellow banana-like sponges, and now aiptasia, which started slow but then exploded. So I spent all last weekend pulling rocks and sand. Tank is a 240 so this took some time. All rock was bleached, acid washed in muriatic acid, bleached again, soaked in RO and then dried. I did the same for all of the sand but it's still in bleach. I plan to rinse the heck out of it and re-use. I also pulled all of my fish and one frogspawn coral (haven't bought any new corals in ages due to the issues I was having. All live stock is currently doing well in an old 155 gallon tank. The plan this weekend and leading up to it is to aquascape with the old rock. I'll purchase some "real reef" rock from my LFS to seed without the usual hitchhikers. I also have some live sand on its way to help seed the old now-sterile sand. I also have some bacteria on its way to speed things along. Does this sound like an ok plan? How soon can I move the fish back to the new tank? 2 chomis, 2 clowns, 1 foxface and 1 red hawkfish. I'm thinking move the two clowns, watch for a day or two and then add one by one. Suggestions critiques advice are more than welcome.. thanks

02/15/2017, 01:21 PM	#2
scooter31707 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Virginia Posts: 4,971	I would use new sand if it was me.