Fallow tank recycle

[ruppertb]

Hello everyone. Last year I had a disease wipe out my fish and it was left fallow. I lost interest and am going to try to get back in. The tank has sat with water and heaters and everything since August 2018. But of course I didn’t keep up on feeding it.

My plan is to drain the tank and refil with new saltwater leaving live rock untouched.

I assume I will have to cycle the tank again as nothing has been in there in well over a year. There are vermited snails and bristle worms alive in there currently. Sowasn’t sure if the live rock would still have bacteria.

Any thoughts on what you would do as far as getting it back up and running.

 

[Malifry97]

Drain it, fill with new saltwater, then a bottle of bio spira or turbo start and wait a week or two, then you should be good. But there is still BB because if snails and bristleworns waste. So there is still some BB but a boost will definitely be beneficial

 

[Jvesche20]

Hello everyone. Last year I had a disease wipe out my fish and it was left fallow. I lost interest and am going to try to get back in. The tank has sat with water and heaters and everything since August 2018. But of course I didn’t keep up on feeding it.

My plan is to drain the tank and refil with new saltwater leaving live rock untouched.

I assume I will have to cycle the tank again as nothing has been in there in well over a year. There are vermited snails and bristle worms alive in there currently. Sowasn’t sure if the live rock would still have bacteria.

Any thoughts on what you would do as far as getting it back up and running.

Only way to find out is to test it. Put some rock in a bucket with some water. Add some ammonia and see how long it takes for the ammonia to go back down to 0. If less than 24 hrs then I would say your rock is cycled.

 

[brandon429]

It's cycled still!

 

[brandon429]

You have a very rare chance to contribute to updated cycling science. Did you maintain approximate saltwater levels during this time/ topoff occasionally?
(Edit, just reread about life in the system. you did keep basic levels, fire worms remain and tell the whole tale, existing off live rock organics, they feed filter bac)
Look at the testing we did here on a three year fallow test, would love to see your comparison, this is rare opportunity for the hobby

Nano Build - Might start a Nano... 15gal Column (Need advice)

Hello I have a 110gal mixed reef that's doing pretty good. It's 5 years old and i'm happy with it. I have a LARGE maroon clown that decided to knock down large rocks so i'm rescaping the right side of that tank. I have a snowflake clown that has lived in the sump for the past year because the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

Your tank cannot uncycle with worms present. I'll stake everything I've ever typed, what a great rare thread for us. You are fully cycled it can be measured if desired

You have the ability to test something crucial to updated cycling science

 

[brandon429]

@Dan_P
You know these are rare gems in a hobby wanting to sell, sell, sell us bac

 

[ruppertb]

Wow i didnt expect such quick responses.

I will give a bit more detail.

I had been battling high nitrates and vodka dosing to try to lower. I assume it was leaching from dry rock. Yet this tank had been set up for five years and still high levels.

had some good sized tangs and bought some wrasses from divers den. I love 30 minutes away so picked them up. One of them must have had velvet. Humblefish tried to help to save them and it was just too late.

lost interest when they all died
.
Tank had two issues during the last year+

Apex energy bar failed and temp dropped down to 75 but was fixed when apex alarm went off. Somehow apex is messed up and display doesn’t work and i can’t get into dashboard. Will have to send in or buy new brain. So I haven’t monitored temp or ph since then but heaters turn on and off with there own thermostat just had Apex for redundancy and other things. This also would have been when the auto feeder stopped feeding the small about I had it set to for fallow period

Other issue was an overflow on basement fuge. This did throw off salinity a bit as I had to replace 10 gallons of lost water with fresh ro as I didnt have saltwater. But the total system volume was 250 gallons

So if I took out a small rock and put it in a bucket and added fresh saltwater. This water should have a reading of zero for ammonia nitrite and nitrate. I had planned to do this as I wanted to do a good swish and clean on a piece of rock and place in clean water to see if it leached any nitrate from the rock.

Can I use regular ammonia and if so how much?

 

[ruppertb]

In getting things all cleaned up and ready again I found one vortech needed a new power supply. Skimmer pump and my mixing tank pumps are dead.

but this is all an opportunity to get things cleaned. Reorganized and redone

I bought a new return pump new skimmer pump and new power supply so far. Just need to re do my plumbing on the mixing bins and get a new pump for that and replace rodi filters.

then the plan will be to drain enough water from dt to prevent any water from getting to basement and replumb and move around basement sump. Then I will be all set to drain and refil.

On top of all this while cleaning pumps and heaters my water from faucet turned yellow brown so I flushed my hot water heater. Managed to fry out an element and get to replace that tonight after work.

 

[brandon429]

the trick is, you dont dose it to 2ppm since most testers arent accurate and we dont need that much movement to prove bac self regulate if given basic water conservation

you would first take a reading and a pic of zero ammonia in your test bucket, to calibrate for zero if this is colorimetric

if its digital ammonia measure then Im really, really happy.

add liquid ammonium chloride in drops until your test bucket registers as the first discernible change on your free ammonia test. not a certain level, the first color change your eyes can detect, half a ppm if possible.

retest in 24 hours, only ammonia matters and proves the cycle.

Everything ive read from HF says your massive fallow is really disease free, and primed, for use with fish. lets consider after testing just cleaning it out from detritus stores, castings, items reducing surface area in your rock via plugging, and use this perfect rock

 

[ruppertb]

You have a very rare chance to contribute to updated cycling science. Did you maintain approximate saltwater levels during this time/ topoff occasionally?
(Edit, just reread about life in the system. you did keep basic levels, fire worms remain and tell the whole tale, existing off live rock organics, they feed filter bac)
Look at the testing we did here on a three year fallow test, would love to see your comparison, this is rare opportunity for the hobby

Nano Build - Might start a Nano... 15gal Column (Need advice)

Hello I have a 110gal mixed reef that's doing pretty good. It's 5 years old and i'm happy with it. I have a LARGE maroon clown that decided to knock down large rocks so i'm rescaping the right side of that tank. I have a snowflake clown that has lived in the sump for the past year because the...

www.reef2reef.com

Is there an article about the 3 year fallow period with test result. Didn’t see a link

 

[brandon429]

its ok i back edited it in just now, here she is. these are rare

Nano Build - Might start a Nano... 15gal Column (Need advice)

Hello I have a 110gal mixed reef that's doing pretty good. It's 5 years old and i'm happy with it. I have a LARGE maroon clown that decided to knock down large rocks so i'm rescaping the right side of that tank. I have a snowflake clown that has lived in the sump for the past year because the...

www.reef2reef.com

We are doing pre-test cycle verification using the presence of benthic organisms as absolute proof of nitrifier presence. rare stuff

whether predictions pass or fail here, this thread is about to be linked to some heavy work threads thats for sure. many will see it unfold over time.

 

[ruppertb]

I know off topic but any idea why I can’t log in on REEF2REEF app only on safari. I updated iPhone and app and it gives me a stupid log in failed.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello everyone. Last year I had a disease wipe out my fish and it was left fallow. I lost interest and am going to try to get back in. The tank has sat with water and heaters and everything since August 2018. But of course I didn’t keep up on feeding it.

My plan is to drain the tank and refil with new saltwater leaving live rock untouched.

I assume I will have to cycle the tank again as nothing has been in there in well over a year. There are vermited snails and bristle worms alive in there currently. Sowasn’t sure if the live rock would still have bacteria.

Any thoughts on what you would do as far as getting it back up and running.

@brandon429 has point. The bacteria population might not be the size as it was with fish, but you definitely did not pasteurize the system. Not sure a 100% water change is necessary if you are happy with the water parameters.

Has the system been illuminated? Has the water been circulating? Is the salinity still around 1.026?

 

[ruppertb]

its ok i back edited it in just now, here she is. these are rare

Nano Build - Might start a Nano... 15gal Column (Need advice)

Hello I have a 110gal mixed reef that's doing pretty good. It's 5 years old and i'm happy with it. I have a LARGE maroon clown that decided to knock down large rocks so i'm rescaping the right side of that tank. I have a snowflake clown that has lived in the sump for the past year because the...

www.reef2reef.com

We are doing pre-test cycle verification using the presence of benthic organisms as absolute proof of nitrifier presence. rare stuff

whether predictions pass or fail here, this thread is about to be linked to some heavy work threads thats for sure. many will see it unfold over time.

I scanned it quick as I am at work and can’t read the whole thread. I didn’t see it mentioned if her water was heated or any movement.

my water has been heated and moving with power head and return this whole time. Even lit by dim blue moonlights. So possible a difference. If this does get linked to that thread we will have to have a mod remove the non related stuff I just posted.

 

[ruppertb]

@brandon429 has point. The bacteria population might not be the size as it was with fish, but you definitely did not pasteurize the system. Not sure a 100% water change is necessary if you are happy with the water parameters.

Has the system been illuminated? Has the water been circulating? Is the salinity still around 1.026?

Heated since July August 2018

Light only from some moonlights I left on so tank wasn’t dark and an eyesore
Also go ambient light from large windows and sliding glass door as well as grow lights over succulents next to it.

water circulation was provided by return pump , 3 mp40 and a large tunze on back bottom pointing under rocks.Vortechs stopped when apex failed and wireless module wasn’t controlling them. But still movement from tunze and return since July/August 2018

 

[brandon429]

no that other one was cold rocks, three winters three summers, no feeding, and random only topoff very bad salt swings.

still passed oxidation testing, yours was a hilton hotel in comparison what a great thread can't wait to see ammonia performance. Its amazing that very long standing tenets in the hobby are wide open to challenge this is really fun stuff only live forum work can offer from time to time.

 

[Dan_P]

Heated since July August 2018

Light only from some moonlights I left on so tank wasn’t dark and an eyesore
Also go ambient light from large windows and sliding glass door as well as grow lights over succulents next to it.

water circulation was provided by return pump , 3 mp40 and a large tunze on back bottom pointing under rocks.Vortechs stopped when apex failed and wireless module wasn’t controlling them. But still movement from tunze and return since July/August 2018

The story gets better and better.

Ever see one of those self contained ecosystems in a sealed glass globe with a tiny living shrimp and a sprig of seaweed inside? Your system is probably like that globe ecosystem. It just kept ticking over this entire time. Stock slowly while the system recovers, i.e., the microbiome grows to full strength again.

By the way why did the fish die?

 

[brandon429]

the very best part will be the remark upon active surface area being the critical factor here and not ammonia applied to the system in the interim.

the key isn't how much we've fed in the interim, its whether or not the tank has enough surface area and it sure does as described. the rule/claim is hydrated surfaces will not uncycle and can't be starved, though colonies will down-regulate that extra surface area still retains more than enough...such that we can oxidize way more ammonia than its had in reserve for quite a while.

Live rock maintains its measurable bacteria levels surprisingly well with or without us.


the extrapolations that can be drawn off that save us money, allow us to use reefs in interesting ways, it defines care boundaries. We have built our hobby around some faulty boundaries, and people want to sell us bottle bac until we figure it out

Your system is able to digest ammonia right off the bat in excess to what it has been given in the last year. current take from the hobby is not enough ramp up time; not enough feed to sustain the feed we are about to ask of it...what happens in oxidation testing is about to be rule reaffirming that systems self preserve given access to the dirty air that is a home. or garage. or a non positive pressure microbiology lab

 

[ruppertb]

I believe a wrasse I brought in from divers den had velvet. Since I live close I pretty much was able to email and ask if they had any of this fish and drive and pick up. So I’m sure for the sale - a fish might not have been completely through qt and sold to me.