Should I add start up bacteria?

kropa008

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Hello, a few days ago I posted a thread asking how to revive my neglected aquarium. You guys all had such good advice and with some additional tips from my local LFS I am now heading the right direction again with the tank. Just to quickly recap I left my 54 gallon corner in my basement neglected for about a year after a big move. Very irresponsible of me I know. All I did during this time was add RO water without salt as it evaporated from the tank and feed the three tough fish that have braved through this dark time. The return pump broke about a month ago so for the last month it was only sustained by two power heads and the heater. Now moving on to what I have done since the last post. I have scrubbed all of the algae off of the glass. I rinsed and re-aquascaped all of my live rock. Bought a new return pump. Rinsed all of the bio balls in my sump. Scrubed all of the algae off of the sump and protein skimmer. And lastly replaced the whole sand bed with Carib sea live sand. (Not sure this was the best move or not but my LFS talked me into it.) I have kept about 30-40% of the original tank water and replaced roughly 60-70% with new water. So basically it is like a new/established tank hybrid. Now I'm just curious where I should go from here, so here are my questions. Forgive me if I sound silly, I'd consider myself a novice. Do I need to cycle again? I know the rock is cycled and alive, but does the live sand and new water need to go through a cycle? Should I buy a bottle of start up bacteria to get things moving or will I potentially overdose it with the bacteria already in there? When I am testing the water what exactly am I looking for at this point? Any other tips useful tips for my situation? I haven't seen too many others online that are in the same boat. Thank you for your help! :)
 

Jekyl

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No live stock left right? Test for ammonia and nitrate then I would give it a week with equipment running. No lights yet. Then test ammonia and nitrate again after that week. See how your levels have changed and get back to us.
 
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kropa008

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No live stock left right? Test for ammonia and nitrate then I would give it a week with equipment running. No lights yet. Then test ammonia and nitrate again after that week. See how your levels have changed and get back to us.
There is still one dottyback in there that is still kicking somehow, what a trooper. Anyway I will turn off the lights and play the waiting game thanks for your reply!
 
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kropa008

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That's a skip cycle setup no bottle bac needed

Cleaning rocks and setting on new sand is what we do in all our home move jobs x350
At least I'm not the only one who is doing this. I'm just having trouble finding advice online since I'm now somewhere between an established aquarium and brand new aquarium. Thanks!
 
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kropa008

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Let's see pics of the setup
Pic
D3C39EBA-F882-4AEC-9B80-35E5670603D4.jpeg
75BC1643-040D-448E-9031-0F5E2E2A35FA.jpeg
 
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brandon429

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You were internally motivated to do your own rip clean even though you didn't see the thread on it, that's awesome. They say two different people invented the drillbit at the same time across the globe because they both needed a hole and were resourceful :)
 
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Gup

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At least I'm not the only one who is doing this. I'm just having trouble finding advice online since I'm now somewhere between an established aquarium and brand new aquarium. Thanks!
I am in an exact similar situation right now and I frantic and at a loss. I've been ill for about 6 weeks and the system is just about four months old to begin with. Purple Coraline was beginning to spread.

My ammonia shot up past 6 ppm. I lost a Royal Grama and a Yellow-Belly Damsel. Yet 2 Clowns and 2 Purple Gobies are hanging in there. I will hold them in the cleaned up sump.

So I did a total clean out tonight of the sump. All Bio Balls and other paraphernalia into a weak bleach solution in plastic containers. I was going to order the AgraAlive Black, but I just read what others are saying about it. Should I just send it back ? I wasn't sure if I could do the same cleaning process to my current substrate or just rinse. And I'm going to do a quick rebuild of the 3 rock structures to something smaller and simpler.

I'm in a dire situation some guidance on what to do with the inside of the tank and substrate.

Please help a 70 year old enthusiast with the vast knowledge that resides at Reef2Reef!
 
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Gup

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I am in an exact similar situation right now and I frantic and at a loss. I've been ill for about 6 weeks and the system is just about four months old to begin with. Purple Coraline was beginning to spread.

My ammonia shot up past 6 ppm. I lost a Royal Grama and a Yellow-Belly Damsel. Yet 2 Clowns and 2 Purple Gobies are hanging in there. I will hold them in the cleaned up sump.

So I did a total clean out tonight of the sump. All Bio Balls and other paraphernalia into a weak bleach solution in plastic containers. I was going to order the AgraAlive Black, but I just read what others are saying about it. Should I just send it back ? I wasn't sure if I could do the same cleaning process to my current substrate or just rinse. And I'm going to do a quick rebuild of the 3 rock structures to something smaller and simpler.

I'm in a dire situation some guidance on what to do with the inside of the tank and substrate.

Please help a 70 year old enthusiast with the vast knowledge that resides at Reef2Reef!
Oh, here is a pic my system

 
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Gup

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I am in an exact similar situation right now and I frantic and at a loss. I've been ill for about 6 weeks and the system is just about four months old to begin with. Purple Coraline was beginning to spread.

My ammonia shot up past 6 ppm. I lost a Royal Grama and a Yellow-Belly Damsel. Yet 2 Clowns and 2 Purple Gobies are hanging in there. I will hold them in the cleaned up sump.

So I did a total clean out tonight of the sump. All Bio Balls and other paraphernalia into a weak bleach solution in plastic containers. I was going to order the AgraAlive Black, but I just read what others are saying about it. Should I just send it back ? I wasn't sure if I could do the same cleaning process to my current substrate or just rinse. And I'm going to do a quick rebuild of the 3 rock structures to something smaller and simpler.

I'm in a dire situation some guidance on what to do with the inside of the tank and substrate.

Please help a 70 year old enthusiast with the vast knowledge that resides at Reef2Reef!
Oh, here is a pic my system
 

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subzero

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I set up a new biocube 32, Using all LR and carib live sand (heavily rinsed). 3 days later added a $20 bottle of dr. Somethings cycle bacteria... 2 days later added 3 green chromis, 2 weeks later added 2 clowns, lunar wrasse, 3 diff chromis (yellow tail, orange, black with blue stripes) firefish, something else I can’t remember. it’s 1 month now, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10. Did a $20 bottle of bacteria help? Who knows... it’s $20 shipped who cares.. also 2 weeks ago I added a ton of mixed coral. Brandon helped my chemistries (find my thread). This was today.

AE6097B4-6392-4D7C-A947-98F3F651C8F5.jpeg
 
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Gup

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I set up a new biocube 32, Using all LR and carib live sand (heavily rinsed). 3 days later added a $20 bottle of dr. Somethings cycle bacteria... 2 days later added 3 green chromis, 2 weeks later added 2 clowns, lunar wrasse, 3 diff chromis (yellow tail, orange, black with blue stripes) firefish, something else I can’t remember. it’s 1 month now, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10. Did a $20 bottle of bacteria help? Who knows... it’s $20 shipped who cares.. also 2 weeks ago I added a ton of mixed coral. Brandon helped my chemistries (find my thread). This was today.

AE6097B4-6392-4D7C-A947-98F3F651C8F5.jpeg
I'm going to follow your lead subzero. I too will go with the Dr. Tim Startup.

The black sand will get here tomorrow, they want $10 to ship it back to Petco. What do I have to lose, but $10. Thank you so much fellow reefers for creating the black sand topic. All of you saved me a lot of grief down the line.

So I'm going to try and refuse delivery and maybe save myself $10. Also, I am going to find a substrate topic and see what all of you use and recommend.
 
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