Draining tank

[Nate1632]

Hello, I have a 55 gallon tank that is right now about 2/3 thorough a fallow period due to ich. It has soft and lps corals and an anemone. I was wondering if it would be safe to drain the tank, take out all the rock and put it in the water, then fill with regular water and white vinegar and clean the heck out of it. And during this replace the sandbed.
I would like to do this because I would like to make my tank have a clean look to it. I did terrible on maintenance in when I first set it up and now it's too late for a sparkling look no matter how much scrubbing I do. Also the sand bed I messed up in the beginning too and looks bad because I used crushed coral. I would like to switch to an argonite

Thanks

 

[melypr1985]

You could do that. I would let the tank sit dry for a couple days to be sure it's fully ich free at that point. On the same note, make sure you keep your corals and rock in a fish-free tank for the remainder of the fallow period.... though switching them to a new tank that has had no fish in it would probably be enough to ensure they are ich free at this point, it's probably better safe than sorry and let them finish out their fallow period as well.

So you'll do this, then set the tank back up, place the rocks back in (still leaving the fish out), then if the parameters are stable enough add the corals back (again still no fish). When the fallow period is over, test the water to be sure it's safe for the fish and start adding them back slowly so as not to shock the system.

That was probably more than you asked for, but I just couldn't stop after I got started.

 

[Nate1632]

Thanks for all the input

 

[brandon429]

This is a helpful way to handle the new bed before install

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445


No need to recycle, we show skip cycle bed changes in the thread

 

[sc50964]

Before adding the rocks and livestock back in, you will need to re-cycle the tank due to the addition of new substrate.

 

[cilyjr]

Before adding the rocks and livestock back in, you will need to re-cycle the tank due to the addition of new substrate.

Why?

I took my 180 down put all the fish and coral in a 100 gallon rubbermaid for a couple weeks. In that time I rebuilt the fish room (wife calls the laundry room) and removed the old superfine sand I had. Replaced the sand with 4 bags of tropic eden meso Flake sand. Built a new foam cover for my overflow then put it all back in and was fine. Sure I got some "new tank syndrome" issues like mainly dynos on the sand and some cyano but I did not have an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle.

I do admit to losing 2 fish. 1 swam into a pump I stupidly forgot to put a guard on (that was a sad gross mess) a second jumped.

 

[Reef Junky150]

New sand plus any die of in rocks from transfer will lead to a small-to large cycle most likely.

 

[Gpettit721]

I agree with others. You will most likely get a cycle but the degree in which it cycles will vary greatly depending on the amount of die off. It may be a relatively short/small cycle or a full blown cycle. I've changed tanks and substrate before and it seems that there is very little way to predict how bad it will be.

 

[cilyjr]

I guess I disagree. I think it will be real easy to predict.

Take the rock out and place immediately in another (properly temped,circulating) container. Then back the same way I see little problem.

Now taking it out and setting it on the ground for 4 hours while you set up a holding tank well I see a potential for a whole bunch of problems.

Again this just my opinion but I've taken down and reset up a whole bunch of tanks in my years doing this.

I do want to state that it kind of depends on what one means by cycle. It seems more and more people refer to a cycle as diatom and cyano blooms as part of the cycle. All I'm referring to is an ammonia/nitrate cycle.

 

[Brian Kim]

I'd have to disagree with some of the comments in regards to small cycle, let alone a full cycle. Most of the bio load is on the live rock and as long as the OP transfer them immediately using the same tank water and maintains same temperature and filtration on the new receiving tank or container, there should be no die offs.

 

[Reef Junky150]

I'm referring to an ammonia spike weather it be small or large. You will probably get some cycles of different algae too. When moving rock around it's unpredictable if there will be any die off or not. In my experience of moving and or transferring tanks I have always seem some type of cycle. Weather it may be algae or ammonia. The way you explain you're going about doing it will limit this.

 

[Gpettit721]

Not to mention the addition of the new substrate is going to throw the bioload off regardless so either way it's going to be a crap shoot

 

[sc50964]

Why?

I took my 180 down put all the fish and coral in a 100 gallon rubbermaid for a couple weeks. In that time I rebuilt the fish room (wife calls the laundry room) and removed the old superfine sand I had. Replaced the sand with 4 bags of tropic eden meso Flake sand. Built a new foam cover for my overflow then put it all back in and was fine. Sure I got some "new tank syndrome" issues like mainly dynos on the sand and some cyano but I did not have an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle.

I do admit to losing 2 fish. 1 swam into a pump I stupidly forgot to put a guard on (that was a sad gross mess) a second jumped.

You are effectively getting a brand new tank from the standpoint of bio filtration by riding the old substrate and cleaning the tank with vinegar. The denitrifying bacteria that used to live on your tank walls and seals (if it's a glass tank) are also wiped out in the process. So you are basically starting over with a new bare tank.

Using new sand that comes with living bacteria will help to speed up the establishment of a mature bio filtration system that can handle bio load, but it's certainly not instant. Adding your live rocks back in will certainly help but again, the additional effect will not be instant as well.

It's been a long time since I last studied live sand so I looked up to see what exactly this Argonite can do for bio filtration. A quick Google search on BRS site shows the following, which also indicate that cycling is to be expected even with the usage of such live sand.

 

[Nate1632]

I plan to drain 50% of the tank still keeping the LR submerged then quickly put the LR into the container with the water then drain the remaining

 

[Nate1632]

Would this cause a significant ammonia/nitrate cycle ?

 

[Reef Junky150]

Would this cause a significant ammonia/nitrate cycle ?

It is possible, but the way you are doing it will limit it. Best case scenario it has a short small cycle.

 

[Nate1632]

So how do you think the anenome will fare through all of this

 

[brandon429]

ive had people put the anem on the counter still on the rock, a puddle of goo in the air, and squirt it with saltwater from a water gun lightly. very carefully to avoid tears, or just pouring it lightly or even the misting squirters from a store. other tricks=use temp holding bucket for him and his rock

 

[Bdog4u2]

I transferred my 75 to a 150 with 130lbs of new sand and never got a smidge of ammonia granted my 75 was 15 years old with 280lbs of rock but I've also set up smaller tanks and used rock from another and have never had to even cycle them heck I don't think I've had a cycle in over 15 years.

 

[Nate1632]

Well I did it. I drained it, cleaned it, and set it back up. The tank now looks stunning. I have so far gotten no ill effects. Even the anemone has bubbled up more at its tips