tank dried up over years, how to restart it?

cordell · 12/05/2010, 06:46 PM

Hey guys, been a while since I was on these forums but I plan to get my tank set back up after it has been sitting for years. The tank dried up after I ended up having a major tank crash and my moving out of town shortly after that.

All of the water evaporated over time so all the rock is just sitting there. I would like to reuse the rock that is in the tank. It's roughly 90lb of rock in a 75gal tank. Since the water evaporated in the tank like this, I'm not sure what would be the best way to bring it back to life. I'm sure there is probably a lot of salt in the tank from where the water dried up, right? And inside the rocks as well...

Can I just fill up the tank with water and let the salt soak out of the rocks over a few days, or should I try to wash/scrub the rock, soak it in bleach, ..? Before the tank crashed, the rock was in good healthy shape. The reason the tank crashed was because my nephew (3yrs old at the time) fed the sump a whole bottle of fish food and nobody found out until the pump had chewed it up and pumped it into the main tank. I took the fish to the LFS to save them.

So, what's my plan of attack here? Thanks for any advice... I'm excited to get back into this stuff!

bertoni · 12/05/2010, 06:53 PM

I would just rinse the setup (live rock and tank internals) well with fresh water, and start up the tank. You might see some extra salt dissolving from the rock, but that can be fixed. If you are very worried about the nutrient load in the rock, it could be treated with a muriatic acid dip, although muriatic acid requires careful handling.

cordell · 12/05/2010, 07:01 PM

I don't know what I would be worried about to tell you the truth. I figured my salt levels would probably rise up over time as the salt leached out of the rock but I would think that this would stop after a while.

My next question would be when I rinse the rock and tank parts, should I be concerned with using RODI water, or would just plain tap water be ok for the rinse, and then filling the tank with RODI water?

Bloodritual · 12/06/2010, 12:16 AM

Probaly soak the rock in RO/DI water and clean the tank with water/vinegar solution.

bertoni · 12/06/2010, 01:34 AM

I'd do the rinsing with tap water. The salt should stop dissolving off the rock very rapidly.

Using vinegar to clean the tank and equipment is a good idea.

cordell · 12/06/2010, 07:09 AM

Ok sounds good... I'm just curious, what does the vinegar do?

airplanes1016 · 12/06/2010, 07:33 AM

Vinegar is a great cleaning agent. NO NO NO bleach. That can turn into a nightmare real quick. And i would rinse in just tap water. good luck.

travis32 · 12/06/2010, 07:41 AM

Vinegar is a simple cheap solution capable of disolving salt, not to mention, it is non toxic to aquariums if vinegar happens to contaminate the water. There's people that dose vinegar.

Since you're not dismantling the tank or anything, I would definately stick to vinegar only. I dismantled my 55g, and cleansed it with vinegar, magic eraser, and then windexed inside and out. However, I'm planning to resilicone it, and not use it probably at least the rest of the winter, if ever. I also soaked the overflow and skimmer in a bleach / vinegar soution, but there again. I'm not going to be starting etiher up anytime soon.
Everything was covered in cyano so, I needed something to kill the bacteria. I do not suggest going there if you're going to start it up now!

bertoni · 12/06/2010, 12:53 PM

Vinegar dissolves a lot of things, including calcium carbonate, which forms a lot of the white stains that can develop on tanks.

12/05/2010, 06:46 PM	#1
cordell Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Monroe, LA Posts: 655	tank dried up over years, how to restart it? Hey guys, been a while since I was on these forums but I plan to get my tank set back up after it has been sitting for years. The tank dried up after I ended up having a major tank crash and my moving out of town shortly after that. All of the water evaporated over time so all the rock is just sitting there. I would like to reuse the rock that is in the tank. It's roughly 90lb of rock in a 75gal tank. Since the water evaporated in the tank like this, I'm not sure what would be the best way to bring it back to life. I'm sure there is probably a lot of salt in the tank from where the water dried up, right? And inside the rocks as well... Can I just fill up the tank with water and let the salt soak out of the rocks over a few days, or should I try to wash/scrub the rock, soak it in bleach, ..? Before the tank crashed, the rock was in good healthy shape. The reason the tank crashed was because my nephew (3yrs old at the time) fed the sump a whole bottle of fish food and nobody found out until the pump had chewed it up and pumped it into the main tank. I took the fish to the LFS to save them. So, what's my plan of attack here? Thanks for any advice... I'm excited to get back into this stuff!

12/05/2010, 06:53 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I would just rinse the setup (live rock and tank internals) well with fresh water, and start up the tank. You might see some extra salt dissolving from the rock, but that can be fixed. If you are very worried about the nutrient load in the rock, it could be treated with a muriatic acid dip, although muriatic acid requires careful handling. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

12/06/2010, 01:34 AM	#5
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I'd do the rinsing with tap water. The salt should stop dissolving off the rock very rapidly. Using vinegar to clean the tank and equipment is a good idea. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

12/06/2010, 12:53 PM	#9
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Vinegar dissolves a lot of things, including calcium carbonate, which forms a lot of the white stains that can develop on tanks. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

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12/05/2010, 07:01 PM	#3
cordell Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Monroe, LA Posts: 655	I don't know what I would be worried about to tell you the truth. I figured my salt levels would probably rise up over time as the salt leached out of the rock but I would think that this would stop after a while. My next question would be when I rinse the rock and tank parts, should I be concerned with using RODI water, or would just plain tap water be ok for the rinse, and then filling the tank with RODI water?

12/06/2010, 12:16 AM	#4
Bloodritual Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 82	Probaly soak the rock in RO/DI water and clean the tank with water/vinegar solution.

12/06/2010, 07:09 AM	#6
cordell Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Monroe, LA Posts: 655	Ok sounds good... I'm just curious, what does the vinegar do?

12/06/2010, 07:33 AM	#7
airplanes1016 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Michigan Posts: 197	Vinegar is a great cleaning agent. NO NO NO bleach. That can turn into a nightmare real quick. And i would rinse in just tap water. good luck.

12/06/2010, 07:41 AM	#8
travis32 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 2,161	Vinegar is a simple cheap solution capable of disolving salt, not to mention, it is non toxic to aquariums if vinegar happens to contaminate the water. There's people that dose vinegar. Since you're not dismantling the tank or anything, I would definately stick to vinegar only. I dismantled my 55g, and cleansed it with vinegar, magic eraser, and then windexed inside and out. However, I'm planning to resilicone it, and not use it probably at least the rest of the winter, if ever. I also soaked the overflow and skimmer in a bleach / vinegar soution, but there again. I'm not going to be starting etiher up anytime soon. Everything was covered in cyano so, I needed something to kill the bacteria. I do not suggest going there if you're going to start it up now!