- Joined
- May 31, 2020
- Messages
- 128
- Reaction score
- 130
My tank was in the middle of the new tank uglies when the Freeze happened back in February. (delayed because it took me a while to buy lights) Anyway I lost the whole tank, my fish, and my Nano. It sucks but it basically killed my enthusiasm for the past 3 months and I was also in my last semester of school and had no time to restart the thing. It sat (return pump off) for months with algae, diatoms, whatever else was in there on the rocks. I finally got around to tearing the entire thing apart this past weekend. I disassembled the entire tank and did my best to clean every piece of equipment and the tank and sump with soapy water, vinegar, Windex. I didn't bleach anything. These steps were done separately, not all at once. I dried everything out and put it all back together and it's sitting dry now. At least it's not an eyesore anymore. (all of the above was done outside with my garden hose)
Questions:
Can I reuse my Caribsea life rock? there was a ton of crap all over them so I rinsed them off with water and let them soak in a tub overnight with 20-25 gallons of water and like a half gallon of vinegar. I took them out again and rinsed them off, and then filled the tub again with just straight tap water and I'm letting them soak. They were noticeably cleaner and I didn't lose that much color - if any. probably going to let them dry in the sun for a couple days. Can I re-use these or should I buy more?
Should I replace my Marine pure balls? I had three bags full of marine pure balls. They look gross and brown, haven't really touched them they are sitting in a tub outside.
New Sand? This one is probably obvious but I should get new sand right?
Is my tank/ sump/ equipment safe to use?, could I technically fill it with RODI and start up again whenever I'm ready?
Is there anything else I need to know about restarting this tank? Anything I'm missing?
I still feel really upset every time I watch YouTube videos, think about my fish, inverts, my cleaner shrimp.... all the effort I put into getting this tank set up and it was all for nothing. Now I'm starting over again from the beginning.
Questions:
Can I reuse my Caribsea life rock? there was a ton of crap all over them so I rinsed them off with water and let them soak in a tub overnight with 20-25 gallons of water and like a half gallon of vinegar. I took them out again and rinsed them off, and then filled the tub again with just straight tap water and I'm letting them soak. They were noticeably cleaner and I didn't lose that much color - if any. probably going to let them dry in the sun for a couple days. Can I re-use these or should I buy more?
Should I replace my Marine pure balls? I had three bags full of marine pure balls. They look gross and brown, haven't really touched them they are sitting in a tub outside.
New Sand? This one is probably obvious but I should get new sand right?
Is my tank/ sump/ equipment safe to use?, could I technically fill it with RODI and start up again whenever I'm ready?
Is there anything else I need to know about restarting this tank? Anything I'm missing?
I still feel really upset every time I watch YouTube videos, think about my fish, inverts, my cleaner shrimp.... all the effort I put into getting this tank set up and it was all for nothing. Now I'm starting over again from the beginning.