Re-establishing a used tank

[LKD]

So I've had a 13 gal evo for the last 5 years and a Biocube 14 gal, before that. Currently it holds 2 jerk (very large bonded pair clownfish) some BTA's, a Favia and some various mushrooms and zoa's. I finally upgraded and got a 45 gal JBJ, all in one, used from a co-worker who didn't have the time anymore. He kind of let it go some, so it was full of bubble algae, and green hair algae too. I cleaned it up a lot, and I've had it set up for 2 weeks now. It came with the rock, a small clownfish, pistol shrimp, lots of snails and hermits, a few BTA's, Kenya tree and some purple polyp things that are like weeds. I reused much of the original water and have been checking it frequently.
My original plan was to let it stabilize (post move) and re-scape using new rocks, and cure the rock scape outside in a tub and add it in already cured. I want to transfer my larger jerk clowns and BTA's to the bigger tank and transfer the smaller clown to the smaller tank. Well since the move, and I guess the stress, plus messing with the sand, I lost the clownfish due to either ICH or Fungus. He had a white patch show up one day, and was dead the next day.
SO now My thought is, to still keep the new rock scape progression, but maybe I should change out the sand since he got sick after the stirring of the sand and stuff? Maybe something is in the sand? I know I need to let the tank sit fallow for a while to make sure it can cycle out, but since I have time, I have many different options available to me since I'm no longer worried about killing the fish.

I guess I'm looking for advice on the best way to do this. Should I change the sand, and rocks at the same time? A little at a time?? What's the best way to do it with little to minimal loss to the clean up crew, and I don't want to kill the pistol shrimp either. If I change the sand and the rocks at same time, will that kick in a new cycle start? If so will I need to re-home the clean up crew and pistol shrimp temporarily or permanently? (there are more snails, and hermits than I could possibly fit in to my 13 gal evo)
Anyways, Hello from a semi-newbie lurker who's still trying to plan the new aquascape for fishies and slightly mixed reef

 

[Big G]

I've siphoned out old/dirty/undesirable sand a bit at a time. Like a square foot area seemed to work just fine. The sand went into fresh saltwater for rinsing. Worked out fine. And then the sand went back in after the bottom of the tank was clean and bare. Keep topping off the saltwater to maintain a full tank.

The trick of returning the sand is to use a 2" diameter piece of PVC pipe that is long enough that it reaches all the way to the bottom of the tank. Pour the wet sand down the pipe directly to the bottom. Little to zero cloudy water. Then the same thing with the rock. One piece at a time. You have to work slowly over a couple of days. But the tank suffers little if any cloudy conditions. And some Seachem stability to help stabilize the biologicals in the water. Works pretty good.

 

[mike550]

@LKD Im doing something similar on my 120. I’ll be replacing the rockscape later but for now the tank is really more of a FOWLR. I’m working on the tank in thirds where I remove the rock and then sift and vacuum the sand. I clean the rock (hydrogen peroxide) and let it air out a couple of days. The cleaned rock goes back onto the cleaned sand. I do the same thing for next third, etc.

I really like @Big G idea for the sand. I end up silting up the tank for a while. Now I’m thinking if I don’t like my results I might go back and use his technique on cleaning a portion of the sand at a time

 

[LKD]

I've siphoned out old/dirty/undesirable sand a bit at a time. Like a square foot area seemed to work just fine. The sand went into fresh saltwater for rinsing. Worked out fine. And then the sand went back in after the bottom of the tank was clean and bare. Keep topping off the saltwater to maintain a full tank.

The trick of returning the sand is to use a 2" diameter piece of PVC pipe that is long enough that it reaches all the way to the bottom of the tank. Pour the wet sand down the pipe directly to the bottom. Little to zero cloudy water. Then the same thing with the rock. One piece at a time. You have to work slowly over a couple of days. But the tank suffers little if any cloudy conditions. And some Seachem stability to help stabilize the biologicals in the water. Works pretty good.

That's actually a really good idea with the PVC pipe, I actually have some lying around I could get it cleaned up properly. The Sand is pretty dirty, and I'm sure I stirred up something when I moved the tank from his house to mine. I just didn't want to lose the Pistol shrimp, nor kill off all the snails in a viscous cycle. I am picking up a QT tank today, so hopefully wont lose any more fish to sickness.

 

[Big G]

That's actually a really good idea with the PVC pipe, I actually have some lying around I could get it cleaned up properly. The Sand is pretty dirty, and I'm sure I stirred up something when I moved the tank from his house to mine. I just didn't want to lose the Pistol shrimp, nor kill off all the snails in a viscous cycle. I am picking up a QT tank today, so hopefully wont lose any more fish to sickness.

Good luck. You've got this! Slow and easy . . .

 

[Big G]

@LKD Im doing something similar on my 120. I’ll be replacing the rockscape later but for now the tank is really more of a FOWLR. I’m working on the tank in thirds where I remove the rock and then sift and vacuum the sand. I clean the rock (hydrogen peroxide) and let it air out a couple of days. The cleaned rock goes back onto the cleaned sand. I do the same thing for next third, etc.

I really like @Big G idea for the sand. I end up silting up the tank for a while. Now I’m thinking if I don’t like my results I might go back and use his technique on cleaning a portion of the sand at a time

After cleaning the rock with H2O2, put it into a "clean" 5 gal bucket or bigger, add your mixed saltwater and a heater, couple of powerhead, and let it run for a few hours or longer; then put it into your tank.

 

[brandon429]

Old tank syndrome is vanquished in reefing now

the cause of old tank syndrome is compounding whole waste particles that blanket the interstitial sand grain zones and plug up the channels in live rocks- in some cases it's sheer overgrowth allowed from various invasions that plugs up the surface area on live rock combined with a thin veneer of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

It would really be fun to make a new entry for that thread, old tank rehab thread.

it's done assertively though, all at once is your tank fix

not any aspect of that above is in sections, or drawn out over time that's why the results are tight. rip cleaning a 120 isn't easy, but that does not mean 100 people haven't done it then posted the tank for update tracking:

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

*it doesnt matter if someone is rip cleaning and old or a new perfect tank, the steps are the same

his happens to be a perfect reef tank no invasion that simply needs moving. the safest way to move or handle a reef is in the full rinsed condition, not the half-waste loading condition. it's ironic I know

 

[LKD]

It would really be fun to make a new entry for that thread, old tank rehab thread.

it's done assertively though, all at once is your tank fix

not any aspect of that above is in sections, or drawn out over time that's why the results are tight. rip cleaning a 120 isn't easy, but that does not mean 100 people haven't done it then posted the tank for update tracking:

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

*it doesnt matter if someone is rip cleaning and old or a new perfect tank, the steps are the same

his happens to be a perfect reef tank no invasion that simply needs moving. the safest way to move or handle a reef is in the full rinsed condition, not the half-waste loading condition. it's ironic I know

Thanks for that thread link, I went down the rabbit hole on that one a good bit. thankfully the only fish that was with that tank was the clown, so no more fish. Just the pistol Shrimp and lots of snails and hermits. Which was my concern of cleaning it all, pretty sure the snails would have a hard time of it more than the hermits. But You did give some good ideas to further look in to for sure. I think once I get the Rocks all glued together and ready for install, I may do a full clean out, once that process starts will prob start a new thread to keep track of progress.